Robert Armin - Lord Chamberlain's Men

Lord Chamberlain's Men

The timing of Armin's joining the Chamberlain's Men is as mysterious as its occasion. That it was connected to Kempe's departure has been generally accepted; however, the reasons for that departure are not clear. One traditional view—that the company in general or Shakespeare specifically had begun to tire of Kempe's old-fashioned clowning—is still current, though the main evidence for this view consists of Kempe's departure and the type of comic roles Shakespeare wrote after 1600. Armin played on the Globe stage by August 1600; Wiles theorizes that he may have joined the Chamberlain’s Men in 1599, but continued to perform solo pieces at the Curtain; however, he may also have played with the company at the Curtain, while Kempe was still a member.

Armin is generally credited with all the "licensed fools" in the repertory of the Chamberlain's and King's Men: Touchstone in As You Like It, Feste in Twelfth Night, the Fool in King Lear, Lavatch in All's Well That Ends Well, and perhaps Thersites in Troilus and Cressida, the Porter in Macbeth, the Fool in Timon of Athens, and Autolycus in The Winter's Tale. Touchstone is the fool of these three about which there is the most critical debate. Harold Bloom describes him as "rancidly vicious," and writes that "this more intense rancidity works as a touchstone should, to prove the true gold of Rosalind’s spirit". John Palmer disagrees and writes that "he must be either a true cynic or one that affects his cynicism to mask a fundamentally genial spirit". Obviously, as Palmer continues, a true cynic does not belong in Arden, so the clown "must be a thoroughly good fellow at heart". Touchstone affects the front of a malcontented cynic, thus serving as proof of Rosalind’s quick wit. When she confronts both Jaques and Touchstone, she exposes their silliness and prevents the fools from making Arden out to be worse than it really is.

Feste was almost certainly written for Armin, as he is a scholar, a singer, and a wit. Feste’s purpose is to reveal the foolishness of those around him. Lear’s fool differs from both Touchstone and Feste as well as from other clowns of his era. Touchstone and Feste are philosopher-fools; Lear’s fool is the natural fool of whom Armin studied and wrote. Armin here had the opportunity to display his studies. The fool speaks the prophecy lines, which he tells—largely ignored—to Lear before disappearing from the play altogether. Lear’s fool is hardly around for entertainment purposes; rather, he is present to forward the plot, remain loyal to the king, and perhaps to stall his madness.

Although Armin typically played these intelligent clown roles, he is also thought to have originated the role of Iago in Othello.

In non-Shakespearean roles, he probably played Pasarello in John Marston's The Malcontent; indeed, Marston may have added the part for him when the play was produced by the King's Men. Armin appears in the cast list for Ben Jonson's The Alchemist; he may have played Drugger. He is also presumed to have been the clown in George Wilkins's The Miseries of Inforst Marriage.

He is not named in the cast list for Jonson's Catiline (1611), and other evidence suggests that he retired in 1609 or 1610. The preface to the Two Maids quarto confides, "I would have again enacted John myself, but tempora mutantur in illis, and I cannot do as I would". He was buried in late 1615.

In London, he resided in the parish of St. Botolph's Aldgate; three of his children named in the parish register appear to have died before adulthood. Fellow King's Man Augustine Phillips bequeathed him twenty shillings as a "fellow"; John Davies of Hereford wrote Armin a complimentary epigram. His burial is recorded in the Registers of St Botolph's as 30.11.1615.