The fool in Hamlet? (7,5)

I believe the answer is:

village idiot

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'the' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether it can be defined by this definition.

'fool in hamlet?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'fool' could be 'idiot' (synonyms) and 'idiot' is present in the answer.
'hamlet?' could be 'village' ('village' can be a synonym of 'hamlet') and 'village' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.