Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night promotes the idea of living in the moment. This lifestyle based on Carpe Diem brings happiness to some characters, as it did with Sir Toby Belch, Sebastian Roderigo of Messaline and Feste the fool. Through their experiences and actions, this play demonstrates the influence and impact this theme can have on their lives. Time ceases to elude them, as they utilize every second in each instant that passes them by, while they give no thought towards the future.

While life can be a burden on some people, Sir Toby uses Carpe Diem to eliminate stress and cause joy and entertainment for him. One of things he does to show this theme, is that he does not allow anything to make him refrain him from living life to its fullest. When Maria asks him to control his behaviour in Olivia's house, he replies by saying, “Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am” (Twelfth Night, 1.3.9). This shows how Carpe Diem plays a very important role within Toby's life: he permits no obstacles to stand in his way and demolishes any that do block his path of living freely. Although this shows that Sir Toby lives as he wills, he also uses and manipulates other people, such as Olivia the Countess and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, to provide for the necessities, such as food and shelter, whilst excluding the need to do any work. He says to himself, “Marry, I'll ride [Andrew's] horse as well as I ride you” (3.4.266). His manipulative traits validate the fact that characters such as Sir Andrew are only a pawn within his game of life. He persuades him to do his bidding, which gives him advantage over the situation and an opportunity to 'seize the day'. Sir Toby shows his use of beguilement is used when he makes other people do the wo...

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...ile taking the easy and less arduous life. Albeit, Sebastian brings no difficulty to others, he receives happiness, while providing no strenuous work on his part. From the three, Feste has a bigger impact on representing this theme. He emits wisdom, which he bestows on other, with the main message of living before it is too late. This makes him stand apart from the rest, since this provides the proof that Carpe Diem is a prevalent theme, as well as a moral within Twelfth Night. As it may not always be the most efficient way of dealing with life, these characters demonstrate the many influences it can have in their decision-making as well as providing a lesson that can forever be used to escape the difficulties in this world.

Work Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Ed. Roma Gill. Oxford School Shakespeare. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press, 2001.