Twelfth Night” or “What You Will” is one of Shakespeare’s many comedic plays. This essay will attempt to critically analyse a passage in Act 1, Scene 5 of “Twelfth Night.” The passage centres on a conversation primarily between Feste and Olivia about the mourning of her brother. This conversation adds comicality to the play, which contributes to the shape of it as a whole. The passage also briefly involves the character, Malvolio, who contributes to an underlining truth in the play. This essay will explain the meaning of the passage, attempt to unpack the language uses and determine the ideas behind the language. It will then try to justify why and how those ideas in the passage contribute to the play as a whole. Firstly, the passage in Act 1, Scene 5 is written in prose as it is a conversation mostly between Feste and Olivia. In Shakespeare’s early plays, he often uses prose to signify interactions between characters of a low social class (Tootalian 3). Therefore, this suggests that the characters involved in this scene, except for Olivia, are of a lower social class. The punctuation used by those of a lower class in the passage is ironically correct. For example, Feste says, “Wit, an’t be thy will, put me into good fooling!... ‘Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit’ God bless thee, lady.” (1.5.28-32) (Greenblatt, et all. 1800). Feste serves as an ironic character because he is a fool or a clown, but he is actually very clever. Furthermore, Olivia speaks of Feste as a fool by saying, “Take the fool away” (1.5.33) (Greenblatt, et all. 1800). Feste replies cleverly to Olivia, “Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady” (1.5.34) (Greenblatt, et all. 1800). This is one example of when Olivia and Feste play word games, com... ... middle of paper ... ...ood liar. This further highlights that Malvolio is one representation of deception in the play. In conclusion, William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” or “What You Will” is one of Shakespeare’s many comedic plays. The passage in Act 1, Scene 5 focused predominately on a conversation between Feste and Olivia about the mourning of her brother. It was through Feste and Olivia’s word games that contributed to the play as a whole because it added humour to the play. The passage also helped to reveal an underlining theme of the play, which is deception as shown through the character of Malvolio. This essay has attempted to explain the meaning of the passage, attempted to unpack the language utilised by Shakespeare and determine his ideas behind the chosen language. It then tried to justify why and how those ideas in the passage contributed to the play as a whole.
At first glance, this short fragment is just a boutade, a silly parody permitted by clever alliterative transposition. Too short to be catalogued or to deserve literary analysis, as Crosby implies in his edition. My English translation, necessarily barren of all the metaphorical punning, underscores the apparent triviality of the joke. A keener look at both form and content of the paragraph, however, brings forth unexpected construes.
Hamlet makes use of the idea of theatrical performance through characters presenting themselves falsely to others – from Rosencrantz and Guildenstern spying on Hamlet to gain favor with the King, to Hamlet himself playing the part of a madman – and through the play within the play, The Mousetrap. This essay will discuss the ways in which Hamlet explores the idea of theatrical performance, ‘acting’, through analysis of the characters and the ‘roles’ they adopt, specifically that of Hamlet and Claudius. The idea, or the theme of theatrical performance is not an uncommon literary element of Shakespearean works, the most famous of which to encompass this idea being As You Like It. This essay will also briefly explore the ways in which Hamlet reminds its audience of the stark difference between daily life and dramatization of life in the theatre.
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.
In William Shakespeare’s play ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, there are many instances of trickery and deception, which seem to surround the whole of the play.
Venkova, Savina. “Theatrical Analysis: Hamlet, Shakespeare.” Rev. of Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Helium. Helium Inc., 2011. Web. 20 Apr. 2011.
Welsford, Enid. The Fool; His Social and Literary History. Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1966. Print.
There have been many authors and playwrights in the world, but none of them have had as much influence as William Shakespeare. When people look at Shakespeare’s body of work, ranging from romantic sonnets to comedies and tragedies; and his overarching influence over writing nowadays, it is clear that his legacy has withstood the test of time. One of his most popular works is Twelfth Night, which tells a tale of love and mistaken identity. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeares comedies about people who all seem to love the wrong person. A young noblewoman named Viola ends up on the shores of Illyria. Believing her brother to be dead, she is forced to dress up as a man and enter the court of Orsino, the duke of Illyria, as a eunuch named Cesario. As she spends more time waiting on Orsino, she finds herself falling in love with him but is unable to express her feelings because Orsino is in love with Olivia. At the end, hilarity ensures. As all of this occurs, Olivia’s cousin, Toby, his friend Sir Andrew, and the maid Maria, play a prank on the uptight Malvolio, who is Olivia’s steward and appears to only be around to put an end to the revelries of Toby and Andrew. Maria forges a letter and leaves it for Malvolio to find. Malvolio is a character with many dimensions, and as the play progresses, his true colors are revealed. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare uses the unfortunate consequences of Malvolio’s actions to show the folly consequences of ambition.
Malvolio’s dislikeable rigidity nature is shown immediately in his first entrance in the play, in his rude humiliation of Feste, “I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal … unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged” (McEachern, 2007). The disapproval towards his rigid humorless attitude immediately follows with Olivia reprimanding her steward’s habit for making a big deal out of everything, “O you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite” (McEachern, 2007). Malvolio further manifests his rigid and fun despising personality as he, depicted as a killjoy, spoils the revelry of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste late in the night “My masters, are you mad? Or what are you? Have you no wit, manner, nor honestly, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night” (McEachern, 2007). It is exactly this fun despising side, depicted as Malvolio’s “stubborn and uncourteous parts” that earns him the enmity of the revelers. As he thinks, with excellences, that it is his grounds of faith that look on him love him.” Because of Malvolio’s dispositio...
Using the chosen texts, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, this essay will consider whether or not the dramatic effects of deception and disguise are significant in Shakespearean works. Deception and disguise show the difference between appearance and reality and often go hand in hand within many, if not all of Shakespeare’s plays. There are, for example, many instances of disguise leading to accidental deception, the use of disguise as a means to deceive in a form of self-preservation such as the tactics used within Twelfth Night and there are occasions when deception is used in a more malevolent fashion as shown in both Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice. Other characters are known to even deceive themselves, ultimately believing they are something they are not, as such deception and disguise is one of the most significant dramatic effects used in any Shakespearean play.
Misunderstandings generate conflict and drive stories forward. William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing is a play filled to the brim with misunderstandings and comedic situations. The constable of Messina, Dogberry, contributes to many such comedic situations with his twisted speech and juxtaposing sobriety. In this essay, Dogberry’s reality, character, and wrongly-used phrases are to be compared to actual reality.
In the article, "If Only We All Spoke Two Languages," by Ariel Dorfman, he states that things in America would be better if everyone agreed that being bilingual and teaching another language is actually beneficial. I agree with his statement because I believe that everyone should know their native language, but not be subjugated to only one. Also, It should not be frowned upon to learn another language. This may be America, but its' population is filled with many different cultures and races. Therefore, we should take the time to learn about each other's backgrounds and languages to fully understand one another.
Logan, Thad Jenkins. "Twelfth Night: The Limits of Festivity." Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. N.p.: Rice University, 1982. 223-38. Vol. 22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
The clown contributes towards the humourous entertainment of this play through his numerous puns and jokes. He is a source of laughter, not because we are humoured by his "foolery"; for he proves to be no fool at all; but rather because he amuses us with his brilliant wit. Having mastered the art of jesting, Feste is sensitive of his profession, always aware of the circumstances he is in and the appropriateness of this folly.
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.
Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Nights as a comedic play on how the theme of love takes an overwhelming influence over characters actions. The play’s treatment of love began with a Duke named Orsino who is madly in love with a character named Olivia but Orsino love is cannot be reciprocated because all her love remains with her dead brother. Later in the play Shakespeare treats love as something that can be a joyful delight regardless of the reality. Olivia’s handmaiden, Maria, plays a prank on Malvolio by forging Olivia’s hand writing to write Malvolio a love letter. After Malvolio reads the letter he begins to show how Malvolio is desperately in love with Olivia by following the letters ridiculous commands with delight. Then towards the end there is an encounter with Viola, Sebastian, Orsino, Olivia and Malvolio. At this point Shakespeare displays love as a joyful