Twelfth Night: The Role of Feste

A detailed Summary of Twelfth Night: The Role of Feste


Feste is a professional fool who belongs to Olivia, a rich Countess. He is very intelligent and witty. Even though he belongs to Olivia, he also entertains Orsino, Duke of Illyria. Everyone in the play clearly respects him and they generally do not treat him as a fool. They talk to him seriously, ask him for advice and join him in pranks. His realistic speeches are comical and light-hearted, but most of the time he makes logical points. He entertains the other characters in the play with his songs and jokes. Under the pretence of making jokes, Feste evaluates the behavior of those around him. It is quite interesting to observe how the other characters react to him. Olivia and Orsino both let Feste instruct them. Though Orsino has no appreciation for Feste's opinions, he values the fool's ability to sing melancholy songs. On the other hand, Malvolio who is obsessed with him self and does not want to face the reality of his vanity is very uncomfortable around Feste. Malvolio is not amused and he insults t


In playing the role of Sir Topaz (the priest), he adds a lot of humour into the play and entertains the audience well and helps the action in the play take its course. Feste provides laughter in the play, which also has a healing effect on the characters and he exposes a way in which the characters in the play fall victim to pride, conceit and self-deception.

"Come away, come away, death" (Act 2, Scene 4).

"O mistress mine, where are you roaming?" (Act 2, Scene 3).

He also puts into perspective that life does not always go the way we plan and all the finer things in life must come to an end one way or another.

Feste gives Olivia the advice she seeks "The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven." (Act 1, Scene 5)

he fool and brags that he is too smart to be amused by a fool. Most of Feste's jokes, which are based on wordplay, can be quite difficult to understand. Despite the fact that Feste is a fool, he is not at all stupid and probably understands the peop

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Approximate Word count = 680
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

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