Pain In Shakespeare's Play 'Twelfth Night'

Twelfth Night coursework- Draft 1

Question: ' 'Plato argued that comedy blends pain with pleasure. How far do you agree with the view that Shakespeare has crafted 'Twelfth Night ' so that the audience feels both emotions? ' '

Shakespeare’s play ‘Twelfth Night’ was a dramatic comedy written at the beginning of the 17th century, towards the middle of his career. The title, ‘Twelfth Night’ is a reference to a celebration called epiphany, which occurred on the twelfth night of Christmas in Shakespearean times. During this festival, everything was turned upside down, and things were not as they appeared. The play is a transvestite comedy, which means that there are cross-dressing characters.

The character of Malvolio is a Puritan, which would make him automatically disliked by the audience. Puritans were the enemy of the theatre, due to the fact that many Puritans abhorred the theatre, because they believed plays involved deceiving people through the use of costumes and make up. Also, Malvolio is believed to be a caricature of Sir William Knollys, an unpopular public figure at the time, making him vulnerable to satire. In the play, a trick is played on Malvolio which involves him being locked in a dark, dingy basement. While begging to be freed, Malvolio says, ‘’they have laid me here in hideous darkness.’’, to which Feste (as Sir Topas, a fictional cleric) replies, ‘’it hath bay-windows transparent as barricadoes… and clerestories toward the south-north are as lustrous as ebony.’’ This clearly highlights the abuse of Malvolio, as Feste is talking non-sense in order to make Malvolio believe that he is insane. ‘barricadoes’ or barricades would shut out any light, and ‘ebony’ is a dense, dark coloured wood, so Feste is using his wit and intelligence to use words in a way that would confuse Malvolio, and make him look mad. This type of comedy is known as schadenfreude, which is finding pleasure in someone else’s discomfort. People of the time who understood the context may not have felt sympathetic towards the character, but a modern day audience would