Twelfth Night Research Paper
Feste in Twelfth Night
The Elusive and Mystical Fool in Shakespeare's Festive Comedy
© Jem Bloomfield
Sep 2, 2007
Feste in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, is an fascinating character: a fool who seems to know more than most of the people around him.
Feste, the Fool in Twelfth Night, is a very different character from the Fools in other comedies such as Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Merchant of Venice. Launce and Speed (from Two Gentlemen) and Launcelot Gobbo (from The Merchant of Venice) are fairly straightforward comedy turns, sent on to crack jokes, give high-speed monologues and mix things up. Indeed, Trevor Nunn’s TV production of The Merchant of Venice made Launcelot Gobbo’s monologue into a stand-up routine, delivered under a …show more content…
His first foolings are a barrage of mock-learning to Olivia, “For what says Quinalpus? ‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.’”, “virtue that transgresses is but patch’d with sin, and sin that amends is but patch’d with virtue” (I.5) When he does get down to cracking jokes, they are on decidedly unusual topics. He draws Olivia into a comic “catechism” which comes dangerously close to mocking her grief:
Feste: Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?
Olivia: Good fool, for my brother’s death.
Feste: I think his soul is in hell, …show more content…
When Feste does not involve himself with the invention or execution of the original trap for Malvolio, why does he repeat the “barren rascal” taunt to him in the last scene when the steward asks why he has been tormented? (V.1) When he refers to the “whirligig” of time which “brings in its revenges”, is he speaking in a general sense, or hinting that he somehow directed events from behind the scenes? One set of answers to these questions can be seen in Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Feste in Trevor Nunn’s film of Twelfth
The Elusive and Mystical Fool in Shakespeare's Festive Comedy
© Jem Bloomfield
Sep 2, 2007
Feste in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, is an fascinating character: a fool who seems to know more than most of the people around him.
Feste, the Fool in Twelfth Night, is a very different character from the Fools in other comedies such as Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Merchant of Venice. Launce and Speed (from Two Gentlemen) and Launcelot Gobbo (from The Merchant of Venice) are fairly straightforward comedy turns, sent on to crack jokes, give high-speed monologues and mix things up. Indeed, Trevor Nunn’s TV production of The Merchant of Venice made Launcelot Gobbo’s monologue into a stand-up routine, delivered under a …show more content…
His first foolings are a barrage of mock-learning to Olivia, “For what says Quinalpus? ‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.’”, “virtue that transgresses is but patch’d with sin, and sin that amends is but patch’d with virtue” (I.5) When he does get down to cracking jokes, they are on decidedly unusual topics. He draws Olivia into a comic “catechism” which comes dangerously close to mocking her grief:
Feste: Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?
Olivia: Good fool, for my brother’s death.
Feste: I think his soul is in hell, …show more content…
When Feste does not involve himself with the invention or execution of the original trap for Malvolio, why does he repeat the “barren rascal” taunt to him in the last scene when the steward asks why he has been tormented? (V.1) When he refers to the “whirligig” of time which “brings in its revenges”, is he speaking in a general sense, or hinting that he somehow directed events from behind the scenes? One set of answers to these questions can be seen in Ben Kingsley’s portrayal of Feste in Trevor Nunn’s film of Twelfth