Drama
59 Twelfth Night: Study Guide
To paraphrase the French critic and philosopher Henri Bergson, comedy depicts the triumph of the vital characters (those on the side of life, fertility) over mechanical characters (those given to rote, mechanical, predictable behaviour). Comedy is concerned with the social norm. Aberrant individualism must be checked, and all must be brought back within the social fold. Usually romantic comedies end in marriage(s). One etymology of comedy is Greek Komoidia (revel song). The title, Twelfth Night (January 5), is an allusion to an important feast day of the Christian calendar, namely the eve of the 12th day after Xmas, or Feast of the Epiphany, (January 6), which is a time of much merrymaking. This feast derives from the ancient Roman Saturnalia, held at the same season. The play was probably so named because it was written for performance at the Twelfth Night revels (ca. 1600–1601).[1] Typically at Saturnalia, a prototype of later English Christmas feasts or celebrations, a Lord of Misrule presided over the Festus Fatuorum (Feast of Fools).
Of course, the Christian calendar marks Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Carnival (Latin carne + vale). Think of some modern English words with the root carn (carnal, incarnation) and valedictory (a saying good-bye). So Carnival = farewell to the flesh, a time of excess, which is followed by Lent. As Feste says, “pleasure will be paid, one time or another.” (TN 2.4.957)
Its origins aside, the spirit of comedy celebrates life and the flesh. In romantic comedy, the young lovers encounter impediments to their eventual marriage and eventual reproduction. Sometimes the impediments are external (blocking parents or members of the older generation), but often the impediment is internal (self-indulgence or pride). The typical comic plot begins with exposition, moves to complication, then to release or liberation.
The subtitle is significant, too: “What You Will.” Look up the word “will” in the Oxford English Dictionalry or any other good dictionary. (One suggested meaning is “To desire, wish for, want.”) It also had the sense of “to get lost, go astray.” Perhaps this obsolete meaning is relevant to theme.
Themes
The play’s main plot (the love plot: Orsino-Viola-Olivia-Sebastian) and the subplot (the revellers’ gulling of Malvolio) intersect thematically around the theme of pride or self-indulgence. Most of the characters must have their self-indulgence removed. Which characters are self-indulgent?
Self-indulgent characters in the main plot
I would suggest that Orsino is self-indulgent. He confuses wallowing in conventional attitudes of love with the real thing. He confuses sentimentality and imaginary love with the real thing. Next, Olivia is guilty of indulgently playing the chaste, scornful lady, one who abjures the sight of men for seven years. Thus, she tries too hard to show her own love for a dead brother, all the while perversely contradicting her own loving nature. Unlike Orsino, h