Role of the fool in King Lear
In Shakespeare’s play ‘King Lear’ the Fool takes on a number of key roles, such as being the alter ego of Lear and acting as a conscience to Lear himself. The name ‘Fool’ is ironic as it is the Fool who appears to understand more about the play than any of the other characters and despite trying to make Lear aware of problems is dismissed or Lear does not recognise the importance of what he is being told. For example, Kent is called a fool by the Fool for his loyalty to Lear. The Fool, however, also remains loyal to Lear. ... Another reason for his loyalty to Lear is that if he can make Lear see the error of his ways then he can find salvation through this. We are first introduced to the Fool during act one scene four of the play, not long after Kent has been introduced in his disguised form. The first thing the Fool says is “Let me hire him too: here’s my coxcomb” towards Kent. This is significant as the Fool is already aware of the key problems within the play even before he is introduced to the audience. The Fool then goes on to try and warn Lear about the treachery of his daughters as though he is almost predicting what will happen in the future as the play unfolds. Kent realises this and agrees with the Fool, commenting “This is not altogether Fool, my lord”. Lear however does not take the Fool’s rebuking to heed and warns him that he may be going too far.