of the work of William Shakespeare. These debates happen through long in depth essays about specific aspects of individual plays. They can be hard to read and even harder to finish, but for some reason when I looked at the essays; Rethinking Sexuality and Class in Twelfth Night; and The Serious Comedy of Twelfth Night: Dark Didacticism in Illyria, by Nancy Lindheim and Lisa Marciano respectively, I knew I had to write my own short essay explaining my belief that Twelfth Night is not serious at all
Twelfth Nigh is a typical Shakespearean comedy, that consists of rich poetry and metaphors. Shakespeare introduces these metaphors throughout the play. One of the metaphors that he continuously indicates is the metaphor of drowning. The characters drown in love, in sorrow, in appetite, and literally in water. Drowning, in some aspects, represents loss and grief. Shakespeare uses the metaphor of drowning as a figure of speech to compare situations in the play to something that cannot actually take
of the most legendary playwrights, William Shakespeare and Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, also known as Molière, introduced their timeless plays to the world. Two of their greatest comedic plays were Twelfth Night; or, What You Will, by William Shakespeare, and Tartuffe, by Molière. Though these two plays were
impressive lineup of shenanigans are all elements that make William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night a wildly entertaining work. However, tucked behind each outrageous trick and mix-up are peeks into the past and lessons to be learned, all at the hands of one unlikely character. Shakespeare utilizes Feste, the court jester, as a means of providing more than just witty remarks and comic relief. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare relies on Feste’s interactions with the upper class to offer insight into Elizabethan
Shakespeare redefined the contemporary mould of the ‘fool’ in the 1600s, with a fool as a ubiquitous feature in his plays. The portrayal of the fool has remained a favourite of both Elizabethan and modern day audiences due to both his intriguing character and humorous outlook on life, his underlying depth and purpose continuing to capture the attention of many critics. Primarily, the purpose of the fool is to amuse and entertain the audience, however Shakespeare reshaped his fools with an individuality
of the play’s purposes is to show that when people step out of their ‘naturally given’ class, they disrupt the natural order and ultimately cause chaos. The title of the play is a reference to the message, linking to the Christian festival of Twelfth Night; when traditionally, the servants of high status families would be put in charge of the household to hold parties and feasts for the 5th or 6th of January. The festival is also known as ‘the feast of misrule’, due to the reversal of social roles
Modern Shakespeare Shakespeare’s works have withstood the spiteful punishments of time and remain relevant. Many actors, from amateur to professional, hope to perform Shakespearean plays via movies or other methods of physical storytelling. Consequently, film directors have adapted many of William Shakespeare’s plays and fused them with his or her interpretations. In a way, Shakespeare has ascended from its Elizabethan grave and walk along the streets of the twenty-first century, and rightfully so
Twelfth Night and the features of Shakespeare’s comedy This essay will discuss two main features appearing in the selected scenes in Twelfth Night, respectively the fool and the mistaken identity. The first part of the analysis will consider the division of the fool and its contribution to the comic effect. The second part will consider the mistaken identity and how it influences the comedy. ‘Fool’ is one of the important elements in Shakespeare’s comedy, creating comic effects. From act 3 scene