Chernozemova E.N., Erofeeva N.E., Kuznetsova A.I.

 

Buffoons from the Renaissance to the Restoration: England in the second half of the 17th century in Rose Tremain’s novel Restoration (1989, Russian translation 2005). Pp. 135–144.

UDC 821.111-31.09″19″

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2025.89.4.014

 

Abstract. The purpose of the article is to build a transformation of the functions of buffoons and buffoonery within the English 17th century from the Renaissance to the Restoration. The analysis is carried out on the basis of cultural, historical and comparative methods when comparing the functions of buffoon personages in the plays of the turn of the 16th–17th cc. — the Shakespearean stage in the development of English drama — and how the Restoration is reflected in the English novel of the twentieth century. The main texts analyzed are: Robert Greene’s Honourable Historie of Frier Bacon and Frier Bongay (probably 1589) and Rose Tremaine’s novel Restoration (1989, Russian translation 2005). We also bring in the contexts of Donna Tarth’s novel The Secret History, film adaptations, plays by Shakespeare and his younger contemporaries.

The article carries out a comparative analysis of the motives of madness, disguise, dance of the insane, the function of buffoons telling the truth and revealing the essence.

As a result of the analysis, we conclude that the functions of buffoons change dramatically from the Renaissance to the Restoration, for the ethical and aesthetic attitudes of theatrical life change. They lose the function of revealing the truth. At the same time, the buffoon still exposes the essence of situations, even if unconsciously.

 

Keywords: functions of jesters, motive of madness, motive of disguise, dance of the insane.

 

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