More handpicked essays just for you.
Analysis of the play twelfth night
Shakespeare's plot and characterization
Literary criticism on twelfth night
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
When compared to Shakespeare’s other comedies, ‘Twelfth Night’ can be said to be the darkest. As the last of his comedies, it fits that ‘Twelfth Night’ would be progressively darker, ending not on a note of true happiness but rather one of melancholy that strives to emphasize that “that’s all one” and therefore insignificant. Though it fits comic tradition with slapstick humour, unrequited courtly love, confusion, potential for tragedy but ultimately a happy ending, ‘Twelfth Night’ is prevailingly dark, showing the flaws in a society living for pleasure and determined to indulge in ‘cakes and ale’. There is no middle ground; the puritan views of Malvolio are seen as ‘self love’ and the indulgence of Orsino as ‘high fantastical’. This would indicate that in the world of Illyria the only way for characters to maintain a semblance of self is in fantasy and imagination as reality is cruel. Continual references to ‘mad’ and ‘madness’ (mentioned more times in ‘Twelfth Night’ than any of Shakespeare’s other plays) enforces the idea that Illyria is not a pleasant place, and that the inhabitants are ‘mad’ and therein malicious in their attempts to become ‘that selfsame king’, ‘nothing can come between me and the full prospect of my hopes’.
‘Malvolio’, meaning ‘I wish evil’, describes perfectly the tensions in ‘Twelfth Night’, especially in the sub-plot involving Maria and Sir Toby. Though Malvolio brings their dislike of him on himself, ‘he is sick of self love’, the way in which Sir Toby and Maria ‘revenge’ themselves on Malvolio seems unnecessarily cruel, ‘I will fool him black and blue’. Rather than stopping at foolery, Sir Toby is determined to cause physical harm, as if driving Malvolio to the near end of sanity is not enough. This...
... middle of paper ...
...it does not seem as if the characters will simply live happily without continuing the cycle of revenge. Shakespeare shows the intricacies of humanity and in ‘Twelfth Night’ the dominance of the ‘darker’ side, echoing Freud in his belief that human nature consists of good overpowering bad, yet containing bad all the same. Even for the ‘all licensed fool’ there is very little happiness to be found in the ‘corruption’ of Illyria and ‘it’s all the same’ is significant as it shows hopelessness on the part of Feste regarding the activities in Illyria. The Victorian renaming of ‘Twelfth Night’ is therefore appropriate in that although in appearance it is a well meaning comedy, Shakespeare concluded that ‘Nothing that is so, is so’ and in the case of ‘Twelfth Night’ where ‘high fantastical’ is seated alongside ‘sick… self love’, ‘Malvolio’ embodies the spirit of the play.
Joseph, Bertram. Rev. of The Twelfth Night of Shakespeare’s Audience, by John W. Draper. Review of English Studies 3.10 (1952): 170-71. Print.
Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life situations, which is similar to the way a playwright such as Shakespeare interacts with his audience. Furthermore, more so than the other characters in the play he accomplishes this in a highly performative way, involving song and clever wordplay that must be decoded, and is thus particularly reflective of the mechanisms at the command of the playwright. Feste is a representation of the medieval fool figure, who is empowered by his low status and able to speak the truth of the kingdom. A playwright speaks the truth by using actors and fictional characters, who are in a parallel low status in comparison to the audience, as they lack the dimensionality of real people. Thus, the role Feste plays in the lives of the characters in the play resembles the role the play itself plays in the lives of the audience watching the performance. This essay will explore this comparison first by analyzing similarities between the way in which Feste interacts with other characters and the way the playwright interact with the audience, and then focus on the similarities between the aims and content of these interactions.
Dobson, Michael. “Twelfth Night” in The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Trevor Nunn’s (1996) adaptation of Twelfth Night illustrates the complexity of Feste’s character and how important he is to the overall play. Ben Kingsley, the actor, presents Feste as sympathetic and gentle choric figure. It is Feste who allows the audience to see the films respect for the original play, and the existing issues within it. This includes the defencelessness of women, and the attractive, but dangerous, qualities of altering one’s true sexual identity. Interestingly, unlike the original script, Nunn opens his first scene with Feste observing Viola struggle to shore after the shipwreck she has experienced. In this context, Kingsley’s Feste is revealed for the first time. He is shown as a mysterious and isolated individual, who stands afar, waiting and observing, high up among the towering cliffs. He only chuckles and hums a tune, as he silently watches Viola mourn. He holds no facial expression, neither teary nor auspicious and his physical appearance does not represent a common Jester in Elizabethan times. In view of Feste’s silent observation of Viola, one is able to speculate some sort of connection between the two characters. Given that he is a compassionate man, he is not taken aback by what the world has evolved to nor does he accept its change. He shows interest in the obstacles Viola faces as a woman stranded on unfamiliar soil, and wonders about her ability to remain strong after witnessing the brutal loss of her brother. However, what seems to captivate his attention is her ability to maintain the role of a man in a country at war. The true question running through his mind is can she do it? It is through this that one is able to see Feste’s knowledge of women’s ability to achieve higher than their limited p...
In conclusion, Through Feste's clever use of language, he takes on a role separate from his character. Although he partakes in the play, he also becomes the narrator in his respective parts. While voicing what he clearly perceives, Feste is able to make others more aware of what is going on around them, and also within them. By juggling both the roles of character and narrator, Feste is able to artfully bring forth the truth not only to the characters, but also to the audience. Furthermore, by expressing his opinions in such subtle ways, as through songs, ridicule and use of wordplay, Feste fulfills his purpose without a chance of punishment or feelings of resentment hence the title “Twelfth Night.” Therefore, Shakespeare's decision to make a character such as a court jester the narrator was the perfect fit as Feste's choice of words themselves.
In the end he finds his place and is led back to where he started. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night the main theme of identity is portrayed quite well in the character Malvolio as he struggles with finding his position in the world. Malvolio struggles with his identity throughout the This leads Maria to formulate a plan using his pride as his downfall. Though Malvolio is a servant he is positive that he is meant for greatness.
In Twelfth Night the relationships are anything but romantic. Shakespeare writes from the male point of view which implies an un-easy split between love and physical charm. In Twelfth night the romance is falsely produced by selfish desire. Duke Orsino and Viola stand out from the other relationships. By questioning the relationships between the other couples, Shakespeare highlights the true love between Viola and Orsino and the fake relationship of Malvolio and Olivia which is truly based on Malvolio’s desire of a higher status , despite his status and his personality , Malvolio tries to impress Olivia by dressing up in ridiculous clothes , which does far from his aim , and repulses Olivia.
While uncovering aesthetic and emotional mysteries, the Illyrians find that disport restrains them from actual enjoyment and love. The play follows the audience to motivate them towards dissemination of feelings and expression of passion as a “locus of growth and self discovery” (Logan 223) and to obtain true happiness by ridding themselves of excessive, meaningless fun. By constructing an ideal universe, Shakespeare attributes intricate symbolism of characters within the utopian backdrop to the individual desire of festivity, lust, and enjoyment present in human culture which in excess is not beneficial. Shakespeare “evokes its audience a recognition of the limits of festivity by abolishing such limits in the stage-world of Illyria”(Logan 223).
Barton, Anne. Introduction to Twelfth Night. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 403-407.
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
There is a certain degree of expectation with the genre of comedy that despite whatever difficulties appear within the play, by the end these will be resolved and the play will have a traditional happy-ending with a marriage or a celebration in the final scene. The “Twelfth Night” is no exception to this rule. Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they “have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as it should be, is marriage.”(Schwartz 5140). There is a resolution of harmony to a certain extent and an endorsement of romantic love yet despite the happiness evident in the last scene, there are many elements in the play that causes the audience to wonder whether the happiness is forced or genuine. The words of a departing Malvolio, “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack you.”(Twelfth Night 5.1.365) leads to a conflict being unresolved. The marriage of Olivia and Sebastian also leads the audience to question whether Shakespeare has pushed the limitations of comedy to far, as Olivia marries Sebastian who she believes to Cesario and whose identity is only revealed after. The appearance of Antonio in the last scene also casts a sombre ambience over events; he is not united with the one he loves though he was willing to sacrifice his life for what he believed to Sebastian’s safety. The last discourse of the play from Festes once again returns to the melancholic mood that was apparent in the opening and it is this mood that remains with the audience.
Atkin, Graham. Twelfth Night : Character Studies. London: Continuum, 2008. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 13 Apr. 2014.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has been performed hundreds of times and adapted into a number of modern films. The main plot of the play follows Viola, a girl who is rescued from a shipwreck and enters into the service of the Duke Orsino disguised as a man. Rising quickly in his estimation, Viola begins delivering messages of love on his behalf to Olivia, a noble woman who has no interest in Orsino’s advances. Over the course of the play Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly died in the shipwreck, returns. Following Sebastian’s return the twins are mistaken for each other, leading to both misunderstanding and marriage in the final scenes of the play. Alongside the main plot of Twelfth Night is an almost equally prominent subplot involving Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, who falls in love with her and who falls prey to a prank planned by the other members of the household who despise his abhorrence of fun. In the article “The Design of Twelfth Night” by L.G. Salingar, Salingar examines the plot and structure of the play and addresses the significance of the subplot. The purpose of this essay is to examine both evidence from the play and articles from other authors, with a focus on Salingar, who have written on the subject in order to determine the purpose of the subplot. In his article, Salingar comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the subplot is to provide a comic mirror of the main plot while amplifying the main themes of delusion, misrule and festivity. Salingar presents a solid argument, however he has neglected another lesser but significant element of the sub-plot which illustrate...
Shakespeare’s dramatic theatre performances have long endured the test of time. His tales of love and loss, and even some history, make a reader think about events in their own life and what they wish to accomplish in life. Though written for the stage, Shakespeare’s plays have life lessons that readers of the great works can take put into effect in their own lives. Some may say that his plays are out dated, and are something of the past; though they were written in the 1600’s, they have morals and themes that can apply to life. “You've got to contend with versification, poetic license, archaisms, words that we don't even use any more, and grammar and spelling that were in a state of flux when the works were written,” says Pressley in an attempt to explain how to read Shakespeare. Once read and understood, however, one can start to compare and contrast different plays. The ways in which Shakespeare’s two plays King Lear and Much Ado About Nothing are similar out numbers the instances they are different, even though one is a Shakespearian tragedy while the other is a comedy.
Mistaken identity and disguise are important aspects of comedy in Twelfth Night that stand at the forefront of the play’s comedy. Not only are mistaken identities and disguise evident within the main plot of the play but also in various other situations. Sexual confusion amongst characters, subversion of gender roles and farcical elements through stagecraft all effectively contribute to the dramatic comedy genre. However, it can be suggested that certain elements of Twelfth Night are not interpreted to be purely comedic; Shakespeare has incorporated serious and controversial subjects such as the idea of genuine love, the patriarchy of the time and the cruel gulling of Malvolio. Therefore, disguise and mistaken identity are not solely for the purpose of comedy and it could be inferred that it even borders on the genre of tragedy.