TWELFTH NIGHT COURSEWORK ACT 5 In the last act of the play the plot entanglements and confusions are not only sorted out

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TWELFTH NIGHT COURSEWORK

ACT 5

        In the last act of the play the plot entanglements and confusions are not only sorted out but also reach their climax.  To do this all the plots that have been occurring throughout the play are brought together in one final conclusion.  The various plot entanglements are sorted out in what is generally thought to be a happy ending, for instance: -

Viola, who is under the mistaken identity of Cesario, finally reveals her true identity because Sebastian has appeared therefore everyone else thinks they are seeing two Cesario’s.  By Viola doing this, she can finally reveal to Orsino that she loves him.  Orsino too realizes his love for Viola and so Orsino and Viola are, at last, joined together.

However, because Viola has done this, Olivia now realizes that she has, in fact, married Sebastian rather than Viola or Cesario as she first thought.  This, at first causes a problem, but then Olivia and Sebastian realize that they really do love each other.

Viola then explains that her women’s clothes are with the captain that brought her ashore and helped her after the shipwreck.  The captain has been imprisoned by Malvolio though.  Olivia decides to get Malvolio to set him free, but she remembers that Malvolio, too, is imprisoned for madness.  It is at this point that Feste appears with Malvolio’s love letter to Olivia.  Feste then proceeds to read it aloud so that it sounds like it is a madman that has written it.  However, Olivia and the other people in this scene do not fall for this and Fabian is asked to read the letter instead.

Fabian then reads it sensibly and the other characters at this point realize the mistake that Malvolio is not mad.  So Fabian is sent to release him.

When Malvolio appears he produces the letter which Malvolio believes to be Olivia's, but Olivia tells him the truth that it is in fact Marias and that he has been tricked.  Fabian confesses then that Sir Toby, Maria, and Feste are the ones responsible for this and that in fact Maria and Sir Toby are married.  Malvolio pride has been deeply hurt and Malvolio leaves swearing revenge upon the tricksters.

Although most people would assume that the ending of Twelfth Night is predominantly a ‘Happy’ ending, the audience is left with a feeling of worry about the loose ends and unfinished plots that the play finishes with.  It is a feeling of wanting to know what happens next and the conclusion that will never come.

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Many of the plots are brought to an end in the play, but one significant plot is left on a cliffhanger that will never be concluded.  It is Malvolio’s sworn revenge.  Many people would be left with the feeling of wanting to know what that revenge is.

Malvolio, out of all of those in the play who have fallen in love, is the only one who is not brought together with the one he loves.  Instead he is left with an explanation that the girl he thought loved him doesn’t, never has done and never will, with no ...

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