What exactly is the purpose of Feste in ‘Twelfth Night’ Essay Example

has wittingly turned Malvolio into a fool, and, once again, shown his true wisdom. This scene also shows the underlying theme through the entire play as, although it is pitch black in the cellar where Malvolio is being kept, Feste still dresses up as the person he is pretending to be, knowing full well that Malvolio will not be able to see him anyway. This shows that throughout this play clothes are needed to complete the new identity; in order to be Sir Topas, he must look like Sir Topas, regardless if he will be seen or not.

However, it is not the person branded a fool that brings the most comedy and foolery to the play, but those who are self-proclaimed wits, who are not witty at all, that bring the most. As it is their lack of self-knowledge that makes them a fool. The prime example of this is Sir Andrew. It is in the scenes with Sir Andrew and Feste together that the most enjoyable entertainment emerges. It is also during Feste's first scene with Andrew (2:3), that the true irony of the play is seen.

That the licensed fool, Feste, is actually, no fool at all. It is actually Sir Andrew that is the true fool, who provides the most entertaining comedy through his idiocy. It is communication between the two that reveals the two types of fool in the play; the witting and conscious fool of Feste, and the unwitting and unconscious fool of Sir Andrew and almost every other person in the play. In 'Twelfth Night' the actual comedy of the play is provided by the unwitting fools, while Feste, the

recognized fool, adds an insight and meaning to the actions of others. Feste only acts as a fool so that he will be able and allowed to speak the truth about the people around him.

Therefore, Feste is in the play for more than the purpose of comedy as there are already many people who unwittingly supply this. Feste however, uses his status and ability as a branded fool to become the play's commentator. During the play, Feste becomes almost the voice of a narrator and the insight for the audience. He explains the actions and activities going on around him. Feste's more important comments come in the form of a song.

Feste's commentary throughout the play also spreads to narrating and storytelling itself at some points. At one point Feste sings a love song as a request for Sir Toby and Andrew. However the song he sings is linked to the entire play and seems to be a direct message to the audience:

'O mistress mine, where are you roaming? O stay and hear, your true love's coming, That can sing both high and low. Trip no further, pretty sweeting, Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man's son doth know...What is love? 'Tis not hereafter, Present mirth hath present laughter. What's to come is still unsure. In delay there lies no plenty, Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty. Youth's a stuff will not endure.' (2:3:33 - 46)

In this love song Feste foretells or predicts the events ahead. He speaks of true lovers being kept apart before their journey ends with them meeting. He also hints at the possibility of marriage taking place with talking of

kissing. He also speaks of how thinking of the future should not be worrying and that people should enjoy the present as he talks about 'present laughing'. This is the first time that an end to the play can be seen and it is displayed by Shakespeare using Feste's true wit, hidden under a foolish disguise. He does this because, by using Feste to reveal it, the spoiler can be hidden in a simple love song that many may believe to be just a fool's tale. However it is actually using Feste's true wisdom and commentary purpose to give the audience an insight into the end of the story and their lives during, and after the play ends.

Feste continues his commentary role at the start of act four, with his conversation with Sebastian, who Feste believes is Cesario. Feste soon realizes he is not talking to Cesario by the way Sebastian treats him:

'Well held out, I'faith! No, I do not know you, nor I am not sent to you by my lady to bid you come speak with her; nor your name is not Master Cesario; nor this is not my nose neither. Nothing that is so is so.' (4:1:4-7)

In this line Feste confirms that he is indeed, not speaking to Cesario, or Viola, but more significantly he sums up the entire play for the audience:

'Nothing that is so is so' (4:1:6)

This quote is significant because it describes the scenario of the play. He can not only use it to describe the current situation that he is in with Sebastian, but also every other situation in the story. It covers how Cesario is actually a

woman dressed as a man, how Malvolio believes that Olivia loves him when she doesn't and, ironically enough, that Feste is not a fool as he has been branded, but a wise man. Shakespeare used Feste for this phrase for the same reasons he used him to foretell the end of the play, plus, by using Feste for this line there is the added irony that the line can also be used to describe Feste; the clown that was anything but a fool, as proven by this wise comment. This also makes the audience wonder if Feste can indeed see through Viola's disguise as Cesario, and knows her true identity as it is once hinted he does:

'Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard!' (3:1:38)

This is linked to another of Feste's role in the play. It is through Feste acting as a fool and being allowed to speak the truth of others around him that Feste's keen perception and observation of others emerges. The only other person in the play whose insights can be compared to Feste's is Viola. This may be because both of the characters are involved in both houses, Olivia's and Orsino's, and Feste and Viola rival each other in their knowledge of their surroundings. Viola shows her keen perception of others in being the only person to recognise Feste's true intellect:

'This fellow is wise enough to play the fool, and to do that craves a kind of wit. He must observe their mood on whom he jests, the quality of persons, and the time, and, like the haggard, check at every feather that comes before his eye.

This is a practice as full of labor as a wise man's art, for that he wisely shows is fit, but wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit' (3:1:50-58)

This shows the audience that Viola is aware of Feste's keen observations and ability to read people to say the truth. By making this statement, Viola may be aware that Feste has the ability to see through her disguise as Cesario; Feste only ever hints at this as I have already explained.

It is not only Feste's keen observations and perceptions that allow him to say the right thing at the right time but also his ability to be involved in both houses while remaining detached and separate from the other characters in the play; unlike Viola who falls in love with Orsino. Feste manages to stay self contained and seemingly motivated by his financial needs only, unlike many of the other characters who are motivated and controlled by their love. However, since Feste relies on financial rewards from others, he must act in a way to get it; in this case, as a fool. Every other character in the play has a fixed income and a permanent home with their masters, allowing their only motivation to be love and companionship. It is because of Feste's detached status in the play that he becomes a commentator rather than a participant as I have already explained.

However, by using his ability to speak the truth and criticise others around him, Feste sometimes angers people as they are not used to being spoke to like this. On a few occasions, Olivia is angered by Feste's witty but truthful comments. When Olivia

and Feste first meet in the play, Olivia is offended by Feste and his appearance there:

'Feste: Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady.

Olivia: Go to, you're a dry fool; I'll no more of you: besides, you grow dishonest.'

It is evident from the start that Olivia does not like Feste, accusing him of lying when he was probably doing the very opposite. Feste then offends Olivia again when he criticises the mourning of her brother as I have already commented on.

Feste not only angers people with his commentary and witty comments, but he also brings the madness to the play. He does this with his visit to a trapped Malvolio as disguised as Sir Topas. During which he confuses Malvolio into thinking he is mad himself, by calling him a 'lunatic' and 'Satan', as I have already described.

However, Feste also angers and maddens Malvolio towards the very end of the play:

'Why, 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them.' I was one, sir, in this interlude, one Sir Topas, sir - but that's all one. 'By the Lord, fool, I am not mad.' But do you remember - 'Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal, and you smile not, he's gagged'? And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenge.'

In this quote, Feste mocks an already enraged Malvolio. He suggests that because Malvolio is such an unlikable character that he should be troubled by what he is. These comments anger and madden Malvolio even more than he already is and, instead of attempting to learn something from Feste's, he becomes even more self-centered and leaves.

This displays the foolishness of those who consider themselves at a higher level than the fool of Feste.

The downfall of Malvolio is not the only happy ending to this play. In Feste's final lines of the play which, like many of his more significant statements, comes in the form of the song:

'When that I was and-a little tiny boy, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to a man's estate, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 'Gainst knaves and the thieves men shut their gate, For the rain it raineth every day. But When I came, alas, to wive, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, By swaggering could I never thrive, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came unto my beds, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, With tosspots still 'had drunken heads, For the rain it raineth every day. A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day.'

This song seems to imply that although people are happy today, the happiness could at any time be swept away, as shown with the reference to rain. Feste seems to be suggesting that people should live life to the fullest every day as you never know what could be waiting around the corner.

In conclusion, Feste may originally seem to be a simple fool or a clown, with little significance to the play. However, as the play

continues, he seems to grow as a character. He becomes a much more important part of the story and without him, the story would not function. Therefore, while Feste's recognized role as a fool should imply a lack of intelligence and wit, it is the exact opposite. Once again reversing the roles and proving that, as Feste says:

'Nothing that is so is so.' (4:1:6)