A discussion of fools and the Renaissance stage would not be complete if it excluded Shakespeare's characters. According to Frederick Warde, playing the "Fool successfully required a man of more than ordinary wisdom [...]. He must be a man of great observation, judgement, and understanding; quick to take advantage of every occasion for the exercise of his wit" (16-17). In Twelfth Night, Viola comments on the skills a fool must have:
This fellow is wise enough to play the fool,In other words, the wise fool pays attention to the mood and social status of his patron, as well as to the appropriate timing of his jest. Warde suggests that "the man who [...] [wore] the motley of the medieval fool might don today the robe of the justice, or the toga of the statesman with dignity to the office and honour to himself" (17). The fools of Shakespeare's later career (after Armin joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men) certainly demonstrate a profound wisdom often lacking in the characters who are justices and statesmen.
And to do that well craves a kind of wit.
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labour as a wise man's art[.] (3.1.53-59)
-- Victoria Abboud, 2001