Feste is a comedic character who is extremely intelligent. From the very beginning of the play, the fact that Feste is intelligent had already been well established by the light-hearted and witty conversation between Maria and Feste. Initially, Maria threatens Feste because he was not where he should have been. By then, Feste is defined as the fool as he subverts her threats and comically replies, “Let her hang me: he that is well hanged in this world needs to fear no colours.” It is said that self-proclaimed wits are often foolish, “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit”. Although Feste does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person among all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by saying "This fellow's wise enough to play the fool".
Feste contributes to the comedy in the play. Despite the humour of the comedy, Feste dresses up as Sir Topaz, the preist and visits the imprisoned Malvolio with Maria and Sir Toby. Sir Topaz uses his humour to abuse Malvolio, who is still unaware that he is actually talking to the Feste than to the real Sir Topas. Feste calls Malvolio a "lunatic", "satan" and confuses him by wittingly making him a fool, “Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a fool” Feste plays on Malvolio’s words and triumphs over him by twisting his words to make him look foolish. Enraged by his poor treatment he says he will revenge on the all, “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” which is again amusing as the audience would know that Malvolio is even more egotistical since then.
Feste is not only a jester, but also a corrupter of language. As Viola says, “this fellow is more than just a clown”, “he must know the humour of whom he jests”, Feste knows how to make fun of people based on their characters. For Orsino, he sings a song criticizing Orsino constant need for love, “Sad true lover never find my grave, To weep there!”. For Olivia, he critizes Olivia for being mournful about her brother's death, “The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother’s soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentleman”. At the end of the play, Feste is given the last word and is left in possession of the stage, his song “For the rain it rainth every day” talks not only about characters in the play but people in real life. Feste is very trendy and modern in thinking, that his song seems applicable in our daily life. On the other hand, he takes revenge on Malvolio and maltreats him either mentally or physically make he himself recognise what's is beyond universal moral standard, but he still take the risk in violating it, that's why he has to bear his own consequences and leave the festival. Feste seems to be telling us that life is not smooth and jubilant all along, “for the rain it raineth everyday”, in everyday life there must be something that cause us upset, desperate or even mournful, even merry-making jester like himself is solemn and wise and is suffering due to his revenge on Malovolio, this is the message of his last song in the play. Feste is often linked to music, which is very important to end the overall atmaosphere of the play.
Twelfth Night is obviously intending to not only entertain its audience but also point out problems in society. Although Feste is portrayed as the jester, yet he is probably the most intelligant character in the play. Shakespeare uses a play on words and sybolizes that the jester is smarter than the rich and educated people he works for. Twelfth Night like all Shakespearean comedies is largely about social concerns. The social messages in Twelfth Night are largely about that no one should be judged on appearance as they can be deceptive and the importance of self awareness or the humour in lack of.
In conclusion, Twelfth Night is full of lighthearted moments and this is expressed through both the main and the subplots, in which the fool is the one to control comedy and humour in the play. Feste's role in this Illyrian comedy is significant because he assists in making the comedy work in many senses. Feste as well creates the confusion through humour and works out everything at the end to make Twelfth Night a really amusing Elizabethan play.
Angela Chiu
4A (12)