2.3: A Rhymin' Fool
After rehearsal, I had a thought about the Fool's rhymes in 2.3. In our version of the text, he has three. First, while trying to persuade Lear to come in out of the storm, he sings:
The Codpiece that will house
Before the head has any
The Head and he shall Louse
So Beggars marry many.
And then, two lines later, another verse:
The man that makes his Toe
What he his Heart should make
Should of a Corn cry woe
And turn his sleep to wake.
Soon, Kent enters and manages to steer Lear towards shelter. Lear starts to exhibit signs of recognition and (uncharacteristically) sympathy for the Fool's plight. The Fool sings:
He that has and a tiny little wit
With heigh-ho, the Wind and the Rain
Must make content with his Fortunes fit
For the Rain it raineth every day.
It seems to be that the first two are both cautionary in nature--that is, they are designed to teach lessons (in this case, when you strip away the metaphors, the lesson is: don't go looking for trouble). So far so good; the Fool has been chastising and instructing Lear since his earliest entrance.
But the last rhyme, delivered after Kent has entered, and after Lear has made his remarkable lurch towards empathy ("I have one part in my heart that's sorry yet for thee"), seems to have the opposite message. It says: there's no avoiding trouble. And Lear says, "True, Boy--bring, let us to this Hovel." Which now sounds like a paradox (as in: "I agree, there's no avoiding trouble. Come on, let's go hide from trouble.")
I don't know what this says about Lear just yet (hmm...maybe...that he's insane?), but I do think the third rhyme indicates a shift in the Fool's direction in the scene.
Once Kent arrives, the Fool stops actively trying to coax Lear out of the storm. Is there something that Lear says or does that makes the Fool see the situation in a new light? Perhaps he looks in Lear's eyes and sees his madness emerging, and he realizes that Kent has arrived too late, in a sense--the damage has already been done.
The Codpiece that will house
Before the head has any
The Head and he shall Louse
So Beggars marry many.
And then, two lines later, another verse:
The man that makes his Toe
What he his Heart should make
Should of a Corn cry woe
And turn his sleep to wake.
Soon, Kent enters and manages to steer Lear towards shelter. Lear starts to exhibit signs of recognition and (uncharacteristically) sympathy for the Fool's plight. The Fool sings:
He that has and a tiny little wit
With heigh-ho, the Wind and the Rain
Must make content with his Fortunes fit
For the Rain it raineth every day.
It seems to be that the first two are both cautionary in nature--that is, they are designed to teach lessons (in this case, when you strip away the metaphors, the lesson is: don't go looking for trouble). So far so good; the Fool has been chastising and instructing Lear since his earliest entrance.
But the last rhyme, delivered after Kent has entered, and after Lear has made his remarkable lurch towards empathy ("I have one part in my heart that's sorry yet for thee"), seems to have the opposite message. It says: there's no avoiding trouble. And Lear says, "True, Boy--bring, let us to this Hovel." Which now sounds like a paradox (as in: "I agree, there's no avoiding trouble. Come on, let's go hide from trouble.")
I don't know what this says about Lear just yet (hmm...maybe...that he's insane?), but I do think the third rhyme indicates a shift in the Fool's direction in the scene.
Once Kent arrives, the Fool stops actively trying to coax Lear out of the storm. Is there something that Lear says or does that makes the Fool see the situation in a new light? Perhaps he looks in Lear's eyes and sees his madness emerging, and he realizes that Kent has arrived too late, in a sense--the damage has already been done.
posted by Scott Sharplin at 10:46 a.m.
3 Comments:
Is the fool's third verse a reference to the song in Twelfth Night Act 5, Scene 1:
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, &c.
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,
For the rain, &c.
But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, &c.
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain, &c.
But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, &c.
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain, &c.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, &c.
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day.
Was the song in Twelfth Night popular enough that Shakespeare could make a reference to it in Lear and it would bring to mind in his audience the other song? And if so, what would he be trying to do with that?
Just throwing some questions into the mix. :-)
Ah, this is what the grad students call "inter-textuality." There's no way to know how Shakespeare's audiences would have responded to the song, or whether Shakespeare was conjuring a deliberate echo or simply dipping into the same well twice. But it's fun to speculate.
What do you think it might mean?
Thanks! Now the question for you to answer is this: what changes? What does the Fool see/hear/realize that makes him go from desperation to resignation?
By the way, just because I use male pronouns when I refer to the Fool doesn't mean you have to play him as a man. I think he's androgynous, and you should assign whatever gender you like to him/her/it.
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