Cruelty in Twelfth Night Essay

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeares most popular comedies, and yet it has the most complex of endings. How much of this is due to the cruelty to be found interlinked with the comedy?

One would not think of Twelfth Night as a typical Shakespearean comedy. Although the ending does have weddings they are very rushed and some of the newlyweds for example Lady Olivia and Sebastian hardly know each other. Also at the end of a typical comedy very few or no characters are left alone or unhappy however in Twelfth Night there are quite a few people who alone at the end of this play. For example Malvolio and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are somewhat forgotten at the end of this play and appear much exploited by Sir Toby. This is definitely due to the trickery that is played out at the expensive of these two characters, which by the end becomes very cruel especially on the part of Malvolio.

There is always cruelty in comedy but in Twelfth Night there definitely seems to be an excess of it. It appears that some point throughout the play every character indulges in cruel comedy, and this is never victimless. The obvious cruelty throughout the play is the sub plot with Malvolio, who tends to be the victim in this play and the comedy is mainly executed by Sir Toby who spends his life mocking Malvolio why, how now, my bawcock? How dost thou, chuck?. Sir Toby also takes pleasure in tricking Sir Andrew as he is very dim-witted and therefore easy to exploit; he clearly does this throughout the play for money to fuel his drinking habit and for amusing entertainment under the pretence that Lady Olivia entertains feelings for him. Luckily however after several failed attempts by Sir Andrew to leave, he finally realizes that Sir Toby doesnt like him in the least.

Other than the cruelty Twelfth night is a romantic comedy and romantic love is the plays main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedlock, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the pangs of unrequited love. At one point, Orsino depicts love dolefully as an appetite that he wants to satisfy and cannot. At another point, he calls his desires fell and cruel hounds. Also it is quite uncommon in any of Shakespeares comedies to be left with so many unmarried characters and how many of the characters who get married hardly know each other, for example Lady Olivia and Sebastian. It is also clear that Shakespeare has had to incorporate the tragedy to let the comedy take its desired effect, the two in juxtaposition draw attention to each other. Furthermore the characters in twelfth night are neither bluntly humorous nor artlessly tragic, Twelfth night like most of Shakespeares comedies is largely about social concerns. Humor is used in Twelfth night as a contrast to some pain, to antithesis the comedy and to accentuate the themes.

I think that my favourite and most comical scene is Act 2 scene 5. The mood is very lighthearted and is full of theatrical comedy; we find Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and their friend Fabian hidden away as they await Malvolio to stumble upon the letter supposedly written by Olivia. Even though they are hidden the audience can still see their reactions and hear their comments, which adds to the melodramatic aspect of the scene. The audience is anxious to see what unravels next as they know Maria purposely wrote the letter in order to fool Malvolio. Malvolio's entrance to the scene immediately creates comedy as even before he finds the letter we find him fantasizing about being "Count Malvolio", this notion creates humor as it seems that Malvolio has forgot he is merely Olivia's steward not her social equal despite his is conceited self-righteousness. The ridiculous situation is enhanced by comments made by the onlookers who insult Malvolio, "Pistol him, pistol him!" Sir Andrew makes this comment, as he himself desires Olivia's hand in marriage. Malvolio lets his imagination go wild creating further humor when he imagines that his "kinsman Toby" shall make curtsies there to me

Although the role of Feste 'the clown' originally seems to be quite inconsequential in the play, he actually becomes vital to the play to hold and link it together. Feste's original comedy role, although not being his main purpose, is still important in the play. He is the comic truth of the comedy. The irony of the play is, although he is portrayed as a fool, he often seems to be the wisest person in the play as he exposes the true fools. He sees the comedy behind many situations, proving other people to be the true fools, rather than him as seen with sir Toby when they lock up Malvolio. Voila even comments on this behavior: This fellow's wise enough to play the fool.