Write character studies of:
Sir Toby Belch:
Sir Toby Belch is Olivia the Duchess’s uncle who is very fun-loving and enjoys drinking. “Th’art a scholar; let us therefore eat and drink. Marian, I say, a stoup of wine!” Sir Toby Belch is also a keen-witted person, even when he is drunk, and his intelligence contrasts sharply with his dupe, Sir Andrew Aguecheek. In his relationship with Sir Andrew, Sir Toby displays a manipulative side to his character. He fools the gullible knight into believing that he could marry Olivia so that he will remain in her house and continue to fund his drinking habits. Wherefore are these things hid? Wherefore have these gifts a curtain before them? Are they like to take dust, like Mistress Mall’s picture? Why dost thou not go to church in a galliard and come home in a coranto? Why dost thou not go to church in a galliard and come home in a coranto? My very walk should be a jug; I would not so much as make water but in sink-a-pace. What dost thou mean? Is it a world to hide virtues in? I did think by the excellent constitution of thy leg, it was formed under the star of galliard.”
Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Sir Andrew is a tall thin and very stupid knight. He is staying at Olivia’s house at the invitation of Sir Toby Belch. He is rich and Sir Toby encourages him to keep wooing the unwooable Olivia so that he will finance their regular drinking sessions. Sir Andrew Aguecheek is foolish and easily tricked. He does not realize that he has been cheated. Sir Andrew only stays because Sir Toby keeps telling him that Olivia is considering him as a possible suitor. In addition, he is a coward. For example when Sebastian stands up to him he backs down very quickly. A good deal of the humour surrounding him comes from how he is tricked.
Orsino The Duke
Duke Orsino’s opening speech in Act 1 tells us something about his character and mood. He is in love but this doesn’t bring him happiness, rather a profound melancholy. His speech turns to images of disease and death.
“excess…surfeiting…sicken…die…dying” (lines 2/4) and it is clear that Orsino is not an active lover focused on his beloved. He is preoccupied with the sensation of love itself, feeing his emotions with music an elaborate poetic images. Orsino has probably seen Olivia only once and her image as insipid him in a kind of romantic indulgence. A belief that if she doesn’t love him in return, he will die. From this passive, self-regarding emotion comes his employment of Cesario (Viola) as a messenger who will do his wooing for him. Orsino in an inconsistent character as Feste points out in Act 2 Scene 4 with a mind of “opal” (line 75) He begs for music to reflect his mood, then quickly becomes bored. This changeable nature, however, make his sudden transference of affection from Olivia to Viola at the end of the play believable.
Chose two episode from the play that you found particularly enjoyable and effective. Explore the contribution to the play of each of the episodes you have selected and analyse how Shakespeare makes each one dramatically effective.
The first episode I have chosen starts at Act 3 Scene 4 and is the episode in which Malvolio finds the letter written by Maria which he thinks is from Olivia and begins to act strangely around her. I enjoyed this episode because the comedy is both in what Malvolio says and how he acts.
Shakespeare uses the same comedy as in the main plot with the theme of misplaced or unreciprocated love. Like in the main plot Orsino has an unrequited infatuation with Olivia in the episode Malvolio has unacknowledged feelings for Olivia. Shakespeare also uses the recurring theme of disguise or deception. Once Malvolio get his letter he begins to act completely different to his normal self to try an impress Olivia. Shakespeare also uses confusion amongst the actors but not amongst the audience to make the episode more amusing. It’s like modern day farce where the actors don’t know what’s happening though the audience is in on the joke. For example when Malvolio comes in skipping with a beaming smile and crossed garters with yellow socks, we know why he’s doing it because we know he’s had the letter. Had that happened to a different character, Sir Toby for instance the audience may feel sorry for him , but since Malvolio was so stuck up in the beginning it seems alright to laugh at him since it’s his fall from grace. When he starts quoting the letter to Olivia we know what he’s talking about but Olivia has no idea, which makes I even funnier. Malvolio has also been identified as a caricature of Sir Christopher Hatton, who was Queen Elizabeth’s steward and did woo her. His manner was so fawning that some people found him both hypocritical and ridiculous so the Queen would call him her “Sheep”. In the part where Malvolio is prancing around Olivia in yellow stockings there are few directions and you only know that he is smiling and prancing from what Maria and Olivia say but in theatre and film generally the actors dance around and show off their yellow cross gartered stockings. In the last line of the scene Olivia shows that she does care for Malvolio but just not in the way he had believed.
The Second episode I have hosen is Act 1 Scene 5 when Olivia first meets Cesario/Viola and Cesario tries to woo her for Orsino but ends up unwittingly wooing her for herself.
Again in this scene Shakespeare uses deception and disguise, which the audience knows about. The other comedy from this scene would be that in Shakespeare’s time Cesario would be played by a young man, playing a young woman, disguised as a young man. In this scene there is a big change of heart from Viola. From the start where she refuses all of Cesario’s compliments to the end where she wants him to tell her all the things he likes about her. The mood of the scene changes when Viola removes her veil and they move from speaking in lines to blank verse very poetically. From this scene is when you begin to think that Olivia is falling for Cesario/Viola. First is when she says to him/her “Go to your lord, I cannot love him. Let him send no more – unless perchance you come to me again.” What she’s saying she’ll have none of what he says about her Orsino loves her but she wants to see Viola again. Second is when she does a soliloquy about how much she wants to see him/her again and what a gentleman he is. It becomes very obvious that she is smitten when she sends Malvolio to give Cesario a ring of hers because she knows that he is such a gentleman he will have to return to return her ring since it isn’t hers meaning that she’ll have to go and see Olivia today.
AQA B3711X Centre : 65329 Candidate No.:7004
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