Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, is a play made by the famous William Shakespeare. It is classified as a romantic comedy, written around the 17th Century. While the main theme of the play is romance and comedy, the play dives deep into principles and morals, along with disguise and deception, as well as being able to live in a world where reality is never guaranteed. Even though Twelfth Night follows the same guideline as many Shakespeare plays, including love triangles, a resolved ending, confusion within the characters themselves, it has its own unique story line, mixed with a roller coaster of events.
Act 1, Scene 3+4
Love. Desire. Comedy. The 3 main aspects of Twelfth Night’s queer scenes 3 & 4 of act 1. Act 1 Scene 3 is one of the intro scenes which introduces the characters. It presents the vile characters Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. These two characters play a huge role in the play and their personalities are quite fascinating as they aren’t the usual sort of characters seen in comedy plays. Sir Toby Belch is a drunkard who ‘leaches’ off Sir Andrew’s wealth. While Sir Andrew Aguecheek is a fool who is oblivious towards Sir Toby’s motives of keeping him in Olivia’s household. In the Globe Theatre version of Twelfth Night, you can easily spot the character, Sir Toby Belch, because of his distinguishing costume which portrays him as a complete drunkard. The most discerning features of the character is his plump body, bloated face, sagged eyes and red-streaked face. However, the way Sir Toby speaks also gives it away that he is intoxicated as he always slurs his words. Whereas in the modern Twelfth Night featuring Tamsin Greig, Sir Andrew’s foolishness is expressed through his clothing and hairstyle. Sir Andrew’s costume is a suit yet the colour of the suit is hot pink which goes with all his other accessories which are also hot pink — socks, vest, pants and shoes. As a bonus feature to add to Sir Andrew’s folly, his hair is tied as a ‘man bun’ which looks odd to me. The acting and costumes of the characters in both plays contribute to the understanding of the characters in the play.
“Why, he has three thousand ducats a year” Sir Toby answers to Maria. This quote shows that money is hugely desired in those times. It also exhibits that Sir Toby is attracted to Sir Andrew’s riches, so wants to keep Sir Andrew in Illyria.
This uncanny duo amuses and entertains the crowd in creative ways. The audience understands the atmosphere of the situation while Sir Andrew is clueless. Shakespeare aims this scene to be ironic by making sure the viewers are ‘in on the joke’ while the actors aren’t. This works perfectly and is exploited in the play multiple times. An example of this is during the fencing / sword fight between Cesario and Sir Andrew where Sir Toby misinforms both characters, forcing them to fight each other. But in reality, they are both not willing. The audience knows this and finds it funny when both characters hesitantly fight it out.
This scene also presents Maria, Olivia’s serving woman, scolding Sir Toby for his bad habits plus excessive drinking. This shows that the class status in Olivia’s household is different to Orsino’s court as Orsino (noble) controls his servants while Sir Toby (noble) is being reproached by his servants. “My lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours” says the irritated Maria to the intoxicated Sir Toby. I personally find this scene a bit longer than needed, however, the length of the scene enables the audience to really comprehend the characters personalities and demeanour. Overall, I find this scene alright and not too boring to view as a result of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew’s weird antics.
Act 1 Scene 4
This scene is also an intro scene as it introduces Cesario who is Viola disguised as a boy. I don’t really find Twelfth Night’s deception and love desires which arise because of this deception as amusing or entertaining as most people say. I personally find this scene quite boring and annoying. However, I don’t really have a reason for disliking Twelfth Night, but it does go against my tastes.
In Act 1 Scene 4, Cesario has been taken into the service of Count Orsino and has gotten really close to Orsino. ‘He hath known you but three days, and already you are no stranger’ says Valentine to Cesario. Orsino has already told Cesario of his great love for Olivia which is further proof that Cesario is being trusted by Orsino. Orsino then tells Cesario to go to Olivia’s house and do whatever he can to receive an audience on Orsino’s behalf. Cesario is skeptical, given the firmness of Olivia’s resolve not to see anyone. But Orsino is confident that Cesario will be able to persuade her due to his feminine characteristics. Though Cesario obeys to ‘woo’ Orsino’s lady, Viola wishes to marry Orsino herself, so she finds this task quite hard mentally. The most interesting part of this scene is how Orsino randomly trusts Cesario. I find this interesting as no one really trusts anyone without any reason to. So I am curious on knowing why Orsino trusts Cesario. This is the only part I find mildly interesting and the other parts in the scene are pretty boring.
Act 2 Scene 1
Act 2 Scene 1 was performed quite differently in the Globe production of the play, and the National theatre production. I liked the performance of the Globe production much more. It was supposed to be more of a serious scene than most scenes in the play since in this scene, Sebastian is thinking about the ‘death’ of his very alive sister, Viola. Because of this, I couldn’t really use humour (a valid variable since this is one of Shakespeare’s comedies) as a basis to determine which performance was better since this scene did not have much of it, if not any. In the National Theatre production, Sebastian seemed irritated and spoke like he almost did not want Antonio to have saved him. I thought that Sebastian may have been too angry and irritated at Antonio for saving his life, because it did not seem as realistic when compared to Sebastian in the globe theatre production, when he seemed slightly passive-aggressive and maybe slightly irritated. A possible reason for this is found when Sebastian says,
“[His father] left behind him myself and a sister, both born in an hour: if the heavens had been pleased, would we had so ended! but you, sir, altered that; for some hour before you took me from the breach of the sea was my sister drowned.”
The most important thing he said in this paragraph, in terms of defining Sebastian’s emotions at Antonio at the time was “but you, sir, altered that;”. It may seem innocent, almost grateful on paper, because it could be interpreted that Sebastian is grateful that Antonio went against the ‘will of the heavens’ and prevented him from dying. However, in both productions, the body language and tone of Sebastian suggests that he is not grateful to Antonio for being saved, but is unhappy and almost annoyed. A reason for this can be found when Sebastian says, “He left behind him myself and a sister, both born in an hour: if the heavens had been pleased, would we had so ended! but you, sir, altered that;” Since at the time people were not very logical and had weird superstitions, especially in this play, for example Sir Andrew Agucheek thought that beef was harming his wits, even though there is no actual proof that this is true. So possibly Sebastian thought the ‘heavens’ wanted him and his sister to die the same way they were born, which was within one hour. Another possible reason why Sebastian was irritated that Antonio saved his life was maybe that Sebastian felt guilt that his sister had to die, and he got to live by pure luck.
This scene was important because it provided foreshadowing when Antonio said, “I have many enemies in Count Orsino’s court,”. This foreshadowed that he would go through an altercation with people in the court. Also, it shows the audience that Sebastian is still alive, and he would go on to be a key element that would fix the love triangle that was created between Olivia, Viola and Orsino.
Act 2 Scene 2
After a whole term of studying Twelfth Night in English class, I have finally realized that the entire plot of Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle. However, it is not only just a love triangle, it is a perfect love triangle, geometrically speaking. Orsino loves Olivia, Olivia loves ‘Cesario’ and ‘Cesario’, who is in reality Viola, loves Orsino. If you draw these connections visually on a piece of paper, you see that the shape is a triangle. In Act 2 Scene 2, near the end when Viola explained the predicament she was in after Malvolio gave her Olivia’s ring, this was the exact moment I had come
to this conclusion. Usually, stories that have a ‘love triangle’ have two people in love with one person at the same time, however that is not a love triangle, it more of a love ‘v. And in my case I have never seen any story that has had an actual perfect love triangle, before I watched Twelfth Night. The reason why I think this is so important and deserves attention is because I think this really showed the uniqueness of the play and the talent of Shakespeare. And the fact that this play was made 400 years ago, really showed that Shakespeare was ahead of his time. Even though he had to slightly bend the heterosexuality and gender of some of the characters in order to construct this triangle, I think it added more potential for the plot to expand and gave more opportunities for humour, and in general it made the play more interesting.
After discussing with my classmates about this, I have realized that I am a minority. By that I mean that I am one of the very few people that prefers the Globe production of the play over the national theatre production. Personally, since I prefer plays having humour in them, I found that the Globe production was funnier due to the acting and body language being more humorous than the acting and body language of the actors from the National Theatre. And especially since Twelfth Night was one of Shakespeare’s comedies, I think that it is very important for this play to be funny for it to be an objectively good Twelfth Night play.
Act, 2 Scene 4
Act 2 Scene 4 is one of the more crucial scenes that develop the plot. This scene touches heavily on the topic of love and the relationship between Viola/Cesario and Orsino.
I felt that the scene was quite hilarious, and many others will agree with me. This was mainly because of the conversation that took place between Viola/Cesario and Orsino. The conversation is ignited when Orsino tells Cesario/Viola that if he ever falls in love, he should remember Orsino and his passion. Then Orsino proceeds to boast about his way of love. This leads to Orsino questioning about the person that Viola/Cesario seems to be talking about. This is where the scene starts to become funny and takes on a lighter tone that was not present in the previous talk about love. When Orsino questions Viola/Cesario, Viola/Cesario’s answers seem to be suspiciously describing Orsino as his love but after a few more questions it becomes abundantly clear to the audience that Viola/Cesario has fallen in love with Orsino. Another thing to notice here that Orsino is mostly oblivious to this, making it even more funny. However, in both the Globe Production of Twelfth Night and the National Theatre live production, Orsino shows signs of having picked up what is happening. In the Globe Theatre production, he frowns near the end of Viola/Cesario coming towards the end of her description which obviously suggests that he may have entirely figured it out or was at least suspecting of Viola/Cesario’s answers. In the National Theatre production, the romantic/sexual tension between both of these characters is more obviously displayed and is almost palpable, because of things such as bodily contact, including touching each other’s hands unnecessarily, prolonged eye contact that is broken abruptly and the general way that both move and act around each other when this is happening. After this conversation takes place Orsino tries again to get Viola/Cesario to go back to Olivia. However, we start seeing more character development in Viola/Cesario as she takes a stand against Orsino and refuses to go. This follows by an argument in which Viola/Cesario is trying to say that Olivia cannot love, and he should accept it and Orsino trying to say that no one can ignore such love. The scene has now shifted from comical dialogue and actions onto a more serious topic. This is emphasised by not having any music playing in the background and the only sound effect being used was a cricket’s chirping whose only purpose was probably to remind everyone that the setting was taking place at night and in a way it displayed loneliness. By this I mean that, in many movies where parties and the like have taken place and most people have gone home, leaving only the protagonist, the same chirping sound effect is used when showing that the venue of the party is a wreck, plastic cups everywhere and the like. Due to this it gives off vibe that the protagonist has to clean the mess up and it is not going to be very pleasant. In the same way, this part of the scene shows that both of the characters feel lonely. This is a very farfetched comparison, but I wanted to clearly show what I was experiencing when watching this scene and listening to these sounds. Finally, the scene is coming close to an end and another key part of the story is shown. Here Viola/Cesario describes the anecdote of how her “father had a daughter that loved a man”. After this, Orsino thinks that Viola/Cesario was talking about his sister but in the end she reveals that she is all the daughters of her house. At this moment in the play, I was certain that Orsino would know about her attraction to him or in his mind “his” attraction to him. But Orsino seems unfazed and that made me curious on whether Orsino had even listened to what Viola/Cesario was even saying. Nevertheless, Viola/ Cesario sets off again to Olivia on the orders from Orsino. In all honesty, I had expected this scene to end on a cliff hanger where Orsino has fully realised about the attraction between him and Viola/Cesario and we would have to wait to find out what happens next.
Act 3, Scene 1: Alas, Olivia’s “Redemption for Love”
As Viola rounds up towards the house, she prepares herself with determination and regret. Will she be able to deliver Orsino’s request of love for Olivia or will Olivia be preoccupied by her ‘affection’ towards ‘Cesario’. Its time for round two and if Viola fails, who knows what lays ahead for her sticky love triangle. In this scene, Viola encounters the faces of numerous people including Feste, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, and our ‘beloved’ Olivia. That’s practically everyone in Olivia’s house and more than half of the entire main cast! (sure is a packed day for Viola)
The main focus in this scene is of course the reencounter of Viola and Olivia. With her clever words, Viola must somehow steer Olivia’s love away from this ‘young fellow’ named ‘Cesario’; a love which has been solidified and is determined to enter a relationship which will bear fruit. A number of spectacular things happen in this scene, one event being Olivia’s quite blatant confession for Cesario: “I love thee so that, maugre all they pride, nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.” Without revealing her identity, Viola explains why Olivia cannot love ‘him’. To keep it simple, Viola rejects Olivia.
Through this scene, we are reminded of the ever-present theme of deception and misunderstanding. However, a new and unique theme can be uncovered through this confrontation. This is the theme of homosexuality. Although Olivia believes that she is in love with this young male named Cesario, it may in fact be due to her interest in Cesario’s femininity (since Cesario is actually a girl! (woah!)) This is an interesting topic as back in the 17th Century, homosexuality wasn’t really a thing until the term was officially coined in the 19th Century. The fact that Shakespeare was playing around with this subject in his scripts is something I found fascinating. If we were to think about how Olivia’s ‘homosexuality’ were to progress in this story, the thought of her actions and the lengths she will go to for ‘Cesario’ could become a rather ravishing turnout. Then comes the point of Viola’s reveal. I really wonder how Olivia will react and how she’ll question her possible homosexuality.
So how did humanity recreate this scene? Well, after scouring through numerous plays (not really), I came upon a grand and HILARIOUS adaptation performed by the National Theatre! The National Theatre takes a very modern approach to Shakespeare’s script and so by watching this version of the play, prepare to be bewildered by the technology and props which they use. Of course, this scene was meant to be played on Olivia’s Orchid. If you are going to think there is going to be lots of trees and greenery in this play, think again. The National Theatre decides to use Olivia’s elaborate backyard that has a pool for the scenery. A pool! And you won’t believe what happens in this pool. Here’s a glimpse of what happens in this adaptation.
Although this scene is quite serious, as Olivia is desperately trying to make Viola fall for her, the National Theatre does an amazing job to make this scene hilarious! This can be seen through Phoebe Fox’s amazing acting. Through the play, as Olivia tries to persuade Viola, Olivia seductively reveals her swimsuit in an attempt to arouse Cesario’s ‘male’ instincts. Not only that, Olivia gets quite forceful with Viola (as can be seen in the pool scene), and this is hilarious; especially the look of terror in Viola’s face.
Malvolio’s false beliefs — Act 3, Scene 4
Act 3, Scene 4 starts off with Olivia sending a servant after Cesario to persuade him to come back, asks for Malvolio to help her with her strategy in order to get Cesario. Malvolio having a false sense of knowledge, with his letter that was played a prank telling him Olivia was in love with him, comes to her request in order to impress her. The letter tells him to do outlandish things in front of Olivia, such as wear crossed garters and yellow stockings, and quote strange phrases to Malvolio. It is later realized that the strange phrases are quotes from the letter Olivia ‘supposedly’ wrote to him. Olivia, thinking Malvolio has gone mad, leaves after she assigns Maria, Fabian and Sir Toby to Malvolio, in which they also think Malvolio has gone mad and locks him in a dark room. Sir Toby realizes that since Olivia thinks that Malvolio has gone mad, he can do whatever he wants with him.
It is quite unbelievable, how Shakespeare has managed to write characters like this. All characters do wacky and outright outrageous things, but that is what made them feel like humans. How they went so far for love, the obnoxious things they did (Malvolio specifically), while it felt absurd, also made them feel real and laughable. However, it is felt as if Shakespeare had added too many characters, as troubling scenarios such as remembering character names and mixing them up came up, which was illusionary and confusing. However, the main point of this segment focuses on the characters, and the way it builds up on the plot is amazing, and how Shakespeare managed to write the characters feel not empty and another literature character is truly amazing.
For the second segment of this scene, Sir Andrew also enters with a letter to Sir Toby in order to deliver to Cesario, for a duel, but rather than giving the letter, Sir Toby provokes both of them, saying they both are out for each other’s blood and such. We are now occupied by Cesario being escorted out by Olivia, in which they cross paths with Sir Toby, who tells Cesario how fearsome Sir Andrew is, in which he rejects the fight. Sir Andrew comes across with Cesario, and duels him, but at that time, Antonio comes into the room, and mistakes him for Sebastian, and tells Sir Andrew, that he will fight for “Sebastian’s” sake. Cesario acts as if she doesn’t know who he is, and that deeply hurts Antonio. Eventually, Antonio is classified mad and is escorted out of the room.
This segment focuses on a duel on Andrew against Cesario, in which Andrew asks Toby to deliver a letter to Cesario asking him to fight, in which he doesn’t but Cesario rejects nonetheless, but after 3 acts of shenanigans and whatnot, the plot finally kicks in with Antonio coming into the room, revealing that Sebastian is also somewhere around, in which this is where it gets tricky and many mishaps happen. Perhaps this could be considered the climax, as from this point on, many confusions would arise from the misunderstandings caused by Antonio referring Cesario to ‘Sebastian’.
Act 4, Scene 2: The Trickery Continues
Shakespeare’s turn of the century (17th to 18th) romantic comedy, Twelfth Night, captures a steady build of farcical trickery that culminates in the final chaotic scenes. Act 4, Scene 2, is one of these, entertaining ideas of pure insanity via the maniacal desperation of Malvolio. The pranksters have had Malvolio committed to a cell on account of insanity. Feste now visits him disguised as the minister “Sir Topas.” “Sir Topas” tells Malvolio that he really is insane. He nonsensically denies that Malvolio’s cell is dark and insists that it’s only the darkness of ignorance.
As though dressing up for his own performance for the entertainment of Sir Toby and Maria, a dynamic emphasised in Trevor Nunn’s shot-reverse-shot editing of the film adaptation, the play continues the key theme of deception whilst Malvolio dons the gown of a priest. His tongue-in-cheek remark, “I will dissemble myself/In’t; and I would I were the first that ever/Dissembled in such a gown” illuminates how even revered religious leaders are privy to dishonesty and lies. Feste himself, is an embodiment of deceptive appearances, since as a clown, he is in fact one of the most philosophical and insightful members of the cast. This comes to the fore in another of his verses of homespun wisdom, “to be said/an honest man and a good housekeeper/goes as fairly as to say a careful man and a great scholar”. However, the house staff are in this moment neither honest, nor moral. Upon Sir Toby’s arrival, he inadvertently attests to how convincing deception can be, mistaking the clown for “master Parson”. Feste makes this concept salient through his comment, “what is ‘that’ but ‘that’, and ‘is’ but ‘is’?” suggesting that reality is whatever it is perceived to be.
Shakespeare’s play on dark and light is carried into Trevor Nunn’s filmic adaptation of the play. In the play, Malvolio speaks of having been “laid … Here in hideous darkness” whilst Nunn enhances this, having blackened Malvolio’s face and only providing the smallest gap in Malvolio’s cell for light to stream through. The instability of the handheld camera further creates a shakiness wherein Malvolio’s mental instability is revealed. To exacerbate Malvolio’s dwindling grasp on reality, Shakespeare has the clown confront him with a series of similes that the cell has “bay windows transparent as barricadoes” and “clearstones … as lustrous as ebony”.
Trying his best to prove his sanity, Malvolio does things he thought he would never do. His statement “Good fool, help me to some light and some paper” proves his desperation as he has never called Feste ‘good fool’ before. In the filmic version, a reverse shot shows Malvolio with his hands spread across the cell door, which displays someone his anguished longing for release. Furthermore, the light shining through the gaps in the door barely touch Malvolio, and it creates an effect of being ‘so close but so far’ from his desired liberation.
Surprisingly, after Feste moves back away from the cell to talk to Maria and Sir Toby, Sir Toby shows a surprising act of maturity. He conveys that “[he] would we were well rid of this knavery”, as well as “[he]would he were, for [he is] now so far in offense with [his] niece that [he] cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot.” Here, he has realised that this trick against Malvolio has gone too far, and that he wants to end it. He has noticed his wrongdoing towards Malvolio, as well as with his niece, and he does not want to get into anymore trouble. He ends this with a proposition to Maria, saying “Come by and by to my chamber”, which is inviting her sexually into his room. In the film adaptation, a close up shot of Sir Toby putting the lid on his drink indicates a closing, or an end to the fooling. Nunn also has him sharing a kiss with Maria in the filmic adaptation, suggesting a shift from the mischievous pursuit of torturing Malvolio for his own pleasure, towards the purer pleasures of love.
After Feste takes off his priest costume and once again has a conversation with Malvolio, Malvolio gets even more desperate, since his first attempt at being free failed. He makes promises and swears that he is being wrongfully treated, when he states that “By this hand, I am. Good fool, some ink, paper and light; and convey what I will set down to my lady It shall advantage thee more than ever the bearing of letter did”. He is willing to offer Feste a great price in return for providing him with the tools to secure his freedom. In the filmic adaptation of Twelfth Night, this line is not included. Instead, a cut from Act 4, Scene 3 is put in. The connection between these two scenes is that in Act 4, Scene 3, Sebastian is also making a promise. He is trying to find an answer and a reality, and he swears to Olivia that “[he’ll] follow this [priest] and go with [her], and having sworn truth, ever will be true”. This scene, which is filmed with an intimate close up shot, then cuts back to Malvolio and Feste, however, the next words spoken are from Feste, asking “But tell me true, are you not mad indeed? or do you but counterfeit?” This segue and parallel that creates a motif of ‘truth’ calls upon the characters to acknowledge something deep within themselves and signals a shift away from the dishonesty and trickery that has shaped the play thus far. In the original play, Malvolio is being taught a lesson by ‘the fool’. Malvolio is been quite an arrogant and unpleasant character in both the film and the play script, and Feste is trying to teach him to recognise his shortcomings and that the manner in which he usually acts was not that of a reasoned, balanced man. The same slow, non-diegetic music flows through each cut in the film adaptation, indicating hope, and the consternation that might turn into joy.
While going to get ink for Malvolio, Feste starts singing a song. Shakespeare’s use of this song indicates that the play is coming to an end, and things are getting resolved with the characters. The line “Cries, ah, ha! to the devil: Like a mad lad, Pare thy nails, dad; Adieu, good man devil” talks about leaving the crazy devil alone, however, in Twelfth Night, it means putting all misfortunes and incidents to rest. In Trevor Nunn’s version of the script, he uses a close up shot of Feste peeking behind a corner, which cuts to a long shot of characters sharing a peaceful moment together, for example Maria and Sir Toby getting married. Slow and calming non-diegetic music brightens the mood of the scene, as well as accompanies Feste’s singing .
Essentially, Act 4, Scene 2, is the moral denouement of the play. Shakespeare has enforced principles of honesty as one of the most crucial lessons to take from Twelfth Night, like controlling one’s mindset and acts, and knowing when a comedic trick or an ambition goes too far. Disguise and deception has played a major part in Act 4, Scene 2, and it has proved that people have the possibility to be very different from what their physical factors suggest. As the scene draws to a close, a budding truce is taking form, as relationships both mend and blossom, working the plot’s way towards the signature happy endings that Shakespeare’s romantic comedies are known for.
Act 5, Scene 1
The Final Star of Twelfth Night
The concluding scene of Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’, Act 5 Scene 1 serves as the dénouement of the play, resolving multiple storylines along the way, resulting in a ‘grand finale’ effect for the audience.
These events include the first time we see Count Orsino meet and attempt to woo Olivia in person, with the love triangle — no, the love square (of Orsino, Olivia, Viola and now Sebastian) getting more and more convoluted. Shakespeare ingeniously designed the play in such a way that the audience would not only find humour, but a sense of satisfaction when the love square unfolds. National Theatre’s interpretation of ‘Twelfth Night’ was particularly clever in the theme of gender and romance. Even after Orsino had discovered that Viola and Sebastian were of “One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons,” National Theatre’s Orsino embraced and kissed Sebastian, not realising that it was not Cesario/Viola. This further expands on the similarity of the long-lost sibling image, whilst also providing a humorous touch.
Another significant event that occurred in this scene was Viola and Sebastian finally meeting up. Long anticipated (for me at least), this was a quite dramatic first meeting, with the ‘twin’ similarity causing rampant confusion among the characters. Viola was falsely accused of maiming Olivia’s kinsmen, when Sebastian barged in. Following Sebastian’s intrusion, the characters, all gathered, finally figure out the truth. It certainly would be difficult to assimilate the situation. In fact, the siblings were described as being as or more alike than “An apple, cleft in two.” Viola and Sebastian trying to determine if they really were related was really quite a beautiful moment in the play. Tentative at the start, they slowly warm up to each other again, and in the Globe interpretation of this section, Sebastian sprints to Viola when she is still explaining and trying to prove that she is indeed Viola. I think that this is the best, most heartfelt interpretation of the section, although admittedly simple. The Globe Theatre sticks to tradition in various ways, including having all male actors — same as in Shakespeare’s time. I think that the bareness of this section fully reflects that tradition.
A side plot of ‘Twelfth Night’, the Malvolio situation has gotten quite out-of-hand. From being a harmless prank and trying to embarrass Malvolio, to imprisoning and constraining him for being a madman is quite a harsh turn. Although the audience was primed to be against Malvolio and his “stubborn and uncourteous” ways, one cannot help but feel sympathy for him — something theatres seem to emphasise quite well. Malvolio, understandably frustrated and hurt, wished revenge on “the whole pack of [them]”, adding an extra dramatic touch.
The scene ends with Feste singing quite a sombre song. The song speaks of once being young, and the song uses wind and rain to express one’s hardships growing up. The song gives further insight into Feste’s background, being amongst “knaves and thieves”, and even about the struggles of marriage. He also found many men, perhaps similar to those of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew that too much drink was a problem. The penultimate idea of the song was stating that the world existed a long time ago, and that life would continue. Even with all of one’s struggles, the Earth would still revolve around the Sun and life would move on. Feste concludes the play by saying that the “play is done. And they’ll strive to please [us] every day.” In my interpretation of these last two lines, Feste was the one telling the story all along, still entertaining and telling stories, ready to insult you today.
Conclusion
So, after reading all these insights on scene’s of Shakespeare’s script, ‘Twelfth Night’, I hope you have been in the least been inclined towards watching the play or even reading the script! Twelfth Night uncovers how the themes of deceit, deception and misunderstanding can result in a hilarious romantic comedy. Whether you watch the National Theatre’s version or the Globe version (whatever suits your taste), be prepared for an exhilarating experience. With the witty lines in this script and the hilarious plot, you will definitely have an enjoyable experience.