Feste in "Twelfth Night"
The Role of Feste's Music in "Twelfth Night"
"Twelfth Night" is a play with multiple characters who do not see themselves clearly. Some just really don't understand who they are or what they really want. Examples of that are Olivia and Orsino Another, Malvolio, adopts postures that are superficial, trying to be something he is not. Still another, Viola, has to don a disguise because of circumstances. One character in the play who sees people as they really are is the fool, Feste. Feste uses several devices to communicate what he understands both about the people in the play and life in general, and one of those devices is song. Shakespeare heightens the importance of Feste's songs by opening and closing the play with music. Feste's songs serve to clarify the nature of events unfolding in the play without having to step outside the play and act as a narrator.
The play opens with the words, "If music be the food of love, play on!" This is Shakespeare's note to the audience to pay attention to the songs in the play. The person who provides most of the music is Feste, Lady Olivia's "fool," or jester. Feste has to walk a delicate line. It is his job to engage those who are socially above him in repartee, but at the same time, his humor has an edge to it, and he has to be careful that he doesn't cross a line and be seen as cheeky or inappropriate in his wit. At the same time, he shows himeself to be a compassionate individual. Lady Olivia's brother has died, and she has vowed to mourn him for seven years. Feste engages Olivia in a battle of wits, proposing that he can prove that she is a fool. His argument boils down that since Olivia sincerely believes that her brother is in heaven, such extended mourning makes no sense. It would be appropriate to remain that...
fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. Thy Fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them; and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough and appear fresh. (Twelfth Night, Act II, scene v, -1171) This monologue of
The play also opens with Orsino hopelessly in love with Olivia. Olivia, however, is consumed with grief for her brother, and rebuffs Orsino's attempts to woo her. For the play to reach its conclusion, which has the two of them marrying others, it first has to address the issue of Orsino's feelings for Olivia. Elsewhere in the play, it is clear that Orsino's love for Olivia is largely based upon
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