This is obviously one of the reasons that Sir Toby dislikes Malvolio and enjoys playing tricks on him, but is also an example of the hierarchy being turned upside down. This is something which Shakespeare’s audiences would have associated with twelfth night, a time of misrule and abandonment of the rules, of fun and confusion. These are all highlighted throughout the play, meaning that the audience would have been able to connect the title of the play to the events in it, something today’s audience would find harder to do. Audiences would have gone into the theatre expecting a humorous plot filled with confusion, something Shakespeare manages to live up to.
Shakespeare’s audiences would have been the poorer people, visiting the playhouses, very likely to dislike the middle classes and puritans, who wanted to close the theatres down. I think that Shakespeare uses Malvolio to represent Puritanism, a character who has very traditional values and doesn’t join in with the fun and games. I think this association would have made it easier to laugh at Malvolio when he is picked on by the other characters and locked up unfairly by Olivia
“Let this fellow be looked to”
Twelfth Night, like many other Shakespeare comedies, has both a main plot and a sub plot. The main plot is the story of Viola/Cesario, Orsino and Olivia and their love-triangle.
“My master loves her dearly;
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.”
This plot is based on the different types of love, confusion and how love can be confusing.
The sub plot is based more on comedy and misrule. Sir Toby Belch, Maria, Andrew Aguecheek and Malvolio are the main characters in the sub plot. They play tricks on each other and seem to enjoy themselves more than the other, more serious characters do.
“Three merry men be we!”
I think that Shakespeare created these two distinct plots to build up the element of contrast running throughout the play. One main difference in the language is that the more serious characters in the main plot speak mainly in verse;
“Away before me to sweet beds of flowers!
Love thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers”
Whereas the humorous characters often speak in prose;
“I had rather than forty shillings I had such a leg, and so sweet a breath to sing, as the fool has.”
I think that means that the audience can relate better to the characters who talk in prose as this is the way they would speak themselves. The prose also makes the characters more likeable and easy to agree with.
I think that Shakespeare made this difference between the two plots deliberately distinct. You can tell this from the fact that even Malvolio speaks in prose, despite being the kind of character who could easily speak in verse, being very self obsessed and disliked by other characters and the audience.
The sub plot is very effective as it creates a bit of humorous relief between the complicated relationships of the three main characters.
It is cleverly integrated into the script so the audience doesn’t have to concentrate for too long and doesn’t get bored. The sexual innuendo between Sir Toby and Maria is funny to watch develop,
“She’s a beagle true bred, and one that adores me – what o’ that?”
As is Malvolio’s and Sir Andrew’s love for Olivia;
“If I cannot recover your niece, I am a foul way out”
The scenes narrating the different stories are comparatively short. This ensures that the audience doesn’t tire of any of the characters and stays entertained throughout.
Dramatic irony is used at regular intervals throughout the play. The audience always knows more than the characters themselves do, creating an atmosphere where the audience are keen for the characters to discover things which they already know, keeping them entertained. There is also irony used in regards to particular characters: Malvolio, one of the most serious characters, is used in the most humorous scene, when he visits Olivia wearing cross-gartered yellow stockings. This accentuates the theme of opposites and rules being abolished and creates irony. Another example is using Viola, the most honest character in the play, to fool everyone by having her in disguise. This means that there are very few characters that the audience can completely trust in the play.
There is a lot of confusion used in the play; making it interesting, hard to follow at times and always entertaining for the audience. There are many examples; Viola’s disguise, love triangles and (particularly at the end), characters changing who they love quickly.
I think that the ending of the play is very effective. Shakespeare manages to combine the two plots for the first time by creating a humorous sense of confusion between the main characters as they discover the secrets about each other,
“So comes it, lady you have been mistook”
something which until then had only been a part of the sub plot. This is satisfying and entertaining for the audience as the characters find out the things which they had had hidden from them. This coming together and the ending of the chaos is also symbolic as it represents the end of the holiday season as the rules come back into place and everything returns to normal.