Shakespeare's Exploration of Saturnalia vs. the Puritan in the Twelfth Night
Discuss Shakespeare’s exploration of Saturnalian Vs Puritan in The Twelfth Knight.
Within the twelfth Knight Malvolio is considered a puritan; he is a stiff character who wants nothing more than to spoil other people’s fun. The idea of the puritan ties in nicely with the plays major theme, the search for happiness. The puritans in Shakespeare’s day were members of the English National Church who emphasised the authority of the bible. Puritans would try and make festive seasons and holidays solemn and refuse to do anything fun on a Sunday, Shakespeare echoes this behaviour in the character of Malvolio. Malvolio’s exit strikes an unharmonious note to what seems to be a joyful comedy “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you”. Many people disliked Puritans because of the way in which they forced their conservative lifestyle on others, just as Malvolio attempts to spoil the fun of (as he sees it) the alcoholics and the rude jester. The meaning of the name Malvolio means ‘Evil Wisher’ and within Shakespeare’s plays the names of the characters were given to them because of the actions and virtues they acted out. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale”, within this quote, Toby calls Malvolio a liar for no reason and says that he is forcing his own morals on others, he is mocking the fact that Malvolio believes himself to be virtuous and that he cant have “cakes and ale”, because of this.
Saturnalia was the festival celebrated on 17th December but expanded to a week, like Christmas it was a time when preparation of food and the exchanging of gifts took place. Saturnalia was a time when the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the God Saturn. The holiday was introduced around 217BC; it became one of the most popular Roman Festivals. In relation to the twelfth Knight many of the characters enjoyed the festival of twelfth Knight and Saturnalia and thefore celebrated this through the excess eating and drinking.
Within the twelfth Knight Malvolio is considered a puritan; he is a stiff character who wants nothing more than to spoil other people’s fun. The idea of the puritan ties in nicely with the plays major theme, the search for happiness. The puritans in Shakespeare’s day were members of the English National Church who emphasised the authority of the bible. Puritans would try and make festive seasons and holidays solemn and refuse to do anything fun on a Sunday, Shakespeare echoes this behaviour in the character of Malvolio. Malvolio’s exit strikes an unharmonious note to what seems to be a joyful comedy “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you”. Many people disliked Puritans because of the way in which they forced their conservative lifestyle on others, just as Malvolio attempts to spoil the fun of (as he sees it) the alcoholics and the rude jester. The meaning of the name Malvolio means ‘Evil Wisher’ and within Shakespeare’s plays the names of the characters were given to them because of the actions and virtues they acted out. “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale”, within this quote, Toby calls Malvolio a liar for no reason and says that he is forcing his own morals on others, he is mocking the fact that Malvolio believes himself to be virtuous and that he cant have “cakes and ale”, because of this.
Saturnalia was the festival celebrated on 17th December but expanded to a week, like Christmas it was a time when preparation of food and the exchanging of gifts took place. Saturnalia was a time when the Romans commemorated the dedication of the temple of the God Saturn. The holiday was introduced around 217BC; it became one of the most popular Roman Festivals. In relation to the twelfth Knight many of the characters enjoyed the festival of twelfth Knight and Saturnalia and thefore celebrated this through the excess eating and drinking.