Essay One: Twelfth Night

INTRODUCTION

The fantastical landscape of Illyria is one of façades and illusions: Malvolio is deceived and made a “geck and gull” while Viola the androgynous go-between is the epitome of ambiguity.¹ Indeed, Illyria itself is an ephemeral façade which temporarily hides the reality that death is inevitable and “youth’s a stuff will not endure.”²

1. This opening line touches on two major characters that will form the basis for our evidence, but doesn’t delve too far into these examples (as your introduction should mostly focus on thematic ideas and authorial intent).

2. This second sentence ties in another theme (death and mortality) and ends with a memorable quote.

PARAGRAPH 1

Although it is Viola who eventually breaks Illyria’s romantic stasis, in her initial meeting with Olivia she seems unable to free her speech from the linguistic trappings of Petrarchan love;³ her opening encomium “most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty”⁴ is both generic and hollow. The phrase “I have taken great pains to con it” alludes to the performative nature of Petrarchan love; unlike a true upwelling of desire, it is not spontaneous but rehearsed. Olivia, responding, grows scornful: she asks Viola if she is a “comedian”, a low status player like Shakespeare himself.⁵ Later in the scene, her assertion that poetical praise “is the more like to be feigned” suggests a certain world-weariness, she is already aware of the limitations of Orsino’s professed desire for her. At the beginning of the scene, Olivia’s nun-like donning of the veil⁶ symbolises not only the barrier to communication but also the deindividuation of the Petrarchan beloved. By presenting Viola with a group of similarly dressed women, Shakespeare invites the audience to consider⁷ how little Orsino knows about Olivia: he loves her not as a woman but as an object onto which his overblown affections are projected.

3. The topic sentence makes reference to a central concern of the play and goes on to suggest Shakespeare’s authorial criticism of this concept.

4. Quotes usually don’t need to be any longer than this one – try to always be precise in the words you quote and analyse, and just paraphrase any additional information.

5. This is a subtle suggestion of views and values in the play, specifically the social status of actors and the theatre in Elizabethan England.

6. Here, we recognise this apparently simple action as symbolic, showing awareness of metaphor in the play.

7. The paragraph ends with an explicit reference to Shakespeare as the author and the meaning behind the staging of the scene. This is clearly linked to our contention that Orsino’s love is hollow and false.

PARAGRAPH 2

Olivia’s repeated imperatives⁸ to Viola like “come to what is important in’t” and “speak your office” hint at how the mysterious youth has piqued her interest, tempting her out of her self-indulgent mourning. Indeed, perhaps it is Viola who persuades Olivia that a life of grieving is wasted. Later in the scene, the poetic alliteration⁹ of “lead these graces to the grave” encapsulates the fleeting nature of beauty, suggesting a certain tragedy in Olivia’s “cloistress”- like self-denial. On another level, it is Viola’s status as an ambiguous figure that attracts the countess, her subtle allusion to her true identity “I am not what I play” hints that, like an actor on a stage,¹⁰ her persona is constructed, conjuring an air of mystery around her.

8. Always keep in mind not just what the character is saying, but how they are saying it.

9. Here we have some more in-depth analysis of metalanguage and why it is being used in this scene in particular.

10. Recognition of the play’s meta nature – the characters themselves often enact roles.

PARAGRAPH 3

Feste, another transgressive figure in the play,¹¹ also seeks to remind others of their own mortality. In contrast to Olivia, who withdraws from life, Sir Toby seems to be living too fully, a travesty of a noble life¹² who self-indulgently drags Sir Andrew into his world of “eating and drinking.” Like many characters in Illyria, Sir Andrew is imprisoned by his nature: he admires Cesario as a “rare courtier” but lacks the eloquence and boldness to be anything more than a coward. Freely passing between plot and sub-plot,¹³ Feste belongs simultaneously nowhere and everywhere, an all-seeing eye at the centre of the storm. In Act 2, Sir Andrew’s reference to the fool’s mock learning – “Pigrogromitus of the Vapians” captures the fool’s manipulation of the truth, he often constructs maxims and proverbs out of mere nonsense. Conversely, Feste, whose name conjures both festive merriment and festering decay, is also a deeply melancholy figure. When the two knights ask him for a “love song,” he sings O Mistress Mine – a somewhat mournful song which is far from the simple ditty it appears to be. The first verse seems to endorse conventional romantic mores, foreshadowing the play’s perfunctory resolution¹⁴ with the line “journeys end in lovers meeting.” However, the second verse centres on the fleeting nature of human experience: even love will not last forever and “what’s to come is still unsure.” This image of fading youth parallels the brief life of the play itself: the curtains will close and it will eventually fade in the memory of the audience.¹⁵

11. Draws a significant parallel between the characters of Viola and Feste in terms of their relationship to the established social order as well as the messages they represent.

12. More subtle commentary on views and values in the play, specifically Shakespeare’s view of the upper-classes.

13. Here, we show an awareness of the play’s dual narrative structure.

14. More commentary on the narrative, specifically the play’s ending and how it relates to earlier events.

15. Finally, we end the paragraph with an in-depth analysis of the meta aspects of the plot and the way in which a modern or Elizabethan audience might relate to the plot and its characters.

PARAGRAPH 4

The final scene is populated by darker, more violent imagery¹⁶ than the rest of the play: Sir Toby enters with a real injury and Antonio is condemned as a criminal. Even more disturbing, however, is the entrance of the humiliated Malvolio, with his complaint of “notorious wrong.” Compared to the comic, if subtly menacing tone¹⁷ of the letter scene, this entrance is lacking in mirth and joy, revealing the devastating impact of the disruptive energies released by misrule. The revels are ended and now the characters must face the consequences. Malvolio’s plaintive repetition of the word “why” suggests his confusion and mistrust, his constructed performance¹⁸ of a virile young lover in tatters. Olivia’s assertion that “Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge” offers only hollow sympathy. The pranksters have already vanished, implicitly cast out from Olivia’s household, and the possibility of real justice seems faint. Fabian’s remark that Sir Toby married Maria “in recompense” for the “device”¹⁹ mirrors the unsatisfying nature of the ultimate lovers’ pairings: it is not love that exists between Sir Toby and Maria but shared malice and Sebastian and Olivia barely know each other. Olivia’s exclamation “Alas poor fool, how they have baffled thee!” lowers Malvolio to the status of his social inferior, Feste,²⁰ who then steps forward as the voice of misrule.

16. This shows how overarching themes can be conveyed through repeated imagery.

17. Recognition of shifting tone in the play as the plot progresses.

18. This echoes the discussion of Viola’s constructed role earlier in the essay, supporting the opening statement about the use of illusions and façades in the play.

19. Even one word quotes can be effective, especially since the word “device” is repeatedly used to describe the characters’ plans in Twelfth Night.

20. More analysis of Shakespeare’s view of class and different social roles in Elizabethan England.

CONCLUSION

Feste’s assertion that “thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges” strikes a discordant note in the resolution. On the surface, the fool seems to be attempting to justify the gulling of Malvolio. Nevertheless, these “revenges” must also extend to Malvolio himself and he remains an affront to the festive spirit²¹ to the very last, a bitter outsider with the potential to shatter Illyria’s illusion of romantic fulfilment. Like the omnipresent sea,²² time is capricious and fickle and inevitable death awaits every character. Thus, Shakespeare rejects the traditional comic resolution in favour of uncertainty, offering the audience a lingering reminder of their own mortality.²³

21. Here, we have used complex language to analyse Malvolio’s role in the play and his opposition to the central theme of festivity.

22. Brief reference shows awareness of the sea as a central metaphor, and adds colour to the conclusion.

23. Our closing statement smoothly ties in the essay’s central theme of mortality with reference to Shakespeare’s intention. We’ve also shown an awareness of the typical hallmarks of an Elizabethan comedy.