Fools in traditional royal households were seen as imbecils and jesters, nothing more. The older role of a royal fool, which Shakespeare adopted from the pagan setting of King Lear, was to correct minor faults and incongruencies in their masters. By detatching the Fool from a conventional fool's role, Shakespeare allows for the crowd's suspention of disbelief in the Fool's ability to get away with the comments he makes to the King. In the opening …showed first 75 words of 849 total…

…showed last 75 words of 849 total…clear through his interactions with the Fool on many different levels. At the end of the play, Lear appears as a father, a man, and something the audience can feel for and pity. The Fool plays an integral role in the manipulation of the audience's evolution of feeling. Lear walks through a world of deceit; the Fool walks with him like a halo of truth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography** Shakespeare, William. King Lear. New York: Signet Classic, 1987.