An exploration of the contribution of disguise and deceit to the humour of 'Twelfth Night'

Authors Avatar

29th September 2003

Anna Carlisle

An exploration of the contribution of disguise and deceit to the humour of ‘Twelfth Night’

‘Twelfth Night’ could be seen as a play with dark and harsh meanings, for example, it could be said that Malvolio’s planned revenge at the end of the play has an uneasy effect on the audience, in a time of general harmony. However I think that although  ‘Twelfth Night’ does raise some moral issues, overall it is an enjoyable play.  It is a play; designed to be performed in the dark, gloomy winter to bring lightness into peoples lives and I think it is successful in doing so because of the humorous scenes and characters.  I have decided to investigate disguise and deceit because I think it is interesting to see how Shakespeare has used these devices to contribute to the humour of the play.

‘Twelfth Night’ contains many scenes, which are deliberately designed to make the audience laugh, many of which are connected to disguise and deceit.  One example is Malvolio deceiving himself that Olivia loves him, after receiving Maria’s letter.  The audience would find this funny as Malvolio has been presented as a character they are not supposed to feel sympathy towards. This is shown when Malvolio interrupts Feste’s, Sir Andrew’s and Sir Toby’s late-night drinking session.  The conflict of personalities draw attention to Malvolio’s pride: his sharp questions such as ‘Do ye make an alehouse of my lady’s house?’ provokes Toby to tell him to ‘rub his chain in crumbs’, (Malvolio would have worn a chain, as Olivia's servant) portraying him as a self-important steward.  Olivia also highlights Malvolios self-importance by saying he is ‘sick of self love’.

Malvoio’s ambition to raise above his social class, after reading the letter would be funny to an audience because they know Olivia does not love him, at all, so he would have little chance of doing so.  An Elizabethan audience

Anna Carlisle

would also recognise that Malvolio is not of noble blood and a noblewomen, like Olivia, would not marry below her status.  They would find it quite amusing that Malvolio would even think that marrying Olivia is possible and would enjoy Malvolio disguising the Shakespearean class system from himself.  The language Malvolio uses while daydreaming about Olivia, emphasise his self-importance: He repeatedly uses the words ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘My’ eg: ‘She may command me: I serve her’; ‘She manifests herself to my love;’ ‘I thank my stars, I am happy’

Malvolio also speaks without pausing between words, emphasising his increasing self-deceit: he lists the things he will do when he marries Olivia:  ‘I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point device, the very man.’

This speech may also make the audience laugh as he is deceiving himself that such behaviour will impress her.

The language Malvolio uses has double meaning, which is lost on a 21st century audience but would appeal to an Elizabethan one.  For example, when reading the letter Malvolio says ‘Theses be her very Cs, her Us and her Ts.’ An Elizabethan audience would know that ‘cut’ was slang for female genitals.  This joke would not have the same affect on an audience today but in a production of 'Twelfth Night' I saw, the production team had added a ‘N’ to this line, to modernise the language so the audience would find it funny.

The staging of Malvolio's self deceit could contribute to the quality of the humour.  For example, he could read the letter, very quickly or with exaggerated gestures of delight to emphasise his increasing passion for Olivia, while reading the letter.

Join now!

Malvolio’s self deceit is not the only example of deceit and humour in ‘the letter plot.’  Maria, Sir Toby and Fabian are deceiving both Malvolio and Olivia by writing the letter.  The language they use while hiding from Malvolio

Anna Carlisle

contributes to the audience’s amusement.  For example, Maria says ‘Lie thou there, for here comes the trout that must be caught with a tickling.’

Comparing the letter to a trout about to be caught makes Malvolio seem even more foolish as Maria predicts exactly what Malvolio does: catches Maria’s ‘trout’ and falls perfectly ...

This is a preview of the whole essay