Jughead Jones: The Shakespearean Fools In Shakespeare

Abstract:Laughter, mirth and absurdity have always evoked interest in us. Shakespeare has been that one magician who gave us famous characters in this oeuvre known as the Shakespearean fools that one won’t forget. Teaching these characters can be fun and made more capturing by introducing contemporary characters from the world of comics and cartoons. Media has been replete with characters that incite laughter among the audience by buffoonery or being burlesque or being in their wittiest best. These figures seem to be an offshoot of the Shakespearean fool that germinated in their respective creators’ minds that were inspired after reading the Bard of Avon. They can be sole comic characters in a crowd of serious characters standing out individually

He is witty and mouths satirical dialogues. Unlike the central character, Archie, Jughead is not interested in girls but prefers to hang out with his sheepdog named Hotdog. Like the Shakespearean clown who is the confidante of the central figure, Jughead too is the best friend of Archie. He evokes laughter with his laziness and unusual antics. He always emerges as a victor whenever there is a tussle between him and his tormentors, especially with the character Reggie. Jughead always makes fun of the people who try to harm him or insult him and at the end walks away

If rest of the characters may be on a date or spending time with each other, Jughead prefers to spend time with food. His love for food has also sharpened his olfactory senses due to which he can detect the quality of food just by smelling a can or the container in which the food is kept. His sensitive taste buds can also find the slightest flaws in the preparation of a dish as result he is a revered food critic as well as a gourmet. Thus, once when he is seen trying his hand creative writing he ends up authoring his own cook book titled ‘Forsythe P.Jones Cook Book’. He is also blessed with an unusual metabolism rate due to which even after over eating he doesn’t put on weight. He frequently keeps on participating in various eating contests and records of gulping colossal burgers and loads of pizzas. He comes across as the unconventional winner in all these contests at a time when he is pitted against chubby looking competitors. On the contrary, Jughead is philanthropic as well. Though food is life for him but he is not selfish when the situation demands him to part from his food.Just like the Shakespearean jester, Jughead emerges to be an independent, strong and an entertaining character. He fools people around when they try to imitate him and thus, defies societal norms by not following a treaded path. Jughead can be fitted in the category of artificial foolswho possess verbal wit