Twelfth Night or what you will
“AY, PRITHEE, SING.”
An examination of Feste’s songs in Twelfth Night.
Frank Caron
20135651
Professor Katherine Acheson
ENGL 200A
Monday, October 31, 2005
Caron
2
Music, be it the “food of love” or otherwise, is one of Shakespeare’s most powerful tools.
Whether his written lyrics are spoken in verse, read in rhythm or sung in song,
Shakespeare wields an impressive power for drawing his audience into his work with his poetic and lyrical style. Often, Shakespeare cloaks his true meanings and thematic demonstrations behind the veil of song, careful leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for the diligent to follow. Once the trail is followed, though, Shakespeare’s works reveal themselves to be carefully devised masterpieces, and this mastery stands as the foundation to why his work is regarded so highly. Twelfth Night: or, What you Will is no exception to this formula: Shakespeare uses the character Feste as his vessel for song, carefully plotting every dialogue involving him to create openings to the inner workings behind the opaque walls of the play. Through Feste, much like many of his other musical characters, Shakespeare reveals the thematic enterprises that power the play.
To understand how Shakespeare’s song mechanism works in Twelfth Night, it is necessary to examine his vehicle of Feste on three levels: examining the character as simply a character in the play, examining the character’s effect on other characters, and, most importantly, examining the character’s speech in relation to the thematic overtones of the entire piece. By understanding these three planes of character existence and execution, Feste will reveal himself as the prominent player in demonstrating the play’s themes. For the purposes of this investigation, it is necessary to consider Feste’s two songs: “Come away, come away, death” (II, iv, 49-64) and “When I was a little tiny boy”
(V, i, 358-377).
Caron
3
As a character, Feste’s duty as a fool
An examination of Feste’s songs in Twelfth Night.
Frank Caron
20135651
Professor Katherine Acheson
ENGL 200A
Monday, October 31, 2005
Caron
2
Music, be it the “food of love” or otherwise, is one of Shakespeare’s most powerful tools.
Whether his written lyrics are spoken in verse, read in rhythm or sung in song,
Shakespeare wields an impressive power for drawing his audience into his work with his poetic and lyrical style. Often, Shakespeare cloaks his true meanings and thematic demonstrations behind the veil of song, careful leaving a trail of bread-crumbs for the diligent to follow. Once the trail is followed, though, Shakespeare’s works reveal themselves to be carefully devised masterpieces, and this mastery stands as the foundation to why his work is regarded so highly. Twelfth Night: or, What you Will is no exception to this formula: Shakespeare uses the character Feste as his vessel for song, carefully plotting every dialogue involving him to create openings to the inner workings behind the opaque walls of the play. Through Feste, much like many of his other musical characters, Shakespeare reveals the thematic enterprises that power the play.
To understand how Shakespeare’s song mechanism works in Twelfth Night, it is necessary to examine his vehicle of Feste on three levels: examining the character as simply a character in the play, examining the character’s effect on other characters, and, most importantly, examining the character’s speech in relation to the thematic overtones of the entire piece. By understanding these three planes of character existence and execution, Feste will reveal himself as the prominent player in demonstrating the play’s themes. For the purposes of this investigation, it is necessary to consider Feste’s two songs: “Come away, come away, death” (II, iv, 49-64) and “When I was a little tiny boy”
(V, i, 358-377).
Caron
3
As a character, Feste’s duty as a fool