The play is entitled Twelfth Night or What You Will and was actually performed to the Queen on Twelfth Night Essay Example For Students

The play is entitled Twelfth Night or What You Will and was actually performed to the Queen on Twelfth Night Essay The play is entitled Twelfth Night or What You Will and was actually performed to the Queen on Twelfth Night. Twelfth Night is the twelfth and last night of Christmas, traditionally a time of holiday and festival eg. Feast of Fools. In the time of Shakespeare a Lord of Misrule was chosen usually a servant who became , for a short period, master of the household, in charge of an up-side down world were everything is not as it seemed, like the play. Shakespeare elects to specify Ilyria as the setting of the play. Ilyria was know to Shakespeare and his contemporaries as the actual region off the coast of the Adriatic Sea in what is today Albania. As such, it was a distant land with which the English of the time had very little contact, and therefore a generically exotic setting for a play replete with romance and intrigue, as well as one that offered the preconditions for a shipwreck. A modern audience might find a comparison with Disneyland. A fool can be defined in many ways according to the Collins English Dictionary. The word could mean a person lacking in sense and judgement, a person made to appear ridiculous, one who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester or clown or someone unwise, silly and absurd. Shakespeares fools cover the broad spectrum of these definitions but the most obvious at first glance is Feste who is defined as the professional fool. Malvolio, Viola, Olivia, the knights à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Sir Toby and Sir Andrew also all fit the definitions of a fool and are characters which Shakespeare presents purposely to create the chaotic romantic comedy. It is evident from the name of the character, Malvolio, that Shakespeare intended him to be disliked by the other characters in the play and the audience as mal in French means bad according to the Collins English Dictionary mal- is a combining form for anything that is bad eg. malaria . Malvolio in the Renaissance film directed by Trevor Nunn is dressed in a black suit and a black cloak which stresses the idea that Malvolio is a Puritan. It is likely that the characters in the play and the audience recognise this as for example Andrew Aguecheek says suitor to Olivia If I thought he was a puritan I would beat him for it. Puritans were a very fanatical group who believed for example that the theatre was a wicked place and that people should only meet together in church. At the time of the play was written Puritan movements were very active and were campaigning for the theatre to be closed. Understandably, Shakespeare did not like the Puritans because of this threat as he would be out of work and would not be able to express his art to people. Consequently, Shakespeare uses the character Malvolio as a device to show his hatred for Puritans and to make a mockery of them in front of a theatre going anti puritan audience. Through Malvolios speech and behaviour Shakespeare crafts an unlikeable character from the start, for example he is offensive to Feste, criticising him as a barren rascal who would be outwitted by an ordinary fool and is foolishly tactless saying I take theses wise men, that crow so at these set of kind of fools,no better than fools zanies which is unwisely insulting Olivias father and her also. In Act 2 Scene 2 we see Malvolio as lying, arrogant and self centred as he throws down the ring that Olivia has given him at Cesarios feet saying If it be worth stooping for,there it lies, in your eye; if not , be it his that finds it. , he is treating Cesario as if he is above him when he also is just a servant and the dramatic irony of it is that in her true identity Viola is above him. . He is obviously full of his self-importance and thinks he has the authority to change his orders from Olivia to what he thinks best as he incorrectly passes on the message that Cesario should not be neve r so hardy to come again in his affairs, unless it to be report your Lords taking of this. whereas infact Olivia wants him to come this way to-morrow. A Shakespearean audience would have been appalled with this behaviour from a servant and so Malvolio is a very emotive character. Malvolios tone of voice is portrayed to be pompous and snivelling by the Andrew Hawforth from the Renaissance film production which I studied to help with this essay. I think this is appropriate for the play from the way Malvolio treats others and the way in which he acts. The whole charade of Act 2 Scene 5 and Act 3 Scene 4 intensifies the purpose Malvolio is playing in Shakespeares desire to mock Puritans and show his hatred of them. Malvolio has dreams of grandeur and in Act 2 Scene 5 Shakespeare purposely makes a mockery out of the character by having him foolishly speaking aloud his humorous but unexpected inner thoughts. To contribute to the foolishness of his words as a director I would want Malvolio over dramatically acting out actions to his daydream for example on the line Calling my officers about me, I would want him to be waving his arms about in a pompous manner and on the lines I extend my hand to him thusà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. egard of control to be going through the actions of what he is saying This scene presents a dramatic irony as the audience knows that the tricksters are watching which Malvolio on stage does not. This dramatic irony is present also in Act 2 Scene 5 as the audience knows about the letter trick when Olivia does not. In both these instances the tricksters are present who also know exactly what is going on know therefore this is device forcing the audience onto a par with the trickster s so they are subconsciously being manipulated by Shakespeare to mock Malvolio. Both scenes are highly comical because of the unprecedented behaviour of Malvolio in his actions and words which lead to the conclusion that he is a fascist and a hypocritical fool as he loses all his prime and proper inhabitants because of his excitement in being desired by a woman. Malvolio gets very excited when he sees the letter on the ground in his ladys hand and says these be her very cs, her us and her ts. This statement is confusing as these letters do not correspond with anything in the inscription and could be put down to the Shakespeares carelessness, however why does Sir Andrew underline it after if this is so? According to an assumption by Prof. G. B. Harrison Malvolio is unconsciously guilty of a bawdy jest eg. cut meaning the female pudendum genitals. Malvolio in Act 3 Scene 4 continues ironically to make sexual references, he is desperate to bed with Olivia and misunderstands her in his excitement. Throughout the play he seems to have created a rather sad and somber exterior, in the film production he dresses in black and carries an expressionless face, however after reading the request of a smile he does not seem perturbed to do so I will smile. As a director after this line I would have Malvolio with a perfect smile on his face as if he has frequently practised which would make him seem even more as a joke. He is ridiculously stupid to wear the yellow cross gartered stockings and the outfit is a humorous dramatic device to make the audience laugh as after all the play is a comedy. Elizabethan and contemporary audiences alike would find a mans legs in cross-gatered stockings extremely funny because of the tendency for men to have funny shaped legs. I think this joke would appeal to a contemporary audience also, because of who the character is which even in a modern world can be associated with eg. the miserable manager. However, the contemporary audience may not find the added comedy of a Puritan acting in this way amusing as that bares relevance to the time of Shakespeare. The Renaissance video provides further comedy by Malvolio putting on a toupe before visiting Olivia which I think is an excellent idea as it perfectly fits in with the context of the play. To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison EssayViola and Sebastian are separated which also bears relevance to the fact that Hamnet and Judith are when Hamnet dies in 1596, the play was written four years later. Viola arguably is an unwise fool as she dresses up as a boy without thinking of repercussions such as the event of female attention. The gender muddle happens in another two of Shakespeares plays, Hamlet and Henry 1V. There were no decent females available to act therefore all female parts were played by young boys. However, it was hard to get a boy acting a believable woman therefore female charactervs dress up as males to combat the problem. Perhaps the reason for Shakespeare doing this was to create good excuse for male actors playing the female to act the correct sex. Viola is foolish not to sense the attraction Olivia has for her as the signals from as early as the first meeting seem clear Olivia hints to her she would like her to come again eg. unless perchance you come to me again, she unveils her curtain to show her the picture , this is especially shocking because of her mourning and she is conscious of how she looks to Viola Ist not well done? , which is strong sign of the attraction. In addition, when she talks to Viola she desires to be alone eg. Give us this place alone and Let the garden door be shut, and leave me to my hearingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ . On the other hand Viola could been seen as being misjudged being called a fool as after all she disguised herself as a man to protect herself from the harm she would come to as a woman. It could also be said that a woman would not find it likely that she would be pe rceived as attractive by other women in disguise as a man so the problem naturally would not have arisen. Viola as a woman was not able to pick up the signals from Olivia properly that were being directed as if to a man.. Duke Orsino is evidently a very foolish character as from the outset of the play the audience is directed to the fickleness of his moods. For example, when he first orders music to accompany reverie over Olivia à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" If music be the food of love, play on but then suddenly commands it to be stopped à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" no-more! Although seemingly steadfast in his suit for Olivia in the first scene, as the play unravels it appears that Orsino is not truly in love with Olivia but in love with his role as an irrational lover immersed in a romantic reverie. As he seems to revel in long poetic like prose full of romantic imagery eg. the lamb that I doth love of his love for Olivia . This is indeed foolish, as Orcenio does not seem to know his own emotions and intentions. Orsino could also be called foolish to not realise Violas intentions towards him as she does make it obvious on some occasions for example when she says she is in love and Orsino inquires What kind of woman ist and she replies Of your complextion and continues to say she is of his years too. In the video production Viola played by Imogen Stubbs makes it quite obvious from the way she looks at Orsino that she is in love with him yet he is man not looking for these kind of signals from another so therefore maybe he is not a fool in this respect. Additionally Maria and Toby are also fools as perceptive Feste suggests there is something between Maria and Toby but they are too foolish to act upon it eg. Maria tells Feste no more of that. Toby obviously holds some affection for Maria as he names her Penthesila Queen of the Amazons half in admiration and half in jest at Marias diminutive size. There are certain hurdles which are barriers for them getting together for example Sir Tobys foolishness in the respects that he is a person who lacks sense or judgement and is unwise, silly and absurd due to his permanent drunkenness with the other knight, Sir Andrew Aguecheek as observed by Olivia he is half drunk all of the time. Both are foolish to feel the social difference is a bar rier because in true love barriers can be over come. Sir Toby combined with Sir Andrew make a very funny comic duo and their humorous antics together are still funny for a contemporary audience as they echo a comedy duo were one bounces off the other in the sketch. The charade of the sword-fight is reflective of a comedy sketch of today and in the play is a good comical dramatic device to get the audience laughing. It is very comical when Sir Toby sets up Viola and Sir Andrew saying to each how much a devil fighter each one is when Viola does not want to fight and Sir Andrew is wimpish. In Elizabethan times women did not fight and it is humorous, particularly to a Elizabethan audience that Sir Andrew is terrified of a girl. The mix-up between Viola and Sebastian is also highly comical and really shows à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" up the characters Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and especially Olivia for not recognising a person who she proclaims love. In the conclusion of Twelfth Night every one is happily paired like the madness of the festival time of Christmas ends the madness of the mix-ups and confusion is resolved which is reminiscent of the theme that the path to find true love is never simple and many barriers arise. However Malvolio is a character who does not get paired off but finishes with saying I will be revengd on the whole pack of you, which ironically 40 years later after the time of the writing of the play in the English Civil War the puritans, lead by Oliver Cromwell triumphed over the royalists with Charles 1st. Shakespeare would also not want Malvolio finding love as a Puritan. However Malvolio is a complicated character as even though is arrogant and a kill-joy maybe he did not deserve the long à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" drawn out cruel treatment that he received from Maria, Sir Toby and Feste . From a contemporary audiences point of view, consequently, Malvolio earns both derision and sympathy for the way he is treated, especially from the mean Feste. However, this probably would not be so from a theatre loving Shakespearean audience who have just watched an excellent play which the Puritans would want to ban therefore they would not feel sympathies for a Puritan. In reflection Shakespeare has cleverly presented the fools in the play for many purposes which collectively is to bring humour and wit to the play whos comedy is timeless.