Summary:
Shakespeare's King Lear - The Fool in King Lear is, in actuality, not a Fool at all. He has characteristics that make him one of the most intelligent characters in the play.
Troubles occur everywhere, with anyone, and about almost anything. Some of them are extreme and need to be dealt with immediately, while others are less savage and can endure time for meticulous contemplation. It is during times like these when we like to ask for advice, whether it be from our parents, our friends; employers or counselors, and sometimes even professional advice from an advisor. These are all people we look up to, wish to be like, or trust implicitly. The best advisors, whoever they might be, give advice not only for particular situations, but advice that can be transferred to any aspect of one's life. "Have more than thou showest. Speak less than thou knowest. Lend less than thou owest. Ride more than thou goest. Learn more than thou trowest. Set less than thou throwest. Leave thy drink and thy whore, and keep in-a-door, and thou shalt have no more than two tens to a score. (I.iv.108)" These all seem to be universal truths, things that everyone would agree on, and it would imply that an extremely sensible, intelligent, highly regarded person had thought it up. The reality, however, is it was given by a Fool - Lear's Fool - a meager court jester amidst a sea of high power lords and Kings. The Fool in Shakespeare's King Lear, by giving advice, proper criticism, and having the intuition to sense when things are going wrong, is not a fool at all, and is a closer link to sanity than foolishness.
Have more than thou showest.
(Do not flaunt your power - it is better to let people think you are helpless and prove it otherwise when the time calls.)
Lear's Fool is no ordinary Fool, and Shakespeare shows this to us immediately in several ways. The first time the audience is introduced to the Fool gives insight to the relationship the King and he share. Upon being summoned, the Fool does not appear immediately, and Lear has to call for "[his] knave, [his] fool (I.iv.40)" unsuccessfully many times. Most Elizabethan Kings would consider this disrespectful, and the Fool should have rightly been punished. However, once the Fool did finally appear, he did not amuse the King as is customary of a Fool, but instead criticized the King's decision to banish Cordelia from the kingdom. Yet even after this treatment, the king does nothing to his follower, giving the impression that the two are closer than just King and Jester, and more like friends.
Speak less than thou knowest.
( Be aware of things around you, and always keep certain secrets to yourself )
The Fool is much more blunt and straight with the King than others in his position would be with their own kings. He is not afraid to voice what he thinks, as he knows "they'll have [him] whipped for speaking true, [they will] have [him] whipped for lying, and sometimes [he will be] whipped for holding [his] peace." For example, the Fool openly states to Kent in front of Lear "If thou follow him, thou must needs wear my coxcomb (I.iii.96)." In voicing these opinions, it shows that he is not the normal court fool (normally a humourous madman taken from a nuthouse), but rather a true member of the courts who is fully aware of what is going on around him. He is so much aware, in fact, that he even truthfully tells Lear:
" FOOL: The sweet and bitter fool
Will presently appear
The one in motley here
The other found out there.
LEAR: Dost thou call me fool, boy?
FOOL: All thy other titles thou hast given away,
That thou wast born with. (I.iv.134)"
Where the Fool is a sweet fool, one that amuses and is happy with where they are, Lear would be a bitter fool, one that does not admire being called such. This presumption that the King, Kent, and all of Lear's followers are fools who should wear coxcombs is stating that the real fool is in the presence of what he deems to be fools - a hint to the chaos and insanity to follow later in the play. The Fool calls people who are not like him "foppish ... know[ing] not how their wits to wear, their manners are so apish (I.iv.156)." This critical analysis of all those who are more powerful than him gives the Fool a defining character - knowing much more than the average man, least of all the average fool.
Ride more than thou goest, learn more than thou trowest.
(You do not need to act to be important - gathering information and biding your time will be more beneficial.)
The Fool is not a central character in the play as much as he is a comic relief, and a critic. He is present in many different scenes in the first three acts of the play, but his lines so not do him justice. This suggests he is not an active character, but rather one who enjoys more to sit back and watch everything unfold around him. This gives him the opportunity to be able to criticize, and to give advice. Aside from these, the Fool also has an interesting talent of predicting the future. When speaking to King Lear during the beginning scenes of the play, he rhymed "For, you trow, Nuncle, the hedge sparrow fed the cuckoo so long that it's had it head bit off by it young. So, out went the candle, and we were left darkling (I.iv.202)." Already he is aware of the impending troubles ahead, and tries to give advice in his still cryptic way. During another tirade, the Fool mentions something that he, as a character, could not possibly have known at the time - "This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time (III.ii.98)." Shakespeare giving the Fool, of all characters, some knowledge of his time, of the future, is significant in creating the link that the Fool is certainly above any of the others who are not privileged to this information, and makes him seem even wiser - "[He] is better than [they are] now. [He is] a fool - [they are] nothing (I.iv.181)."
Set less than thou throwest
Leave they drink and thy whore, and keep in-a-door
( Never throw away everything you have, especially your sanity. Know when to leave, or when to stay inside away from everything else.)
Sanity is something that is rapidly deteriorated throughout King Lear. Lear becomes insane, Edgar pretends to be a bedlam beggar, and Gloucester loses sight of reality with the detachment from his eyes. The Fool, however, stays constant. Near the beginning of the play, his comments seem strange and foolish. Later, however, he seems to be the most sensible of them all, but still having his odd sense of humour at the same time. When Lear is fully reaching the extent of his sanity; taking off his clothes and speaking to stools as if they were his daughters, the Fool comments on the reality of the situation ("Come hither, mistress. Is your name Goneril? Cry you mercy, I took you for a joint-stool. (III.vi.49)"), whilst Lear and 'Tom' continue to criticize the stools. It is in this part of the play where things are up heaved - the Fool, a symbol of humour and insanity, is now surrounded by Court royals who can not be described as anything but insane. In Lear's last moments of insanity before he is rescued by Gloucester, the Fool states he will "go to bed at noon (III.vi.83)." This is his very last line in the play. Going to bed could symbolize giving up and leaving, and the significance of him doing this 'at noon' is that noon is only part way through the day (Charles Dickens, 1812-1870). There is all the way until seven, eight, even nine o'clock until people start going to bed. The Fool is retiring before his time, as he knows that the future will only become worse. As the last link to sanity in a world becoming increasingly more and more insane, the Fool decides it is time for him to leave. And, during the final scenes of King Lear, there is no room for humour, true sanity, or trying to return Lear to his original state - all three qualities which the Fool refuses to relinquish.
Lear's Fool is quite an ironic character. He is sane when he is expected to be mad, smart when expected to be foolish, and intuitive when expected to be dumb. His character is in as much glaring contrast to the normal Fool as the colourful motley he wears. His advice is pure, intelligent, and remarkably accurate for someone of his status.
And so mark it, Nuncle... to have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest. Lend less than thou owest, ride more than thou goest. Learn more than thou trowest, set less than thou throwest. Leave they drink and thy whore and keep in-a-door, and thou shalt have more than two tens to a score. Mark it well, Nuncle,for "this is not altogether fool (I.iv.141)."
Sources:
King Lear, William Shakespeare.
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