The first time the Fool enters Shakespeare's King Lear, he immediately offers Kent his coxcomb, or jester's hat. Lear asks the Fool "My handsome scoundrel, how are you?" (1.4.98) This initial action and question of the Fool is representative of the relationship between the Fool and the other characters throughout the entire play. Generally, the Fool will say something nonsensical, or act in a seemingly illogical manner, and then explain his words and/or actions to let the reader know that he is actually the wisest man in the work. In the above-mentioned case the Fool inexplicably offers his comb to Kent. At first it seems that the Fool is simply behaving foolishly, because not even the King can understand the meaning of his actions and words. After explaining himself, however, the reader realizes that the Fool is not only no fool, but actually has a sharper wit than the King. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayA similar situation arises in Cervante's Don Quixote. Even more than King Lear, Don Quixote is out of his mind, and although his squire, Sancho Panza, constantly tries to help Don Quixote regain his sanity by pointing out his various crazy hallucinations, Don Quixote generally refuses to listen to his speeches . inferior servant. It should be noted that both the king's fool and the knight's squire are positions of servitude; the fool is used for entertainment purposes while the squire is a sort of janitor knight (pun intended). But as both Shakespeare and Cervantes point out, these servants of powerful men are used for the wrong purposes, and their words of wisdom are cast aside by the men who need them most. If King Lear and Don Quixote had listened to their "foolish" servants, both would have been spared great pain and, ultimately, their lives. At the end of both King Lear and Don Quixote, the reader is left wondering: why were the idiots the kings and knights while the truly wise were the fools and squires? There are countless explanations as to why Shakespeare and Cervantes chose this particular form of irony. One explanation made particularly clear in both works is that the ironic role reversal, where the leaders are the fools and the servants the wise, illustrates the injustices suffered by the lower classes, not because they are intellectually inferior, but because they lack money. There are many scenes throughout Don Quixote that highlight the fact that Sancho Panza would never have accepted the constant suffering and terrible misfortunes to which his master exposed him if he had not been promised financial reward, in this case an island . Similarly, in King Lear, the Fool must stay with his master even though he knows that his master has "gone numb" (1.4.171). Despite their lack of wealth, however, both the Fool and the Squire are wise enough to realize this. they are better off if they are smart and poor than rich and crazy. Furthermore, the suppression of their intelligence is a necessary part of their job. The Fool lets the reader know of his wise decision to refrain from showing his true intelligence through the words of his song "Have more than you show / Speak less than you know" (1.4.122-3), as well as when he says " I would rather be anything than a Fool. Yet I would not be you, uncle" (1.4.189-91). In Don Quixote we see that, although Sancho Panza desires economic prosperity, he is comfortable with his status as a peasant: "Even if it is only bread and onion that I eat in my corner without worrying about manners and ceremonies a.