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

the strain of close attention to the main
course of the plot The fool seems 10 De,
in this view, an extra character thrust
in from time to time solely for amuse-
ment-to tickle the ears of the ground
lings with his drolleries. His bolt is
soon shot, the passing fun soon over
and the play proper resumed in earnest.
This conception of the fool and fool
scenes, true as far as 1t goes, falls OF
anything like complete justice to the
fool and his important office.
The fool is so often the wise man OF
the play, and the wise men are so often
foolish, that justice would sometimes
seem to require an even exchange OF
title roles. Indeed, this is practically
what is proposed. ironically. of course.
in King Lear (act l., scene ~. when
the fool teaches Lear the difference be-
tween "a bitter fool and sweet fool.
FooI-That lord that counsell'd thee
To give away thy land
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand.
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 vast born with.
The wearer of the motley is not often
the real fool of the play after all. NAL
volio, Olivia's steward. in twelfth
Night" so grayely superior in his treat
ment of the bibulous Sir Toby and Sir
Andrew; so contemptuous of Feste and
the servants; who has read books, and
is too loftey in his self-conceit TO coun-
tenance folly in any form-how does
Shakespeare leave him in our esteem
as compared with Feste? And, equally
devoid with Malvolio of a saving sense
of humor, Polonius the sly old politl-
clan in Hamlet" so wise in his
schemes for his children's advancement
how does he fare under the dramat-
lists hand? What fool Hamlet makes
of him, Shakespeare makes Viola say
of the fool Feste (''Twelfth Night act
Ill, scene y:
This fellow is wise enough to play the
And to do that well Graves a kind of wit:
He must observe their mood on whom he
The quality of persons. and the time.
Not. like the haggard. check at every
That comes before his eye. This is
AS full of labor as a wise mans art:
For folly that he wisely shows is fit:
But wise mems folly shown, quite taints
their wit.
An Celia in las You Like 1t" (act
L.. y. Il
clared it a pity that fools may not
speak wisely what wise men do fool
ishly," replies in the same vein: BY
my troth, thou Sayest true; for since
the little wit that fools have was 81
fenced. the little foolery that wise men
have makes great show. The fool in
Lear" also when. Immediately after
the sharp taunt quoted above. Kent re-
marks 20 the king: This is not alto
f0tr,
.No. faith. lords and great men will not
let me: if 1 had monopoly out they
would have part on t; and ladies, too,
they will not let me have all fool to
myself; they'll be snatching."
In these and similar passages Shakes
peare not only intimates the frequent
superiority of the fool over the worldly
wise among the characters. but by I'M
mistakable signs rcSsesses US of the I'M
comfortable sus- zion that perhaps
some of the biggest fools of all are not
on the stage. but fronting it. uncon-
sciously furnishing the laughter at their
own expense. Lorenzo in the "Mer-
chant of Venice TACT Ill, scene %
says of Launcelot, the clown:
Oh. dear discretion. how his words are
suited,
The fool hath planted in his memory
An army OF good words: and / do know
4 many fools. that stand In better place.
Garnished like him. tina. for tricksy
word
Defy the matter.
Lord, what fools these mortals be-"
cries Puck. as If to dispel any lingering
doubt that for a complete list of
Shakespeares fools the great poet
would send us outside of the personae
of his dramas. off the stage, through
the audience and into the world, where
each man lin his time plays many
parts" Art thou wise?" asks Touch
stone of Poor Will in las You Like IT.
(Aet 5, scene II ''Ay, sir; l have
pretty wit answers VIII. why" says
thou sayest well. / do
now remember a saying, The fool doth
think he is wise. but the wise man
knows himself TO be fool" In their
wise moments fools off the stage learn
what their follies are from the wise
fools and foolish wise men whom the
dramatist puts on the stage for their in
struction and enjoyment And this is
doubtless one of the principal reasons