Monday, September 27, 2010

Everybody Plays the Fool!

My favorite character in Twelfth Night is definitely Feste, the “fool” because his brilliance is awesome! I imagine if he lived today he could be a very successful greeting card writer or maybe even a famous psychologist (more wise than Ann Landers herself). Even though his occupation is to be a clown or fool I think he is actually extremely wise.

Throughout the play he provides insightful commentaries with lines like “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit” (1.5.31) and “Pleasure will be paid, one time or another” (2.4.69). His interactions with the characters also serve as a way to highlight the insanity of the more “normal” characters. He also can mock the audience. As we discussed in class, in the beginning of 3.1 he talks with Viola about how he “live(s) by the church” (5) totally pointing out how foolish our language can be when used in correctly, and how easily it is to interpret something wrong.
He is even able to use his mind to help and manipulate Malvolio, someone who was of higher ranking. Feste’s role of Sir Topas can be comical for anyone impartial to Malvolio and Feste puts on a great show by switching characters quickly and further upsetting the tortured Malvolio. The themes of disguise, power and manipulation are all upped by Feste.
Therefore Feste is not a fool, actually just the opposite. Could the other characters in the play that are ridiculous and silly, like Sir Toby and his band of friends, Sir Andrew and Fabian be considered the true fools? They share the plan for manipulating Malvolio but differ in their observations of the court. Who then are the real fools in the play? Maybe they are the people who jump to conclusions, are constantly drunk (from alcohol or their own large egos) and those who judge people only based on outward appearances. In that case I would classify Olivia, Sebastian, Viola, and Orsino, Malvolio, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew as the true fools.
My apologies for this link but it’s pretty funny to think about in the context of the four lovers (Olivia, Sebastian, Viola, and Orsino). At the conclusion of the play these four people cast aside all normal reasoning and accept the “magical” gender transformations of the people they love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXGa__ECvnM

Also just to share a laugh with everyone, here is the preview for that old Amanda Bynes movie “She’s The Man”, a semi-modern day adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OhwrMidSU

Additionally, for anyone that is interested here is the FB event invite for the Twelfth Night:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=150160661686473&ref=ts

1 comment:

Elizabeth Y. said...

I never made the connection that "She's the Man" was an adaptation of Twelfth Night! There seems to be a pattern of Shakespeare being reinvented in teen comedy ("10 Things I Hate About You" = Taming of the Shrew). And I'm curious as to how "fool" was defined in Shakespeare's time: did it have another connotation that doesn't exist today?