fool

fool, a comic entertainer whose madness or imbecility, real or pretended, made him a source of amusement and gave him license to abuse and poke fun at even the most exalted of his patrons. Professional fools flourished from the days of the Egyptian pharaohs until well into the 18th century, finding a place in societies as diverse as that of the Aztecs of Mexico and the courts of medieval Europe. Often deformed, dwarfed, or crippled, fools may have been kept for luck as well as for amusement, in the belief that deformity can avert the evil eye and that abusive raillery can transfer ill luck from the abused to the abuser. Fool figures played a part in the religious rituals of India and pre-Christian Europe, and, in some societies, such as that of Ireland in the 7th century bc, they were regarded as being inspired with poetic and prophetic powers. The raillery of the fool and his frequent ritual association with a mock king suggest that he may have originated as a sacrificial scapegoat substituted for a royal victim. A resemblance between the sacrificial garments of ancient ritual and the costume of a household jester in the Middle Ages—coxcomb, eared hood, bells, and bauble, with a motley coat—has been noted.

The earliest record of the use of court fools dates from the 5th dynasty of Egypt, whose pharaohs attached great value to Pygmies brought from the mysterious lands to the south, apparently employing them as dancers and buffoons. Fools were a part of many wealthy households of imperial Rome, in which imbecility and deformity fetched high prices in the slave markets. References to household fools appear increasingly in records from the 12th through the 15th century. Fools were attached to courts, private households, taverns, and even brothels. In the 18th century, household jesters declined in western Europe but flourished in Russia, and offending courtiers were sometimes degraded to court jesters.

The figure of the fool has also been important in literature and drama. The clown-player in Shakespeare’s dramatic company, Robert Armin, was interested in household fools and published a historical account of them in 1605. His knowledge may have influenced the playwright, who produced some of the best-known fools in literature: Touchstone in As You Like It; Feste in Twelfth Night; and the fool in King Lear. See also fool’s literature.