The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-12-07

with complete serenity upon their
brethren in the world reflected in the
plays. On some of them he has be-
slowed almost more than their share of
aphoristic wit and philosophy. He does
not allow us to feel contempt for any
of them; he protects them from our
ridicule and often turns the laugh away
from them and upon some humoriess
wiseacre. some non-laugher or laugh
ter-hater, like Malvolio. We laugh for
the most part with the fool and not at
him: and when we do laugh at him 1t Is
usually because of his own unmistak-
able invitation. 1t is the laughable in
common human nature and In social
situation that Shakespeare makes US
recognize, and the laughter is without
bitterness. We acquit ourselves OF eX-
pressing superiority by the laugh.
So solicitous for his fool-folk does
Shakespeare appear to be that he is
thought by some to have humored the
common belief of his age that fools and
simpletons spoke at times by divine d.
rection, were indeed inspired idiots,
and that their irrelevant sayings were,
therefore to be attended to and inter-
preted as carrying perhaps prophetic
or fateful meaning. Certain it is that
he sometimes gives to his simple clowns
a penetration and understanding that
is denied to their superiors in intellect
Speed and Launce, n2turalS IN mind,
are allowed TO see farther than their
masters. Launce is first to understand
the trickery of Proteus, and Speed is
first to discover the love of Silvia Lear
solicits pity and consideration when he
calls himself the natural fool OF for
tune (act iv scene 81, and there is an
instructive bit of dialogue in LAS You
Like It. (act j. scene %, where Touch
stone makes his first appearances:
Celia Though nature has given us wit
to flout at Fortune. hath not Fortune sent
in this fool to cut off the argument
Rosalind. Indeed. there is fortune too
hard for Nature. when Fortune makes
Natures natural the cutter-off of Ma
lures wit.
Celia. Peradventure this is not For
tunes work neither, but Nature :. VINO
perceiveth our natural wits too Gull to
reason of such goddesscs and hath sent
this natural for our milestone; for al
ways the dullnesS of the fool is the whet-
stone of the wits.
The clown in "All's Well That Ends
Well (act i, scene 81. wlean called by
the countess "a foul-mouthed and cal
luminous knave," enters a prompt dis
claimer, "A prophet l. madam; and /
speak the truth the next way" thus
claiming for himself Though perhaps
Ironically some special gift peculiar to
his class. The clowns will seem to have
more of understanding than they ought
" nave do lllSIt SlnlplClOllSs ultlcSS az
count be taken Of the superstition of
Shakespeare's age.
OF course it would be easy to over
rate the Importance of the fools and
clowns in the plays. and foolish to ex-
pect to find meaning in all of their nom
sense. A dramatic reason is not to be
sought every time they come on the
stage. The repartee of the clowns. eS-
pecially in the early comedies, Is super
puns and forced conceits. The fun flies
fast and furious: the combat of wits
is prolonged until sometimes it becomes
wearisome: the quality of the humor
does not seem 10 matter so much as
the ability to keep the war merrily go
ing. The clowns are sometimes put. as
it were. on their professional honor to
maintain a rapid croSsfire of nonsense
and folly. even though the jokes be not
worth very much as jokes.
But making due allowance for all of
this. there is the other danger. to
which modern readers of Shakespeare
are peculiarly liable, of regarding all
of the clown utterances as of little i'm
portance and of undertaking their part
in the advancement of the main bust
ness of the plays. 1t is significant that
Shakespeare gives most of them some
dramatic work to do, and sometimes
il is important work
Costard. the clown in Loves Labor's
Lost" is a silly country BOBBY; he is
almost IA natural; he belongs to the
lowest order of Shakespeare's fool-folk;
he is unconscious of the droll figure he
cuts and incapable of intentional wit:
little Importance can be attached to any
of his sayings. yet Costard's part in
the development of the theme could
not easily be dispensed with. His
prompt violation OF the kings decree
makes that solemn instrument laugh
able at once. Costard succumbs to
higher. or lower, but at any rate more
natural law than the kings, as his bet
tiers also do. in the end. including the
king himself. Shakespeare keeps this
poor clown in close. though uncon-
scious. completely with the main plot
at every point. The Costard element
in the play affords a numerous COM
ment on the kings folly and affecta-
ton in disregarding natural human in
stincts.