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—I have sinned: return, my son—: for I will no more do thee harm, because my soul was precious in thine eyes this day: behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.12
Through the ages, he who plays the fool and the clown has been an object of awe and fascination: in myths and legends, on the stages of theaters and opera houses and music halls, beside the thrones of kings, under the glittering Big Top and across the silver screen. Although his masks are many and his names are legion, he is always a figure apart, wrapped in immunity, whose excesses are overlooked, and whose taunts are smilingly forgiven. There he stands, an ancient child, moving us to laughter and to tears, and reminding us by his antics and pratfalls that man is never more than human. But, on occasions, the clown and the buffoon step forth from the footlights and the pages of history, and stand among us—real life fools, in a different kind of makeup.
Recognizing at the outset that there are many different kinds of clowns, both in life and on the stage, this paper shall first review some of the psychoanalytic contributions to the understanding of clowning, and shall then focus specifically upon that aspect of clowning which involves an identification with a father figure. A clinical case will be presented as illustrative of this phenomenon, as well as several historical and literary references.