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Summary Of Balthasar And Feste

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Balthasar and Feste fulfill the same role of paid entertainers that are kept around to make the nobility laugh. This role seems like one that Shakespeare used simply to continue the progression of the play. This argument is mostly true with Balthasar who we learn very little about and who appears only when the plot necessitates it. On the other hand, Feste is a much more complex and central character. Shakespeare uses Feste to insert his own commentary about the play and the characters in it. Feste displays more cynicism and bitterness than other characters and his songs do not always align with the tone of the play. With Balthasar and Feste, Shakespeare takes two characters that fulfill the same role and has used them in entirely different ways to reach the goals he wants to achieve.

Balthasar’s first appearance is in the palace orchard where Benedick is hiding. He sings a song about men being unfaithful, “Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more, Men were deceivers ever,” (2.3.blank-blank). Don Pedro and Claudio are using Balthasar to set up their conversation about Beatrice’s supposed love for Benedick. They have Balthasar sing about men being unfaithful which leads into their conversation about Benedick being too prideful for Beatrice (lines lines). Balthasar’s song obviously irritates Benedick, “an he had been a dog that should have howled thus, they would have hanged him”(2.3.blank-blank). The choice of song is intentional but not by Balthasar, but instead by Pedro and

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