The San Francisco call., 1899-12-07

Fool-That lord that counselrd thee
To give away thy land.
Come place him here by me,
Do thou for him stand
The sweet and bitter fool
VIII presently appear:
The one in motley here.
The other found out there.
Lear-Dost thou call me fool. boy7
Fool-AIl thy other titles thou hast given away;
that thou was born with.
Tho wearer of the motley Is not often
the real fool of the play aftef all. Mall
volio. Olvia's steward, in Twelfth
Night" so gravely 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 lofty in his self-conceit 10 coun-
tenance folly in any form-how does
Shakespeare leave him in our esteem as
void with Malvolio of a saving sense Of
humor, Polonius, the sly old politician IN
Hamlet" so wise in his schemes for his
children's advancement-how does lie
fare under the dramatists hand? What
a fool Hamlet makes OF him! Shakes
peare makes Viola say of the fool Feste
("Twelfth Night" act III, scene -:
This fellow is wise enough TO play the fool;
He must observe their mood on whom he tests.
The quality Of persons and the time.
Not like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
AS full Of labor as a wise mans art;
For folly that he wisely shows Is mt:
But wise mems folly. shown, quite taints their
And Celia in "As You Like II" (act 1.
scene p. after Touchstone has declared II
a pity that fools may not speak wisely
what wise men do foolishly. replies in
the same vein: "By my troth. thou sayest
true; for since the little wit that fools
have was silenced, the little foolery tnat
fool in Lear" also, when. Immediately
after the sharp taunt quoted above, Kent
remarks to the King: This is not alto
gether fool, my lord at once reIoins:
let me: II 1 had a monopoly out they
would have part on Z; and ladies', too,
they will not let me have all fool to my
self; they'll be snatching.'
In these and similar passages Shakes
peare not only intimates the frequent su-
periority of the fool over the worldly wise
among the characters, but by unmistak-
able signs possesses us OF the uncomfort-
able suspicion that perhaps some or the
biggest fools of all are not on the stage,
but fronting IL, unconsciously furnishing
the laughter at their own expense.
Lorenzo in the Merchant OF Venice" (act
III, scene 81 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
A many fools that stand in better place.
Garnished like him. that for trieksy WORD
Defy the matter.
.Iord. what fools these mortals be-"
cries Puck, as IL to dlspel any lingering
doubt that for a complete list OF SNAKES
peare's fools the great poet would send
us outside of the personae or the dramas,
off the stage, through the audience and
into the world, where each man in mis-
time plays many parts. Art fnou wise
Like It." (Act V, scene u "Ay. sir; l
have a pretty wit" answers VIII.
why" says Touchstone. thou SAFEST
well. 1 do now remember a saying, Inc
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 dra-
matist puts on the stage for their In
struction and enjoyment. And this is
doubtless cne of the principal reasons for
the existence in Shakespeare )r so many
varieties OF fools and clowns.
They like the children mentioned in the
adage, are privileged TO speak the truth,
opportunely and i1opp0rtqtney; IN a,oniIS gnSon ne
with Il when we are on our guard. 10
please us with II as Jacques was pleased
when he found Touchstone so deep CON
templative," or 10 startle us with II as
Lear was startled when the FOOLS words
darted an unwelcome truth home. II can
tell why snail m has a houset says the
his head in" answers the fool, bluntiy;
mot TO give 1t away 70 his daughters"
Imogen spoke very wisely and In double
sense when she said c'Cymoellne, act IL.
scene 81 that "fools are not mad folks"
We cannot doubt that Shakespeare looked
with smiling complacency upon the stage
fools or MS own CItdllOH Win conf
plete serenity upon their brethren IN the
world reflected I'm the plays. On some OF
them he has bestowed almost more than
their share of aphoristic wit and philos-
ophy. He does not allow us TO feel con-
tempt for eny of them he protects them
from our ridicule and often turns the
laugh away from them and upon some
humorless wiseacre, some non-lauRher or
laughter-hater. like Malvolio. We laugh
for the most part with the fool and rot
at him: and when we do laugh at him IL
is usually because of his own unmistak-
able invitation. 1t is the laughable in
common human nature and I'm social stu
alton that Shakespeare makes US recog-