Node Your Homework presents:
"Is 'Twelfth Night' a tragedy, a comedy, or both?"
When studying Shakespeare's plays, one can usually determine with relative ease which genre it falls into. Macbeth, for example, is the classic tragedy, filled with murder, deceit and our main character's swift rise and fall. A Midsummer Night's Dream, on the other hand, is one of The Bard's best-loved comedies. But Twelfth Night is a different matter. It seems that, depending upon where one opens the book and starts reading, we get an entirely different impression.
But into which genre does it actually fall? Does the plan's tragic elements outweigh its comedy, or do the (often hilarious) comedic parts take precedence? Could it be argued that it fits into neither? My aim here is to decide which of these options best describes the play, and why I believe it to be so.
The Duke, otherwise known as Orsino, is a dual-natured character, himself having both comic and tragic moments during the course of the play. He is the very first character we meet, and his opening line is one of the most commonly quoted pieces of Shakespeare: "If music be the food of love, play on". His main contribution to the play is his love for Olivia. Throughout the play, he describes how he sees her, and what he thinks of her. For example:
"Why so I do, the noblest that I have,
O when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence"
Yet, thoughout the play, he is continually rebuffed by Olivia, who is far more interested in Viola-Cesario. This is a somewhat tragic series of events, with Orsino continually sending Viola to Olivia as messenger, when all this does is re-enforce Olivia's love for Cesario. (There is a definate sense of dramatic irony here, too, as with many parts of this play.)
But there is a comic element to Orsino, too. His relationship with Viola-Cesario again raises the idea of the audience being fully aware that all is not what it seems - that Cesario is, in fact, Viola - which reaches its comic peak in Act II, Scene Four:
DUKE: "What kind of woman is't?
VIOLA: Of your complexion.
DUKE: She is not worth thee then. What years, I'faith?
VIOLA: About your years, my lord."
How, one might ask, is this comic? Looking back at two key lines of Viola's - "Of your complexion" and "About your years", we are given the impression that Viola is not, as it may first seem, describing someone who is like Orsino - she is describing the Duke himself. Orsino does not know it, but Viola has fallen in love with him, even despite knowing that he desires Olivia. This would be easily recognisable by the audience, who would find the growing confusion between the many characters and their love-lives increasingly humerous. While this situation eventually resolves itself with Orsino and Viola marrying, it is not after Viola has deceived him for virtually the entire play.
"For so you shall be, while you are a man -
But when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen."
Viola's part in the play has its own tragedies and comedies. Her entry into the play is the polar opposite of Orsino's: while he lives in total luxury, surrounded by retainers, she finds herself washed up on a remote beach somewhere in Illyria, after her ship was wrecked. She believes her brother to be dead; one of the few elements of her character we are privy to, and a depressing one at that.
However, things do not remain this way for very long. She is soon in Orsino's court, but dressed as man. For 20th Century audiences, this is already humerous, but for an Elizabethan one, it would be all the funnier. When the play was written, it was forbidden for a woman to come onto stage, so all female parts were played by men. Cesario (Viola's alter ego) would therefore be a man, playing a woman, playing a man!
Her cross-dressing may be amusing for us, the audience, but it brings with it a rather unfortunate (for her, at least) side effect. Orsino sends Viola as a messenger to Olivia. This brings Olivia to fall in love with Cesario, instead. Meanwhile, Viola is falling in love with Orsino. Amongst all this confusion, it's not surprising that Viola-Cesario begins to buckle under the pressure. In her soliloquy in Act II, Scene 2, she decides that Olivia is in love with Cesario, and pours out her emotions for us.
"I am the man. If it be so, as 'tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness...
...My master loves her dearly,
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me."
No matter how amusing Viola's appearances as Cesario may be, she will always see herself as the 'poor monster', caught up in a love triange, with the person whom she loves is unaware of her affection, and the woman who has fallen in love with her is unaware of her actual gender.
Olivia is, of course, the third side of this triangle. She is very much aware of Orsino's interest in herself, but is uninterested; at first, she almost pushes away Cesario when 'he' brings a message. But when they do meet, she finds herself falling in love with him. From this, a general pattern for the play can be formed: these three characters are all comic in their affections, yet all are beset by their own personal tragedies.
However, this dual nature of the cast is best shown in two characters Shakespeare uses to ridicule and mock the aristocracy: The two knights, Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Sir Toby is clearly a drunkard from his introduction in Act I, Scene Three, as Maria claims "that quaffing and drinking will undo you". The pair soon begin discussing Toby's 'friend', Sir Andrew, who is somewhere else at the time. The exchange of words that follows is one of the play's classic comic moments.
Toby begins "He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria". Maria simply replies, "What's that to the purpose?" - a classic retort. Toby recommences, "he has three thousand ducats a year", prompting Maria to comment that "He'll have but a year in those ducats". This can be taken to mean that Toby means to exploit Andrew's wealth, possibly to fuel his drinking. Toby also claims that Andrew plays the 'viol-de-gamboys', quite possibly used as a euphemism for masturbation.
This is Shakespeare using his play as a satirical look at the upper classes; when it was written, it would have been performed before the Royal Court during the Twelfth Night celebrations, and before the very aristocracy whom he is mocking. If he had openly done this, he would have almost certainly been executed for treason. Instead, he veils it behind this wordplay, masking it as simply an account of a particularly oafish character. The common audience, and indeed today's, however, would be all too aware of the true meaning behind the words, comically twisting Sir Andrew's dipiction from a foolish character to a parody of a corrupt and unworthy aristocrat.
Our impression of Sir Andrew is further strengthened by Sir Toby's next lines. He claims that Andrew can speak "three of four languages, word for word without book". One of these would almost certainly be French, given the period the play was written in. After Andrew's entrance, Toby enquires of him "Pourquoi, my dear knight?" Andrew, however, has no idea what Toby means, asking "What is 'pourquoi' - do or not do? I would have bestowed that time in the tongues that I have in fencing, dancing and bear-baiting. Oh, had I but followed the arts." We see that Andrew is justifiably insulted behind his back. He has no idea of the meaning of the languages he supposedly can speak - it is as if he has memorised the phrases, and not their meanings.
Sir Andrew's self-claimed knowledge of fencing is later debunked, again by his own words. Maria had earlier quipped "he hath the gift of a coward", a statement which is proven true later in the play when Sir Andrew and Cesario are to duel. It is here also that the dual nature of Sir Tody is revealed: he is shown to be more than a mere drunkard, but a scheming, cruel man, interested only in his own selfish gain. The cause of this change is the one and only Malvolio.
The initial idea of having vengeance upon Malvolio was Maria's. Yet it is Toby who decides to raise the conspiracy up a notch. Originally, Malvolio was to be simply ridiculed before his peers - through having him wear yellow stockings, appear cross-gartered and smile almost fanatically. Toby takes this, and decides to present Malvolio as being completely mad, as shown in Act III, Scene Four.
"Come, we'll have him in a dark room and bound.
My niece is already in the belief that he's mad."
Toby no longer seems comical. He has crossed from benevolence into malevolence, and is no longer a humerous character. He is no longer funny towards Malvolio, and now no longer towards Sir Andrew, either. He is now directly manipulating him however he sees fit. Act III, Scene Four's duel between Sir Andrew and Cesario has been sabotaged back Sir Toby, telling each of the combatants that the other is a dangerous fighter; Cesario that Andrew is "A knight, dubbed with unhatched rapier", and Andrew that Cesario's "a very devil".
We already know that Andrew's a coward at heart. Now Toby's given him a reason to be even more afraid of the approaching fight. Meanwhile, Viola is also afraid, as she does not know how to fence at all! But this is not only a dramatic sequence, with Toby manipulating characters left and right - the image of Sir Andrew and Viola, both mortally afraid of their opponent, is quite comic, too.
So far we have touched on most of the cast. But we have yet to consider the play's greatest comic asset: Feste, the fool. One would imagine him to be a simple-minded character, with nothing much to add to the play. So why is it that he is, instead, more intellegent and better-educated than the play's aristocrats?
Feste is a comic character, certainly. But his humour is not that of a fool; instead it relies on trickery and wordplay, often relying upon the audience to decipher a cryptic reference or pun. (Indeed, even today some of his references' origins are unknown) A good reference for this would be his 'Proving a fool' debate with Olivia, in Act I, Scene Five.
"FESTE: I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
OLIVIA: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
FESTE: The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven."
Feste is allowed to openly mock Olivia, due to his status as her fool. She gladly joins in with his jests, and is therefore a great help in setting up comic parts for him. Other characters also help prompt him, especially Maria. This arrangement allows Feste to take on the role of the play's narrator, being able to freely discuss elements of the plot with the cast, expressing their views as well as his.
However, Feste is also capable of changing from this positive influence into a darker one, just as Sir Toby changed. Indeed, he joins with Toby in tormenting Malvolio, assuming the role of 'Sir Topaz', whose role is to confuse their captive and attempt to break his will.
"FESTE: Sayest thou this house is dark?
MALVOLIO: As hell, Sir Topas.
FESTE: Why, it hath bay windows... and yet complainest thou of obstruction?
Feste is trying to help Toby drive Malvolio to actual madness, instead of merely making a fool out of him. Malvolio, obviously, has no idea of this, and as Feste switches between the roles of Topaz and himself, Malvolio's degeneration becomes a symbol of how the play used each character's dual nature as a basis for comedy. Later, Feste begins to relent upon Malvolio, helping him to escape his concealment. But Sir Toby never returns to his original self, instead remaining as a malicious influence. Perhaps that is one of the play's greatest tragedies.
In many cases, a character can be interpreted in many ways, and often what begins as a comic scene can end in tragedy, and vice versa. Sometimes it can bounce back and forth between these two extremes quick rapidly. This is why I feel that Twelfth Night can be classed as neither wholly a tragedy or a comedy, instead filling the niche between the two. It successfully combines the best elements of both to create an excellent play.