17th century, dramatic character, England, English, Europe, play, primary source, quotes, Stuart
​In this play about Will Somers, the long-serving jester of Henry VIII (r. 1509-47), we have art imitating life, showing the spectrum of fiction-to-fact which a famous historical fool can encompass; Somers is not the only household name to have plays written about...
5th century, dramatic character, India, play, primary source, quotes, Sanskrit
Another neat riposte from vidusaka, the stock comic figure of Sanskrit drama, who bears a strikingly irreverant similarity to court jesters. Here, in Kalidasa’s in Malavika and Agnimitra,  the queen catches the king wooing a rival and vidusaka provides him a...
20th century, dramatic character, Europe, French, play, primary source, quotes
​A not uncommon trope in the jester-king relationship is the reversal of their roles, either in jest, or to provide a corrective to the king, or if the king is forced to take on the role of jester, as in Frank Wedekind’s play King Nicolo (1901). In another...
5th century, dramatic character, India, play, primary source, quotes, Sanskrit, stories
In The Little Clay Cart (Mycchakatika, attributed to Sudraka) the vidusaka Maitreya, whom we met earlier, shows a perhaps even greater degree of familiarity, loyalty and irreverence than Kalidasa’s vidusaka. Â He stands by his master even when the latter has lost...
20th century, dramatic character, Europe, German, Germany, play, primary source, quotes, stories
Occasionally, more in fiction than reality, the king changes place with the jester, sometimes willingly, occasionally under compulsion. There is an example of this role inversion featuring George Buchanan about whom many anecdotes classify him as a jester, although...
China, East Asia, quotes, research
There is much common ground between jesters and actors, particularly comic actors. Jesters could perform in court entertainments, whether impromptu skits or full-blown plays or masques. Similarly, actors could play the role of a jester either as a character in a...
18th century, dramatic character, Europe, German, Germany, play, primary source, quotes
Ludwig Tieck’s play Puss-in-Boots (1796) features a court scholar who in the king’s eyes has the same status and function as the jester, as he explains while hurling his sceptre at the scholar’s head: Sir Brazenbold of Scholarship! What presumption...
16th century, dramatic character, Europe, France, French, primary source, quotes
Like his court jester counterpart, the fool in French medieval drama was somehow on the edge of the arena of action and therefore more independent – it seems writers made more effort to vary his characterization than with other roles, or alternatively creativity...
