Another way in which the Shakespearean fool entertains the audience is through dramatic irony. This is when the audience knows of something but the characters on stage don’t. An example of this is what the fairies in Midsummer Nights Dream do. They manage to trick the characters on stage without them having a clue. They make fools out of the main characters.
The Fools songs, riddles and jokes are a source of comic relief, used to break up the intensity of scenes. The Fool appears to have a deceptively simple part in the play when in actual fact his role is of key significance. The Fool and Lear have a fascinating relationship throughout the play. Lear seems to depend on his Fool increasingly to be his voice of reason or his conscience, because he reminds Lear of all his mistakes and manipulates his feelings into realising them. This is a great irony as the King who is supposed to be wise is in-fact a fool, yet the Fool himself is full of
A tragic hero is virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy that is destined for a downfall. The hero learns from his mistakes and is the protagonist in the story. To be a tragic hero the character must display the elements of a Greek tragedy. In the play ‘Antigone' by Sophocles, Creon forbids Polynices to be buried because he fought with his brother for the throne and wanted the throne to destroy Thebes. Antigone; Polynices sister tries to bury him and Creon has her captured for a punishment.
Hubris destroys people, it can blind people to the reality of their situation and leads them to their downfalls as shown by the characters in Sophocles’ plays Antigone and Oedipus Rex. By looking at Oedipus and Creon, the careful reader can see how the excessive pride of each character leads them to their doom. In the play Oedipus Rex an example of Oedipus’ excessive pride is when he is asked to move aside by the former King of Thebes, Laios and Oedipus refuses. Oedipus’ pride overwhelms him and drives him into a murderous rage, as Sophocles illustrates, “the groom leading the horses forced me off the road at his lords’ command; but as the chariot lurched over towards me I struck him in my rage …He was paid, back and more!” (Oedipus Rex 43). In his rage, Oedipus kills the old man and his fellow travelers.
Willy Russell uses superiority theory to engage the audience by creating comedy through the misfortune of others. The character of Frank is very cynical as he fails to see the good in anybody for a majority of the play and he believes that other people are motivated purely by self-interest. However, some people may argue that cruelty and cynicism are not at the heart of the comedy in the play and that the play could still be successful without these themes. One theme that could be seen as superior to cruelty and cynicism is culture and class because this theme causes confusion and misunderstanding between the two characters which as a result produces comedy. In the play ‘Educating Rita’ cruelty and cynicism feature a great deal.
Throughout the play he is marginalized because he is a Fool, but since he is the Fool no one pays attention to him and he uses this title as an advantage to speak of the truth. “May not an ass know the cart draws the horse/Whoop, Jug! I love thee.” This is where the audience sees the
Iago, who is known as the Machiavellian villain perpetuates the tragedy by bringing forward a hamartia or a fatal flaw from Othello. As soon as the play begins, Shakespeare used dramatic irony to illustrate Othello’s view of Iago as an honest and trustworthy man through his repeated description of “honest Iago” and “a man of exceeding honesty” to the audience. Of course that is not the case, the audience views Iago to be “Janus-faced” and deceptive through his constant declaration of “I am not what I am” and how he “hates the moor”. This juxtaposition is created so that the audience can empathise with Othello. I know I can definitely empathise with him.
If Hamlet were to have seen his father’s ghost by himself, there would be a greater argument for him being insane from the outset of the play. Hamlet also exerts control over his actions, which is the main reason why it could be argued that he is sane. He actively tries to convince Polonius that he has gone mad - mocking him when he would usually be respectful, acting cruelly towards Ophelia whom he was clearly affectionate to earlier in the play. He does this in the hope that Polonius will tell the court of his madness. Hamlet is often hesitant to do things, for example where he had the chance to kill Claudius in the chapel but couldn’t bring himself to do it, not because he would be killing another human but because he wanted Claudius to suffer and not go straight to Heaven.
Feste’s purpose in ‘Twelfth Night’ is simply one to make us laugh. Discuss. A fool is generally depicted as a wise and intelligent peasent who uses their wit to outdo people of higher social class and in this sense, is very similar to the real jesters throughout history. Feste’s intelligence is often questioned and as a character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; Feste plays a very important role throughout the play. Feste frequently causes amusement and makes the audience laugh; he also draws a realistic sense of Elizabethan society into the play.
Cordelia takes on this role by unconditionally loving her father and furthermore forgiving Lear for banishing her, which is seen when she says “No cause, no cause.” (4.7). Edgar takes on a similar role by forgiving his father for going against him when he was tricked by Edmund and taking care of Gloucester in his blindness at the end of the play. The other characters, however, give into temptation and sin more frequently. Pride, for example, is a prominent sin that affects many characters, Lear being a prime example. Lear's pride keeps him from listening to the advice of Kent, the king's most loyal follower, after he banishes Cordelia and admitting he may have been wrong.