As well as being a comedy and a romance, Twelfth Night can also be seen to be elegiac. It consists of many moments of emotion and sentiment as well as laughter and amusement. An example of this is Viola’s speech in Act One Scene 5 beginning “Make me a willow cabin.” These lines of poetry by Shakespeare are the most moving in the play. Words such as “willow” and “contemned” provide an element of Viola’s own feelings for Orsino. There are also several references to aging throughout the play. This is mostly evident in Feste’s closing song, “But when I came unto my beds.” This line is a reminder to the audience that the greatest love, like life will also end. In my opinion this reference to aging could also refer to Shakespeare plays. This is because Twelfth Night was one of the last plays with the genre comedy.
Twelfth Night is also a play with troubling undertones. For instance Malvolio is tormented by Feste unnecessarily Feste treats everything Malvolio says as a remark of a madman. “Why, it hath bay windows transparent as barricades, and the clerestories toward the south-north are as lustrous as ebony; and yet compain’st thou of obstruction?” At this point the comedy clearly becomes sinister as the audience begin to sympathise with Malvolio, Characters such as Malvolio, Dir Andrew and Antonio can be seen as outsiders in the play. This is because throughout and at the end of the play, they are excluded from the all round happiness. Where as every other character at the end of the play has a partner of some type, they are left alone. Sir Toby uses Sir Andrew for his money but the last time they speak to each other, Sir Toby insults Sir Andrew. “Will you help – an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull?” This evokes the audience’s sympathy. Instead of reconciliation, Malvolio leaves seeking revenge, “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!” This is also and indication that Shakespeare is turning towards writing tragedies, as most of the plays that followed Twelfth Night were tragedies. In my opinion, Illyria is presented to differently by various producers. I have seen the Globe Theatre stage production and the Trevor Nun screen production of Twelfth Night. Both versions of portrayed Illyria differently. From my perspective, the setting of Illyria in the Trevor Nun production was oppressive whereas in the Globe Theatre production, Illyria was the opposite, more humane.
Twelfth is an elusive play. Underneath the comedy, which is present during the play, lie other genres. For example, the genre of romance, as the audience witness the development of three couples who finally marry, or the genre of revenge as Sir Toby, Maria, Feste, Fabian and Sir Andrew try to get revenge on Malvolio who in return wants his own back on all of them. It is dependant upon each individual in the audience how they interpret the play and which genre they found most dominates the play, as each individual is different.
Fabians remark: “If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction” reflects on how well Malvolio’s gulling has worked. This is a dramatic technique used by Shakespeare to show that the play is also a metatheatre. It comments on it’s own theatricality and makes the audience aware of its fictional stage world. Feste’s words: “Nothing that is so is so” is the motto of the play. This line is an example of how Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to catch the essence of Twelfth Night, that appearances are deceptive. Viola is a boy, acting a girl, acting a boy and Malvolio is acting the part of a deluded lover. Feste’s final lines in his closing song acknowledge that the audience watched the play. “But that is all one. Our play is done, / And we’ll strive to please you every day.” The song is sung in a sombre tone and is a reminder to the audience that the play shouldn’t be taken seriously. This is evident as the words “all is one” are a reference to the Elizabethan equivalents of “I couldn’t care less.”
From my viewpoint, one of the key points Shakespeare tries to make in the play Twelfth Night is how easily people can be fooled by appearance. Act Four is a good example of this. The play also relates very much to the concept of love. It expresses most types of love and shows possible outcomes. Generally however, it is my opinion that as the play was originally aimed at the Elizabethan audience in the Elizabethan time period, there would be a difference in perspectives, opinions and understanding of the modern audience.
