I need to know about clowns in Shakespeare's plays?
Were there traditional clowns in Shakespeare's plays?
Who is the most famous?
Who looks like the most traditional clown costume?
There is a whole book about clowns in Shakespeare:
"The Stage Clown in Shakespeare's Theatre" by Bente A. Videbaek
ISBN: 0-313-29872-6
Online at Questia: http://www.questia-online-library.com/read/28632490
Here is the table of contents that gives you the names of Shakespeare's clowns:
Minor Roles: Cameo Appearance, Great Effect
-----Rustic Clowns in Titus Andronicus, The Taming of the Shrew, Antony and Cleopatra
-----Servant Clowns in Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Timon of Athens, The Tempest
-----Miscellaneous Clowns in Richard III, Hamlet, Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale
Major Roles: Expanded Function
-----Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing
-----The Dromios in The Comedy of Errors, Speed and Launce in The Two Gentlemen of Verona
-----Costard in Love's Labour's Lost, Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice
-----Pompey in Measure for Measure
The Court Jesters in the Comedies
-----Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well
-----Touchstone in As You Like It
-----Feste in Twelfth Night
The Clown as "The Bitter Fool"
-----Thersites in Troilus and Cressida
-----Lear's Fool in King Lear
Falstaff as Clown
-----The Henriad
-----The Merry Wives of Windsor
Clown Characteristics in Non-Clown Characters
-----Philip the Bastard in King John
-----Hamlet in Hamlet
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So for the most famous clown, you might look at Bottom in Midsummer's Night Dream or Lancelot Gobbo in the Merchant of Venice - but you also might use one of the court jesters like Lavatch.
Here is another site devoted to clowns in Shakespeare: http://donatopresents.com/shakespeare/kemp2.html
As to costumes - check out Shakespeare Illustrated from Emery University - if you click on a play it gives you resources for images of costumes and sets: http://www.english.emory.edu/classes/Shakespeare_Illustrated/plays.html
Cheers
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