This lively, lucid book undertakes a detailed study of Shakespeare's fascination with clowns, fools, and fooling. From the knockabout clowns of the early comedies, through the wise fools of the mature plays, to disturbing tragic figures who play the fool, Shakespeare dramatizes the pleasures and perils of fooling and folly, and evokes the mysterious possibilities of “foolosophy.” Esteemed scholar Robert H. Bell highlights the fun, wit, insight, and mystery of some of Shakespeare's most vibrant and sometimes vexing figures.
