Source one, courtesy of The Shakespeare Revolutionary Front, disagrees, and insists firmly that Twelfth Night is no longer funny, if at all. The source, written for a national newspaper, is written with typical tabloid techniques, using bizarre hyperbole and unbelievable satire. It describes the more complex comedy scenes with brash misunderstanding, nonchalantly describing the “woman dressed as a man” as “instantly recognisable” to the entire audience but never anyone on stage”. It is possibly a badly-interpreted irony that prevents the author of source one from realising that the obviousness of Viola’s disguise is one of the main comic devices in Twelfth Night. It is this that makes Olivia’s infatuation seem all the more hilarious.
Source one also describes the dark character Malvolio as “a man of very little brain…who thinks he is irresistible”. Although it is the situation that Malvolio is thrown into by shrewd plots from the comic characters, as opposed to Malvolio’s humour, he is not a man of little brain, simply a man whose character is played on by a deep understanding of his personal flaws.
Act 2, scene 3 shows all three elements of comedy. First the situational humour, as the comic characters of Maria, Sir Toby Belch and Fabian are all placed in a comic setting designed by Shakespeare. They are in the courtyard of Lady Olivia, with revenge on Malvolio in mind.
Visual humour develops when Sir Toby, Maria and Fabian hide very visibly in the box tree. This is considered funny as everyone in the audience can see them, but Malvolio remains completely oblivious to their presence. This oblivion is emphasised when the comic trio audibly command “peace” from each other, and Malvolio still fails to notice.
Verbal humour is used throughout the entire scene. Malvolio emerges talking to himself about his thirst for power, his need “to be Count Malvolio” in order to ridicule Sir Toby and his narcissistic stance that Lady Olivia loves him, as she “uses (him) with a more exalted respect than anyone else that follows her”.
More humour develops when Malvolio discovers the letter written by Maria. The audience are aware that it is a counterfeit, and take great delight in such an intolerable character getting sent up by the very people he detests. The absurdity increases when he begins to openly believe that Olivia could actually have feelings for him.
Although this scene is considered highly humorous in Twelfth Night, I consider Act 3 Scene 4 funnier. The comically visible aspect is thrown violently into the foreground in this scene. Malvolio, taking the words of the letter, appears dressed in gaudy yellow stockings and cross garters, much to the delight of Sir Toby, Maria, Feste and indeed the audience, and also to the complete bemusement of Lady Olivia. His almost-fierce smile also brings great mirth, as he is characteristically known for his solemn face. This appearance comes shortly after Maria’s announcement that Olivia detests the colour yellow.
Verbal humour also plays a huge part in this scene. Malvolio’s repetition of the letter, which he clearly knows by heart, leads to Lady Olivia’s extreme confusion. Her perplexed state of mind leads to an even greater farce, particularly when her concern generates a confused Malvolio to misinterpret her intentions. When Olivia requests that he “go(es) to bed”, he assumes Olivia’s intent is to join him and he reacts with such obvious glee that one can feel nothing but hilarity to the absurdity of the situation, yet possibly feel some sympathy for Malvolio, even though he is a truly detestable character.
This show of supposed madness leads to the darker humour in Twelfth Night. Sir Toby locks Malvolio into a dark damp cell, and labels him “a madman”. Malvolio’s increasing fear can be said to be funny, as he is designed to be hated, and the final punishment of such a character can fill and audience with delight. Feste the clown dresses as a priest and talks to him, giving his standard nonsensical responses to Malvolio’s questions. The said responses make Malvolio wonder at his own sanity, and this uncertainty again can lead to comedy. Although this scene can be classed as funny, as the visual humour of Feste’s disguise, verbal humour of his riposte, and situational of the circumstance Sir Toby has put them in is present, the humour is morbid, and the audience is aware that they should not really find it amusing.
The mistaken identity of Viola and Sebastian leads to great jollity in Twelfth Night. As in A Comedy Of Errors with Antipholus of Epheses and Antipholus of Syracuse, and Dromio of Epheses and Dromio of Syracuse, twins are coincidently thrown into situations that lead to a misguided identity, as they appear in the same country, dressed the same and are seen at highly inappropriate times. The absurdity of the situation is undoubtedly humorous.
In the Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian get their identities confused as Viola needs to dress as a male servant in order to find work with Count Orsino, making her seem more like her twin brother.
In Act 4, Viola is sent to battle for Lady Olivia’s affections with Sir Andrew. Sir Andrew believes her to be Sebastian, the rogue who fought Sir Toby, and Viola believes Sir Andrew to be one of the wildest, most aggressive men in Illyria. Again, the visual comedy of the suddenly very-female Viola and the weak, cowardly Sir Andrew is very comical.
Viola’s disguise as a male leads to even greater elements of comedy throughout the play. Lady Olivia, who is in love with grief, instantly falls in love with her counterpart Cesario, and spends the next three acts in a hopeless devotion, much to the embarrassment of Viola. To any audience, modern day or 1601, a woman openly devoted to a man who is actually a woman is funny, if not a little sadistic.
A further element of comedy is brought to the play with the drunken antics of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. This is definitely an odd friendship, as Sir Andrew is a feeble, easily confused character, and Sir Toby is merely keeping him in close contact for his monetary value, doing this by convincing him that Lady Olivia loves him, and he does have a chance of becoming her suitor.
Their drunken state is played upon by verbal humour in Act 2 Scene 3. They spend many minutes discussing pointlessly whether they are “up late to be up late” or whether “to be up after midnight is to go to bed early”. This nonsensical conversation is coupled with the inebriated lurching of both Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, making it a comic display for an audience.
Sir Toby also uses Sir Andrew’s blatant stupidity in order to make the play funny. As Sir Toby introduces him to Maria, before Sir Andrew’s entrance, he describes him as one who “speaks three or four languages”, making Sir Andrew out to be highly intelligent, and the audience therefore expects an intellectual person to appear. This however is unfounded, when Sir Andrew fails to comprehend the basic “parquoi?” from Sir Toby. This is not expected from the audience, and the sudden appearance of Sir Andrew’s foolishness is found to be funny.
A single character that brings a huge amount of humour to the play is Feste, Olivia’s court jester.
Feste is more of the comic truth of the comedy. Although he does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person within all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by saying "This fellow's wise enough to play the fool. Since Feste is a licensed fool, his main role in Twelfth Night is to speak the truth. His profound comic aspect comes from his astuteness. In one example he proves Olivia to be a true fool by asking her what she was mourning about. The point Feste tried to make was why was Olivia mourning for a person who's soul is in heaven?
In Twelfth Night, the fools control the comedy and humour in the play. They assist in the make believe game and fool around with characters who "evade reality or rather realize a dream". Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses. They create the confusion through humour. Confusion is also brought from disguise, knowledge of character and basic malice. However, the main characters bring in their own comedy with self-devotion, masquerades and love for others who cannot return their passion. It contains all the situational, visual and verbal elements of comedy, along with satire, perplexity and commotion.
Twelfth Night is, without a doubt, still funny to a modern day audience. It comprises all three main elements of comedy: visual, verbal and situational, and combines them with the follies of the comic double act, confusion of disguise and the ultimate love of all the characters. To any audience, 1601 or otherwise, Twelfth Night is an amalgamation of satire, confusion and fervour, ordained to entertain and interest a general audience. Today, a modern audience will still find the exploits of Sir Toby, Feste and Maria hilarious, still find the jokes droll, although some have lost their meaning over the centuries, and still revel in the visual aspect of Twelfth Night.
Amanda Dunnington
English Literature Coursework
