Free Essays - Importance of Feste in Twelfth Night :: Twelfth Night essays

Importance of Feste in 12th Night     Feste, the amusing clown, plays a most important spell in the play. He is able to take on several roles, and is indeed for all waters from serious to comic, learned to nonsensical, the wit or the practical joker just as the occasion seems to suggest. Because he is a part of both the main and sub plot, Feste is the character, who links both parts of the play together, making Twelfth Night a whole.   The clown contributes towards the humourous entertainment of this play through his numerous puns and jokes. He is a source of laughter, not because we are humoured by his daftness for he proves to be no fool at all but rather because he amuses us with his brilliant wit. Having mastered the art of jesting, Feste is sensitive of his profession, forever and a day aware of the circumstances he is in and the appropriateness of this folly.   Feste is able to prevent any delusions of grandeur by a reminder that foolishness i s a check out common to all mankind whether one is king or servant. It is Malvolios vanity that convinces Feste to take part in the joke played on the steward. As Sir Topas, and Malvolios prosecutor Feste attempted to help Malvolio realize that there was no darkness but ignorance.   With Festes help, we are able to attain a better understanding of the other characters in the play- revealing their true personalities, which are sometimes unseen, not only by us, the audience, but also by the characters themselves. He shows Olivia how unrealistic and excessive her mourning for her brothers remainder has been, he tells Orsino how foolish he is for languishing in a mood of love-sick melancholy for Olivia and points out how mercurial his personality is, and he makes a fool out of the pretentious Malvolio. Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun- it shines everywhere says Feste.   Feste, however, never takes sides with any of the characters, and in this wa y, he becomes a kind of commentator for the play. He is able to regard the characters, revealing the bare truth about them and he unites the main and sub-plot in a similar way.