About A Fool

I second Em, thanks so much Nigel.
The Fool in "King Lear" is a fascinating character because his title is fool but he makes the most sense in the whole play. He plays the side note of intelligent thought; in modern plays his role would be like the narrator. The fool helps Lear throughout the play by guiding him with his wisdom, which is a good picture because Lear is basically loosing his mind. At the same time, the fool is seen as an incomplete character because he keeps appearing and disappearing through the duration of the play; the fool shows up in times of stress(on Lear's part) to help the audience know what Lear "should do" in these awful times, but chooses not to(which adds to the tragedy of the story). The overall purpose of the fool is to make sure the audience knows what is going on in the play (he gives direction in all aspects). At times the fool can be seen as a sarcastic character, because he points out the odveous, but he is really a character of compasion and intelligence.