The Carnivalesque Role of the Fool in Twelfth Night and the Servant of Two Masters

In studying William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, it becomes clear that the theme of “Inside/Outside” is visible at many different levels. One of the comedic methods applied is the mistaken identity of Viola and Sebastian. Another case is Malvolio’s sudden change of character and clothes. Furthermore, Feste, who acts as a professional fool in the play, turns out to be a bright and wise character, against the expectations of the readers. Without these important elements where the characters show to be entirely different on the outside than on the inside, the play would be less intriguing, and moreover, they are essential to develop major scenes.

    It is not unusual that the fool should be a prominent figure and make an important contribution in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery. He and many other characters combine their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that either escape reality or live a dream. In Twelfth Night, Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses.

   In most Shakespearean romantic comedies, there is a character that plays the part of a truth-teller.  And in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night it is no different. Feste, a clown, through his mixed up words and songs enlightens the other characters whilst playing the role of the truth-teller.  Through aiding the Duke with his patience, helping Viola with her love problems, and having a major role in Malvolio's downfall, Feste holds one of the primary parts of the play.

In William Shakespeare's comedic play, Twelfth Night, a recurring theme is deception. The characters in the play used deception for a variety of purposes. Viola's use of deception involves her disguising herself as a man in order to obtain a job with the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. On the other hand, Maria, Olivia's servant, writes a letter to Malvolio in Olivia's handwriting to make Malvolio act foolishly because of his love for Olivia. While some use deception as a means of survival, others use deception to trick others and make them act foolishly.

She’s the Man is a modern adaptation and interpretation of The Twelfth Night but the

The only reference to Twelfth Night during Shakespeare’s own lifetime is to a performance on February 2, 1602. A law student named John Manningham wrote in his diary about a feast he attended at the Middle Temple in London where he was a law student and where “we had a play called Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will." This was likely to have been an early performance since it is generally agreed that the play was probably written in 1601. In 1954 Sir Leslie Hotson’s book, The First Night of Twelfth Night, sought to identify the exact date of the first performance of Twelfth Night. He used the evidence of old records to suggest that Queen Elizabeth asked for a new play for the last night of the Christmas 1600-01 season, the Feast of the

Feste as the name suggests includes festivity and embodies the festive spirit perfectly. Besides humour and wit he sings melodies and pictures the state of higher-class people in the play. For example he sings a song “O Mistress Mine, where are you roaming?” which depicts the wait for the true love. The song could be applied to the love relationship between Orisino and Olivia and also between Olivia and Cesario. The song suggests that Orisino’s wait will be over when he could marry Olivia and Olivia’s journey would end when she gets Cesario. Another song would be “Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone” sung in the party by both Sir Toby Belch and Feste. The song ideally talks about approaching death but in this case it is referred to Malvolio who is not liked by both Feste and Sir Toby Belch. Malvolio has been compared to an evil or antagonist because of his rude behaviour toward everyone including upper-class people, also of his fondness for Olivia and a happiness spoiler whereas he is just a steward. Because nobody likes Malvolio he is been asked to leave the party in a comical and witty way which could be justified by the line said by Sir Toby Belch in Act 2 Scene 3 “Shall I bid him go, and spare not” and a reply from Feste “O no no no, you dare

In Twelfth Night, the fools are the ones that control the comedy and humor in the play. They assist in the make believe game and fool around with characters who "evade reality or rather realize a dream". In Twelfth Night, Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses. They create the confusion through humor and it all works out in the end to make William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night a comical play of his time and today. In Twelfth Night, the clown and the fools are the ones who combine humor and wit to make the comedy work, just like in many comical plays in today’s society. Modern audiences would laugh from the foolery caused by these characters while the comic truth is unwinding to build up this comedy.

The most interesting character of “Twelfth Night” is Feste. He has such a double character that shows at different times of the play. His first ‘character’ or ‘personality’ is his wise and humorous one:

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the pangs of unrequited love. At one point, Orsino depicts love dolefully as an “appetite” that he wants to satisfy and cannot, at another point; he calls his desires “fell and cruel hounds”. Olivia more bluntly describes love as a

“Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a

Finally, the Fool provides humor. First, the "nothing" jokes in 1.4 provide much humor. In addition, the Fool's songs are humorous and informative. Moreover, one can find humor in the way the Fool treats the King. When the Fool disappears in 3.6, most of the humor of the play dies with him.

Shakespeare often writes his plays to be found comedic by using similar key elements. In the comedy the Twelfth Night, Shakespeare uses the elements of love triangles, role reversal, and rule breaking to create humor. Shakespeare often uses love triangles to create unusual situations of love’s absurdity. To create this, in The Twelfth Night, Shakespeare creates a woman, Viola, who dresses as a man in order to gain entrance into the noble world. Duke Orsino is madly in love with Olivia who falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola.

Upon closer inspection of his words, the reader can see Feste's honest assessment of character shine through. For example, while jeering back and forth with Malvolio, Feste states, "Sir Toby will be sworn / that I am no fox, but he will not pass his word for / twopence that you are no fool" (1.5.77-79). In this proclamation, Feste shows his perceptions of both Toby and Malvolio. He believes that Toby is not a wise man due to the fact that, although the fool is clearly intelligent, Toby does not realize just how crafty Feste truly is. However, Malvolio's self-deception is so obviously false that even one such as Toby, who cannot even realize Feste's ingenuity, can see through it. Later, while he is fooling around with Toby and Andrew, Feste laughs, "Did you ever see the / picture of "We Three"?" (2.3.16-17). This comparison between the three characters in the scene and the famous painting of "We Three," a picture portraying only two fools, therefore implying the viewer to be a third fool, shows that Feste portrays both Sir Toby and Andrew to be fools, along with himself as the third. One last illustration of Feste's whimsical messages can be found while he is speaking to Sebastian. In this instance, the fool reveals one of the play's ongoing themes by stating, "No, I do not know you, … nor your name is not Master Cesario, … Nothing that is so is so" (4.1.5-9). To Sebastian, this statement was simply a sarcastic one,

Our group proposed, presented, and directing the stage performance for the Twelfth Night. In the beginning of the semester I had no clue of what to expect from this course, and reading the syllabus made Shakespeare’s Plays seem complex. I am somewhat familiar with William Shakespeare’s plays stemming from a Shakespeare course that I had taken at Harold Washington (City College of Chicago). My professor (Hader) informed the class that if we were looking to go on to a four-year university as an English major that we will have to take another course, and it will be taught from a different perspective or angle—quite frightening. As a person who had not connected or have read anything that the playwright had ever written, I was afraid that I