A Thorough Exploration of Shakespeares Wise Fool

And His Significance In History, Literature, Philosophy and Theatre

When I was in seventh grade, I decided that I did not like Shakespeare. In my precocious thirteen-year-old mind, he was beyond trite and far too melodramatic to be entertaining. It wasnt until my sophomore year of high school that I was reintroduced to the Bard in a more favorable light. In a chance gamble, I bought Kenneth Branaughs Much Ado About Nothing for my mothers birthday. It was on sale and I knew that she liked Shakespeare, but certainly did not expect to be completely drawn in myself. There was something inexplicably magnetic about his humor to me. It did more than make me laugh; it challenged me, intellectually, to comprehend the wisdom within the wit. The thrill came when I met the challenge. After two hours of shaking head to toe with laughter, I pulled my mothers old Shakespeare text off the bookshelf and dove in. I havent stopped reading since. It spread like wildfire. A fascination with the fool led to a passion for the comedies, which led me to the romances, and from there to the tragedies, and just last year, I encountered the histories (which I believe to be the most fabulous texts I have read to date).

What I propose as my research project is a comprehensive study of that which first attracted me to Shakespeare: his comedy. Five years ago, I discovered his comedic side. Since then, I have extended both my study and appreciation of the Bard until it has become a deep fascination and driving passion in my academic career. Now I wish to take this passion and apply it to detailed research. Specifically, I wish to study the character of the Shakespearean wise fool, following its development and use in six of Shakespeares plays (The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Alls Well that Ends Well, King Lear, and The Winters Tale). Shakespeares wise fool is my favorite of all his characters. The wise fool is the strongest, freest, and most ambiguous character in his plays. I fell in love with Feste when I first read Twelfth Night and I see him as a work of indescribable art. The many facets of these deceptively simple characters fascinate me: their taunting, their license, their licentiousness, their humor, their connection with their master/patron, their songs, and their general presence. They are my favorite characters to read or to watch on stage. The desire to understand them as a literary and dramatic genre is irrepressible.

I began my work this semester in an independent study with Professor Elizabeth Hart, comparing the fool in King Lear with the fool in Twelfth Night. In considering an in-depth study of this character, I have realized that it does involve a multi-disciplinary approach. In order to fully appreciate the many facets of the fool, I must incorporate philosophy, theology, dramatic arts, history, sociology, English, and anthropology in my research. The fool in literature and history developed from the tradition of the court fool or jester. Hence, I wish to examine the jesters place in medieval court history. In addition, the fool is not a mere buffoon, but a wise fool, and the tradition of wise foolishness has a rich heritage in literature, from Chaucer to Erasmus to Shakespeare and beyond, all of which would be extremely useful to study in comparison. There also have been studies done which link the wise fool with a religious origin, such as John Sawards 1980 book Perfect Fools: Folly for Christs sake in Catholic & Orthodox Spirituality, and so I intend to study pertinent theology and philosophy. And lastly, I want to investigate the social history of madness and the carnival tradition.

My goal for this project is to write an extended essay on the wise fool in which I will study his value as a historical feature, a literary archetype, a dramatic institution, and a social and philosophical statement. I will tackle the historic fool, the mad fool, the holy fool, and the fool onstage. I hope to use this study as a driving force in my pursuit of graduate work. Eventually, I would like to obtain a PhD and become a professor at a university, and knowledge of this depth, breadth, and specificity would be invaluable in that situation.

METHODOLOGY

My research methods will revolve around working directly with scholars, either at the University of Connecticut or elsewhere. I will be amassing a collection of critical and historical articles and books from which to gather my own information and form my own theories. The end result, as mentioned above, will be a final paper.

I am aware that there are professors who specialize in areas related to my research topic, and they are my essential resources. Thus far, I have spoken with a Spanish professor who specializes in the use of humor and buffoonery in medieval Spanish literature; a Medieval studies graduate student who, hearing about my quest through the Medieval studies discussion list, found several French articles on the French conception of the perfect fool; an anthropology professor whose wife specializes in the social history of madness, not to mention the numerous scholars in the English, philosophy, history, and sociology departments whom I have contacted and been contacted by. These people will be very useful in helping to direct my study. My plan is to complete a large portion of my research through independent studies. I will be taking important applicable courses in history and English, but to cover the philosophical, theological, psychological, and sociological ground I wish to cover, I need the freedom to seek out theological experts in the philosophy department, social history scholars in the history, anthropology, and sociology departments, and tap into these people outside of general coursework. During their office hours and scheduled meetings, they can suggest resources that I can then reference and research with their guidance.

In addition to relevant coursework and independent studies, I intend to do research outside of the university. In my readings, I have come across and will encounter many more essays by various Shakespearean and medieval scholars across the country. I fully intend to write to those who I feel have knowledge pertaining to my specific topic of interest and request their help in completing this project. For secondary sources, I will be using dissertations and theses of scholars throughout the United States, all accessed through an MLA search and inter-library loan. There are also a few pivotal books which my study will be based in: Wise Fools in Shakespeare by Robert Goldsmith, The Fool: His Social and Literary History and The Court Masque: a Study in the Relationship Between Poetry and the Revels by Enid Welsford, Faith and Folly in Shakespeares Romantic Comedies by R. Chris Hassel, Fools and Jesters in Literature, Art, and History by V. Janick, and the above-mentioned John Saward book. I will also be accessing articles published in scholarly journals such as Studies in English Literature, English Language Notes, English Literary Renaissance, etc.

PLAN OF STUDY

I have compiled a University Scholar Plan of Study as follows. In my three remaining semesters here, I plan to take advantage of the graduate courses that relate to my area of interest and combine the knowledge from these with various history and English courses and independent studies. The courses listed below are only those that I will be using toward my University Scholar project.

ENGL 326 Seventeenth Century Lit Greg Semenza 03

ENGL 299 Independent Study Greg Semenza 02

ENGL 266 Studies in Criticism Patrick Hogan 03

*9  credits electives

HIST 219 Early Middle Ages Sherri Olson 03

HIST 299 Independent Study Sherri Olson 02

ENGL 299 Independent Study Elizabeth Hart 03

*5  9 credits electives

HIST 220 High Middle Ages Sherri Olson 03

ENGL 258 Honors Thesis Jonathan Hufstader 03

Additional courses that I would like to consider in my plan of study are as follows: The English Drama to 1642 (Engl 323), Elizabethan Literature (Engl 325), Gender and Sexuality in Pre-Modern Europe (Hist 266), Literature and Other Disciplines (Engl 291), Topics in Medieval History (Hist 316), England from 1066 to 1307 (Hist 361), The Renaissance (Hist 271), The Reformation (Hist 272), and Europe in the Seventeenth Century (Hist 273). I am aware that I may not be able to take all of these courses, but I cannot guarantee that all of them will be offered at suitable times or even at all. Instead, I have constructed a list of related courses from which to select one or two each semester which I can take as electives. These will still relate to my chosen project and will enhance my research greatly.

WHY UNIVERSITY SCHOLAR?

Being awarded the University Scholar position would allow me the freedom to take graduate courses, something that I believe is essential. In addition, I would be given a credit allowance that would permit me to take more than 18 credits a semester. I feel that this could be extremely useful and would allow me to pursue my university scholar project while at the same time maintaining my musical interest and involvement in choir, opera, and voice lessons. By December, I will have satisfied all of my College of Liberal Arts and Sciences general education requirements and will have nine credits left to satisfy the English department requirements. All of these I can easily include in my university scholar project. As for summer classes, I may wish to take a course at the Hartford campus this summer, depending on whether one of the above-mentioned courses is offered during that time. Having the fees waived would make this much more feasible, as I would not have to work full time to pay for it.

CONCLUSION

The study of the fool is more than a fascination for me; its a quest. I want to know why Shakespeare created these characters. His plays were not original; they were based on popular legends or classical myths or factual history. But the fool character was his own genius. Why? What is it that the fool can do that no other character can? Why is it that Feste in Twelfth Night is so much wiser than his betters? Where is the method in the madness of the fool dialectic? What is the relevance of rational vs. irrational use of the mind and comic vs. serious discourse? How is the fool a religious feature? These questions and more fuel me in this study.

Since I was in sixth grade, I have known that I wanted to teach English. Nothing thrilled me as much as picking through a text to uncover all of its hidden meanings and rich layering. In my experience, the most complete and enjoyable way to study and appreciate literature is through a companion study of the historical and socio-economic background which influenced its writing. I intend to teach English this way, with a strong base in the background and criticism of the work. In order to do so, I must be adept at uncovering intricacies and allusions and drawing important comparisons. This project helps me flex my literary muscles, practicing in criticism and analysis of a dense text. It will help to teach me what good, insightful critical writing is and how I must improve as a writer and critic. The extensive reading and research I intend to do will involve digesting the work of scholars from all variety of fields and schools of thought and re-evaluating it myself. This independent and mature approach to understanding literature, its origin, and its meaning will cause me to think in new and exciting ways and to grow as a scholar and a writer. Forming my own critical analysis of Shakespeare is a dream to me. I want to pursue this concentration in graduate school, and the opportunity to begin my work now is enticing. I look forward to the opportunity. For me, this is a labor of love.