How Does Shakespeare Use Comedy In Twelfth Night? Make Detailed References To At Least One Scene
Stephen Nutbeam
How Does Shakespeare Use Comedy In Twelfth Night? Make Detailed References To At Least One Scene
Twelfth Night is a delightful romantic comedy incorporating many elements of farce. It looks at imaginary events taking place at the end of the Christmas period when people have let go of there everyday cares and have time to do so, as the play is subtitled, what you will. In Elizabethan times, festivals held at this time of year turned the usual order upside down. There is evidence of a everyday reversal of everyday order taking place in the court of Misrule held in one of the Inns of Court of London each year about twelve days after Christmas when a Lord of Misrule took the place of the lawlords and churchmen who normally presided over the court.
This reversal of the usual order is reflected in the interests of the behaviour of the characters in Twelfth Night. Viola, Orsino and Olivia are embroiled in a romantic triangle of unrequited love, misunderstanding is heaped upon misunderstanding, and those with a taste for the low life indulge themselves in revelry, mischief and playfulness. Malvolio, the Puritan, pays the price for his serious attitude to life and becomes a scapegoat for the revellers.
The play is a witty and light-hearted musical and the key musician is Feste the clown. His role, the songs he sings, and the antics of those who enjoy Olivia's hospitality, give the play something of the flavour of a pantomime, such as you might see in a theatre in the winter.
Twelfth Night was written in about 1600 and there are several theories about its sources. There were certainly plays and stories being performed in which may have given Shakespeare so of his inspiration for the ideas he explores in this play. For example First telescope, 1588: Spanish armada defeated (129 ships), 1587: death of Mary Queen of Scots.
It is also believed that he probably also drew on some of his own earlier plays such as The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It for material. Historians are also fairly certain that some of the songs are adaptations of what can be called Elizabethan pop music.
No one is 100% sure of when Twelfth Night was first performed but it is believed to have been commissioned by queen Elizabeth 1 to be performed in 1601 before the an Italian duke named Orsino. There are some that think that the flouting of court etiquette ...
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It is also believed that he probably also drew on some of his own earlier plays such as The Comedy of Errors and As You Like It for material. Historians are also fairly certain that some of the songs are adaptations of what can be called Elizabethan pop music.
No one is 100% sure of when Twelfth Night was first performed but it is believed to have been commissioned by queen Elizabeth 1 to be performed in 1601 before the an Italian duke named Orsino. There are some that think that the flouting of court etiquette would have offended him.
Humour has been used in this play in many different ways but the main four are: Dramatic Irony,
Sarcasm,
Word Play/Puns,
Tricks and Jokes,
Puns or play on words is a figure of speech in which the writer uses a word that has more than one meaning. Shakespeare takes advantage of this using puns with every opportunity he can. For example, Orsino chooses to take mention of the hart, a male dear, to talk about his own aching heart (Act 1, sceen3).
Dramatic irony is used when the audience knows something that some of the characters don't like the prank played on Malvolio (Act 2, scene 5) when we the audience no that the letter isn't from Olivia but he doesn't.
I have chosen to look at Act3 Scene 1 because at the beginning of this scene Feste is talking to Viola/Cesario and plays with his words, manipulating them to have double meanings, which is meant to confuse people making them find it funny.
Here are the lines I am looking at:
VIOLA- Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy tabor?
FESTE - No, sir, I live by the church.
VIOLA - Art thou a churchman?
FESTE- no such matter, sir: I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house does stand by the church.
VIOLA- So thou mayst say the king lies by the beggar, if a beggar dwell near him; or the church stands by thou tabor, if thy tabor stand by the church.
FESTE- You have said, sir, to see this age! A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side my be turned outward.
VIOLA- Nay, that's certain; they that dally nicely with words may quickly name them watton.
FESTE- I would, therefore, my sister had no name, sir.
VIOLA- Why, man?
FESTE- why, sir, her name's a word, and to dally with that word might make my sister watton. But indeed, words are very rascals since bonds disgraced them.
This is a continuos play on word, which is very confusing the first time it is read. I had to go over it a few times before I understood what Shakespeare meant.
VIOLA- Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live by thy tabor?
This line means save you and your music. Do u live by the drum? This makes sense as Feste is a musician and he is being asked if he lives by his music.
FESTE - No, sir, I live by the church.
No I live by the church. This seems simple enough he has said no he lives by the church.
VIOLA - Art thou a churchman?
Are you a churchman? Viola is asking Feste if he lives by the way of the church, then Feste replies:
FESTE- no such matter, sir: I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house does stand by the church.
No I don't abide by the rules of the church my home is situated by the church. This is the first pun in this scene, which started at Art thou a churchman? Which has two meaning the first is do you live by the church ways (follow the commandments) which is what Viola asks Feste. But the way in which Feste intended it was his house in next to the church, which is the second meaning. So Viola thought that Feste said that he lived by the ways of the church whereas Feste meant his home was next to the church.
There is also some dramatic irony in this scene from Viola. Viola is dressed up as a boy and has told everyone that her name is Cesario. This is because her and her brother was ship wreaked and she arrived in this place knowing that she had no money and women didn't work (part from maids). So she asked a sailor to dress her up as a man and then she went to Orsino's court looking for a job.
In this scene Feste thinks he is talking to a man not a woman so he was treating her differently than if she was dressed as woman.
A bit later Sebastian Violas brother turns up adding even more confusion into this matter. Especially in act 5 scene 1 when Viola and Sebastian meet for the first time in the play. Sebastian doesn't recognise his own sister because she is dressed as a man. When they start talking they both realise who they are and that they are both still alive. In this last scene the couples pair off and that's the end of the play. The couples pair off because Shakespeare's comedies always end in love and never in death or some form of tragedy.
Twelfth Night is set out with two plots the main plot and the sub plot. These are set up as follows:
Main Plot
Sub Plot
These are the two plots. The main plot is the serious one with the sub plot being comical. The way that the play is set up it jumps from plot to plot from scene to scene. The way they are linked is by Viola who is found in both plots throughout the play, there is one scene where Feste is performing in Orsino's court which also joins the two plots together.
Shakespeare has used this technique to keep the audience interested in the play, and to keep them on fall watch because they had to think to find out what was going on. This was also good use of writing because people like to go out and watch a comedy, even though they are they get a serious plot at the same time.
To conclude this essay Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was a brilliant comedy and paved the way through for all modern day comedy. Personally I never found the play at all funny but I believe this is because I am into a more adult and sexual comedy and this didn't suit my tastes.
