Who is the real fool in twelfth night? Throughout Twelfth Night, the audience comes across a number of characters that are humorous and entertaining. In this essay, I will set out who the main fool is and why and how they are compared to other characters. A fool is defined as someone who is “”a simpleton”, “silly” and “goofy”. Sir Andrew fits this description perfectly therefore he is the real fool in twelfth night.
How does Shakespeare successfully create comedy in Act 1 of Twelfth Night? Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night takes place during celebrations when the social hierarchy seems to be nearing towards non-existent and rankings seem to be overrun by excess partying. Tricking each other and speaking in puns was common at this time meaning Shakespeare could easily incorporate humour into the play. Through physical comedy, wit and wordplay and the use of dramatic irony, Shakespeare brings out the elements of comedy to the audience, keeping them entertained throughout. In Act 1 Scene 1 we are introduced to the Duke, Curio and Valentine.
Hamlet’s feigned madness The greatest debate about Shakespeare’s Hamlet is whether Hamlet was faking his madness or not. A person who is insane does acts of extreme foolishness or irrationality while being unaware that he or she is performing such out of the box acts. Hamlet could not have possibly been insane as there is evidence throughout the play that he can control his actions and choose the moments when his ‘madness’ appears. Hamlet uses this “antic disposition” (Hamlet I.v.172) to throw off the other character such as Polonius and Claudius and gain the upper hand in the grand scheme of things. If it weren’t for Hamlet’s supposed insanity then the King would have seen that Hamlet knew the truth about the old King’s murder and would have had him dealt with immediately.
Mercutio, the hot-headed best friend of Romeo, adds wit and humor to the play Romeo and Juliet and was included in the play to make the audience laugh and also to keep them on the edge of their seats with suspense. Mercutio, in his humorous nature, loved to tease Romeo about his lovesickness; he calls Romeo a
Early on in the play (Act 2 Scene 3) the audience enjoys the jovial atmosphere alongside the characters until Malvolio abruptly ruins the mood. “Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?” Malvolio seems to relish scolding Sir Toby and the others as he includes the simile “gabble like tinkers” which proves he has taken the time to select the right words to insult them with. The audience dislikes him for disrupting the fun of the scene whilst it provides a specific motive for the conspirators to plot his deception. Shakespeare uses one detail about Malvolio to instantly turn the audience against him: Malvolio is a puritan. At the time the play was written, puritans were not popular with the general public because of their miserable rules against most forms of entertaintment.
Jealousy in Othello Jealousy is the main theme in Shakespeare’s play Othello. The main villain of the play is Iago. Although he is nicknamed “Honest Iago”, he is in fact the opposite and plots to foil Othello. When Iago says to Othello, “O, beware, my lord, of Jealousy. It is the green-eyed monster.” (1416), it is humorous because Iago is the jealous one.
The next two acts of trickery are two of the most important scenes in the play- the overhearing scenes. Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio- with full knowledge that Benedick is in earshot, have a ‘very loud’ conversation about how Beatrice was deeply in love with Benedick. Benedick would not have believed in this deception were it not for the fact that Leonato was participating, because he knew that Don Leonato was mature enough not to joke about those kinds of matters. When Hero, Margaret and Ursula play the same trick on Beatrice, “My talk to thee must be of how Benedick is sick in love with Beatrice…” Is what Hero says to her gentle-women. In saying that Benedick is head-over-heels for her, they make sure to include the fact that Benedick would never tell of his love.
He is a young character and therefore impressionable, easily manipulated and naïve. He falls in love with Hero at first sight, asking ‘Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato?’ and referring to her as a ‘modest young lady’ highlighting that he is a conventional romantic, idealistic lover and that, because of his youth he acts as the a traditional comedy stock character that is taken advantage of by his elders. However by being manipulated Claudio could also be seen as the victim of a tragedy genre as the plot to separate him from Hero is similar to that of Iago’s in Othello. Don John, the Machiavel character of the so called comedy takes advantage of the nature of Claudio and uses deception to create an ideal situation for himself. He intends to break the relationship of Claudio and Hero, ‘How
HAMLET REMARKS, “HIS MADNESS IS POOR HAMLET’S ENEMY.” EXPLAIN HAMLET’S MOTIVATION BEHIND THIS COMMENT AND EXAMINE HOW TRUE HIS REMARK IS. "If a person in a rational state of mind decides to act crazy, to abuse the people around him regardless of whether he loves those people or hates them, and to give free expression to all his antisocial thoughts, when he starts to carry out those actions, its it possible to say at what point the stops pretending and starts actually being crazy?". In other words, if you pretend to be insane for a long time that insanity rubs off on you and you forget that you are actually pretending. However, this quote relates to the character Hamlet, in the play Hamlet which was written by William Shakespeare and
A Sane Insanity OPENING SENTENCE. Whether it’s a result of all action no thought or all thought with barely any action, either extreme can drive you to the point of insanity. In Titus we see him insane in one scene and then sane in the next. With Hamlet we see him plan that he’s going to act crazy, oblivious and unintelligent which evidentially will cause him to go insane. Seeing Titus flirt around both sanity and insanity was common.