One_of_the_many_court_jesters_(8489822016)
Everything indicates that they were the best comedians of their time, the Middle Ages. Contrary to what many people think, these commoners paid to entertain the nobility and royalty were not crazy, nor were they part of the team of victims of physical deformities, such as hunchbacks and dwarfs, that many courts adopted as a private circus. “The court jesters were not silly at all. They had several skills: versifying, juggling and mime. They were, mainly, people with talent, wisdom and sensitivity to amuse others”, says historian Nachman Falbel, from USP.
Especially in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the jester was part of the group of artists supported by the courts, along with painters, musicians and poets. Who best defined his position with the powerful was the genius of the English theater William Shakespeare (1564-1616), who highlighted the figure of fools giving them roles of great importance in his work. “In plays like King Lear and Twelfth Night, the fool is the smartest of the characters. He is licensed to say what no one else dares to say”, says John Milton, professor of English Literature at USP. The character’s freedom is so great that he even criticizes the kings themselves, with acidic comments that amuse the audience. “In Shakespeare’s theatre, the audience doesn’t laugh at the court jesters, they laugh along with them”, says Milton.
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