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Playing the Fool in my mid 30s
Exploring the Fool archetype from Shakespeare to clown phobias
The Fool has been appearing to me everywhere recently. Or perhaps it’s just that I’ve been noticing him. I have missed him. I’m frightened of him. I wonder why people remove him disapprovingly from the card deck before they start a game.
The city I live in is full of sad and happy clowns. The humour is physical, dirty and cheeky. It’s quick and agile. People play verbal combat in the streets, markets and public spaces. And I used to look from afar and laugh quietly to myself.
This article comes from my newsletter I Don’t Give A Spoon!
There is something of the bull ring in Andalusian culture. The idea that when you enter, you enter like the torero, ready to defend yourself against an aggressive creature wishing you harm. In reality the bull is a defenceless creature needlessly killed for entertainment, and the majority of Spaniards don’t support the tradition. Yet Andalusia is the region where the majority of bullfights are held.
If we were to look upon this cruel “sport” as a kind of societal metaphor, it’s evident that there is a real joy in giving yourself completely to your art; defeating the bull, which symbolises one’s “fear” or “shame”. This…
