Cruelty in "Twelfth Night" - an examination of Shakespeare's comedy's darker side.

The final scene, which Sir Andrew is being exploited in, is the last scene of the play. This is the scene in which Toby finally tells Andrew his true opinion of him. He offers Toby his assistance in having his wounds dressed from the fight with Sebastian, Belch responds,

"Will you help? An ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull!"

there may be a reason for Toby being unreasonable as he has been wounded badly and is in pain so maybe he is being impatient and irritable because of this. Even if Sir Toby is being particularly irritable at this point it definitely shows his true opinions of Andrew and the fact that he consciously exploited him, using his money and treating him as a wallet for his own desires, for example getting drunk every night having all night parties and so on. In the Nunn film at this point when Toby tells Andrew how he feels, Aguecheek looks as though he might cry, as if he believed that they were both actually true friends to one another.

I shall now write about the cruelty in the love triangle, which Viola uncovers in Act II, scene ii. This is when Olivia gives Cesario a ring, which then Olivia confirms to Viola in Act III, scene i. The love triangle is, Viola loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Cesario. (Andrew and Malvolio also love Olivia.) This is a cruel love triangle as Olivia does not know that is impossible for her to love Cesario as Cesario is Viola; Orsino can not realise Viola loves him as she is dressed up as Cesario; Orsino's, Sir Andrew's and Malvolio's love is lost on Olivia as she is besotted with Cesario. Olivia is not subjected to the cruelty of the love triangle as Sebastian arrives upon the scene. As Cesario is identical to Sebastian, (as identical as it is possible for different sex twins to be), Olivia loves him instead.

The first scene in which there is cruelty in the love triangle is in act I, scene i, this is when Olivia rejects Orsino's love. In the BBC film version Orsino is played as a romantic, unfortunate man whose love is lost on a "virtuous maid". She uses her brother's and father's deaths as an excuse and says that she will mourn for them for the next seven years and not have any boyfriends during this period of time. This is cruel to Orsino because as soon as Olivia meets Cesario she falls in love with him and breaks her seven-year mourning phase and gets married to him (she thinks) as obviously she gets married to Sebastian. In the first scene where Viola meets Cesario, Cesario almost has a premonition of what is coming as not realising what he is saying, he says,

"Farewell, fair cruelty."

he is referring to her rejection of Orsino, but also this can later be interpreted as Olivia's cruelty to Orsino for finding his messenger attractive instead of him, who is evidently unavailable. Though she has broken her word and would cause Orsino great pain if he knew her deeds. In the way that Orsino talks about his love for Olivia in this first opening speech shows us that he is deeply in love but that this does not bring him happiness but more of "a profound melancholy" (a quote from the York Notes for GCSE, "Twelfth Night"). His speech turns to images of death and disease,

"excess...surfeiting...sicken...die...dying"

this makes it clear that he is not the kind of lover who will do something about his love for someone but who will sit somewhere and dream of them both together he is also not focussing on Olivia in his speech he is more preoccupied with the idea of love itself. He feeds these emotions with music and "elaborate poetic imagery" (from the York notes). He has probably only seen Olivia once and her image of beauty and perfection has inspired this romantic indulgence, this indulgence leads him to think that if she does not love him in return then he will simply die. From this self-regarding emotion he employs Cesario who will be a messenger who will carry out his wooing for him. But Orsino cannot really be blamed for his cruelty towards Viola, as he would never realise that she loves him as she is dressed as Cesario. Orsino's love for Olivia is egotistical and self regarding.

In Act I, scene iv, and Act II, scene iv, there is a lot cruelty in the way in which the play is written as opposed to the characters being cruel to each other consciously. Shakespeare allows Orsino talk about his love for Olivia openly to Viola when Viola loves him. In the Trevor Nunn film, he teases and fights with her "man to man", she reacts violently to this by knocking him back, she does this because she is afraid he is about to touch her breasts. Voila reacts in this way a few times when she is Orsino's presence. There is another scene in the Nunn film where Orsino is in the bath and Viola has to scrub his back, this is also cruel to her as it would not have mattered if she was a manservant (which they think she is) but she is not and is a girl who loves this man, which makes it especially cruel to her in my opinion. When Virginia Furness played Cesario when we did scenes from "Twelfth Night" in class she portrayed the transitions between when Viola is happily daydreaming of her love of Orsino and when she snaps out of it to reply to something that he has said. Orsino instructs Viola in the nature of love and in an oblique manner Viola declares her love for Orsino in saying that the person she loves is of the same age as him and such things like this in response to his enquiries of her. Orsino of course does not notice this, or the way in which she looks at him with puppy dog eyes or in adoration, because of his self-obsession. There is a scene in the BBC film in which Orsino holds Cesario's chin as he looks down at her and they look at one another the way in which lovers might, but Orsino is thinking of Olivia and so does not notice that he is holding his messenger/confidantes chin for an excessive length of time. Cesario obviously enjoys this though. Feste realises Cesario is a girl in the Nunn film when he is singing for Orsino and her, this shows that he may see the cruelty exposed to her in the play and she does not suffer alone.

In the Trevor Nunn film Viola is present in Act I scene i as she has previously been introduced. Orsino says,

"To pay this debt of love but to a brother, How will she love when the rich golden shaft Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else..."

this gives Cesario/Viola a flashback of her brother drowning. After this Viola makes a resolution to herself that she shall not mourn for her brother any longer and pity herself for his loss, this is in consequence to her feelings for Orsino that she feels that she must do this for him, she thinks that it is cruel to Orsino what Olivia is doing to him and she feels that by doing this for him she is showing her love for him, but of course he does not know of this or of the meaning of this if there is a noticeable change in her attitude. This is cruelty to Viola, as Orsino does not know what he is saying to her, in relation to what has happened to her and who she is. There is a similarity between Viola and Olivia shown in this, and in an extra scene, which is added into the Nunn film, of the misfortunes that have befallen the two. They are both mourning for dead brothers, at this stage of the play Viola is; they are both orphans; they have similar names; I think that Shakespeare possibly meant for this similarity so that they can both be seen as unfortunate girls whose lives have taken extremely different courses. Viola has to dress as a boy to work for Orsino and earn her food, whereas Olivia is a Lady of a house, and lives in a "lap of luxury", not having to do anything for herself as her parents obviously left her with the resources she would need. If Viola and her brother had not been shipwrecked and separated they would most probably be in the same position as Olivia is in Illyria but in their home country.

At the beginning of the Trevor Nunn film production there are two or more scenes added. One of the later added scenes at the beginning is of Viola's transformation into a boy. In another there is mention of a war being waged between Illyria and the twins' home country. This may be a reason for Viola's disguise. In this transformation scene her hair is cut, her corset undone and other such transforming processes. The first added scene is of the twins in drag on the ship, and then uncovering each other, taking of their wigs and Sebastian takes off Viola's fake moustache, when they are both wearing moustaches you can not tell the difference between them in the slightest which gives acceptance to the fact of Olivia's not being able to tell them apart. The ship then starts to flood and they are in a storm, they are thrown over board still together and you can see there love for one another in the way that they try desperately to grasp hold of each other in the huge waves, Viola is then rescued by the sea captain who obviously does not see Sebastian as well, at this point they are separated until they meet again in Act IV, scene i, between these times they think that the other is dead and lost forever. This is the opening scene in the Nunn film and it sets the atmosphere for the rest of the film and gives the viewer an acceptance of the film that the audience in Shakespeare's time would not need. The viewer needs this, as now people have to see a thing to believe it where as in Shakespeare's time many people believed in witches and other unknown supernatural things. This is a cruel scene in that they are separated so harshly after being together laughing and having fun on the ship, we are shown that she has a twin brother and so are more aware of him, and the cruelty towards them both through out the film. In the BBC film Felicity Kendall plays Viola and she is probably the most realistic of all the actors/actresses in this version as there is no real atmosphere in this film due to the setting and sets. Orsino is played by Toby Stevens in the Trevor Nunn film and he plays him really well as you can really see, Orsino's self-centeredness and chauvinism.

In Act II, scene i Sebastian and Antonio have a conversation about Sebastian's loss of his twin sister and he finds a friend in Antonio, who then accompanies Sebastian to the house of Orsino despite personal danger, as he may encounter enemies he once had there. This conversation picks up on the scene in the Nunn film where Antonio is looking across the room on the ship watching the twins joking together. This can give many options to the relationship between Sebastian and Antonio, Sebastian sees, in my opinion, Antonio as an almost substitute for his dead father, but it is debateable as to how Antonio sees their relationship. He may be a homosexual, he may feel a fatherly tenderness towards Sebastian, or he may see him as a very close friend whom he is very fond of. Shakespeare does not make the play turn out well for this close relationship which is quite central to the story but is not really picked up on much in the play as Antonio is really left with nothing at the end, as Sebastian marries Olivia, and seen as it appears that Viola does not have the same relationship with him and she marries Orsino anyway. Antonio is also treated cruelly in Act III, scene iv when he mistakes Cesario for Sebastian and draws his sword on her behalf, he asks Viola for money after being arrested and she does not understand that he gave Sebastian money for obvious reasons, but offers him the money anyway still denying knowledge of him. Antonio deeply offended by this denial is taken off to prison while Viola is left pondering upon Antonio's mistake.

As I did not set out to write a university assignment I have not covered all the areas of cruelty in "Twelfth Night" I would have liked to. For example I would have liked to write more on the cruelty towards Malvolio, the almost malevolent way in which Feste oversees all in the play, including the multiple sub-plots, Maria and Toby's exploitation of Sir Andrew, Antonio's and Sebastian's subplot, Cesario being a girl, etc. and knows everything and so appears detached from the rest of the characters. In the Trevor Nunn film Feste appears as a narrator and a bald fearful man, also Feste talks of war showing that the film explores some other areas of darkness and cruelty but not in great depth. In another scene in the film Feste comforts Olivia after she has attended her brother's funeral and the two are hugging but simultaneously jump apart when Sir Toby Belch enters which may mean that Olivia is quite flirtatious with men and so it is not surprising that, that and her beauty are so attractive to so many men in the love triangle and in the play.

Although the play is classified as a comedy, its themes are essentially serious. Shakespeare uses his theme of sibling love between the twins, and partnership love between Maria and Toby for example, to examine different aspects of human love. To express his ideas he exploits to the full, as a play for Christmas festivity is expected to, "from hilarious farce to sophisticated word-play", York notes. As Shakespeare set out to write the play it was commissioned as a comedy, and is his last comedy, so he knew it must end happily. But he obviously came across something along the way, which led him to cruelty. This play could have easily fallen into a tragedy if Shakespeare had, had a few people die at the end instead of the multiple marriages. Or he may have felt that as all comedies have a dark side, he wanted to make his Christmas comedy have an emphasis on the dark side of it. Most probably a close friend or family member of Shakespeare's died at this time or Shakespeare himself experienced a tragedy, which may have led him into this darkness. I have discovered from a book I am reading that Shakespeare had epilepsy; this book is not a reliable source as an epileptic wrote it, but I think it casts for me some new light over some of Shakespeare's darker, crueller plays and ideas. Maybe he had an especially depressing aura (pre-seizure state) when he wrote some of the darker parts of the play or had a particularly bad seizure as it is common with epileptics that they write during there auras as a release of their creativity and that they do not need to revise what they have written in this state so there are many possibilities as to why Shakespeare made this comedy a cruel play.

Lilleth Booth