'A fool upon record': the redefinition of the Caroline stage fool

In the 1630s, two central cultural arbiters sought to eliminate the figure of the fool from English culture. Both the city and court decried fools as figures of past barbarism. Yet, as this article seeks to demonstrate, rather than eliminating the fool from plays, Caroline playwrights rework the foo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Seventeenth century Vol. 39; no. 4; pp. 539 - 558
Main Author Roulo, Nikki
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Durham Routledge 03.07.2024
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
17th century
Antitheatrical writing
British culture
Caroline theatre
Charles I's court
Drama
early modern
fools texts
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Summary:In the 1630s, two central cultural arbiters sought to eliminate the figure of the fool from English culture. Both the city and court decried fools as figures of past barbarism. Yet, as this article seeks to demonstrate, rather than eliminating the fool from plays, Caroline playwrights rework the fool to go undetected within the social reform of the court and by the more radical anti-theatrical writers. By doing so, Caroline playwrights in effect allowed any intellect in early modern London to fool. The article examines three bodies of writing (court censorship records, antitheatrical writing and the Caroline plays themselves), to trace how this modified fool becomes rearticulated as a city wit, who still maintains the responsibilities of a fool.
ISSN:0268-117X
2050-4616
DOI:10.1080/0268117X.2024.2373065