Page 3.A. The Fool Will Kempe.

Page 3.A. Kempe was the Fool who served in many of Shakespeare's early plays, for example as Dogberry in Much Ado, but he had dropped out of the company by 1600, though he may have played the role of Falstaff before he left. He was famous for his jigs at the end of plays, and this picture appears in a book commemorating his dance from London to Norwich: Nine Daies Wonder. Hamlet attacks Fools who distract the audience by making them laugh (III.ii.38-45). Is Hamlet right? HMR Courtesy of the Huntington Library, San Marino CA.