The wise Fool

In William Shakespeare’s play King Lear, Fool always stays with King Lear. We have seen the Fool’s part in the play, but what role does he serve? His role is a certain purpose as Lear’s closest friend and the best advisor. He is sometime humorous, but he also gives the sharpest critic to the King Lear. Fool’s position and his personal quality enable him to speak out frankly to everyone that he meets in the play with his sense of humor. Although Fool seems to have no emotion and jokes about everything, King Lear keeps him besides him. Why? I think, probably, it is Lear’s admiration for the Fool’s frankness. Frank is able to tell the King uncomfortable truths partly about his foolish actions because of Fool’s ability to lead Lear’s mind.

I believe the Fool is a wise character. He is incredibly confidence about himself and his messages and he knows how to express himself cleverly and with humor. He thinks he foresees everything about King Lear and what will happen. When Fool said, “And yet I would not be thee, nuncle. Thou hast pared thy wit o' both sides and left nothing i' th' middle” he is already foreshadowing about the betrayal of two daughters. He worries about the future of King Lear and advises him not to be foolish. Throughout the play, I was never quite sure who the real learder of the country is. Perhaps, the Fool is a shadow of King Lear to support him as the leader of the country.