In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Act II, scene iii adds to the comical direction of the play by providing a merry comedy by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Feste in their jesting songs, jokes and "unruly" conduct. It also prepares the humiliation of Malvolio at the hands of the others, and the peevishness and conceited nature of Malvolio in great detail. Finally, this scene subtly foreshadows Sir Toby and Fabian's trick on Sir Andrew by revealing Andrew's "unrequited" love for Olivia. With these agendas in mind one can proceed to "direct" the moods and actions of the characters. Thus this scene provides a good depiction of the motives, and personalities of Maria, Malvolio, Feste, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew.

Prior to Scene Three, Feste the clown is depicted as an "idiot," ostracized by Maria, Olivia and Malvolio because of his "ridiculous" actions. However, in this scene he displays his hidden talents more fully by joining Sir Toby in a very skillful repartee replete with amusing, nonsensical dialogue and invented names such as "Pigrogromitus," "the Vapians," "Queubus," "impeticos," "gratillity" ... "Malvolio's nose is on whipstock...the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses" (Lines 24-2

Scene three perfectly reveals Malvolio's arrogant, self-righteous, intolerant and joyless character. He constantly passes judgment on Toby, Andrew, Maria, and Feste as if they were common criminals, and he was the judge. He exudes a very pompous attitude towards all as he chastises them: "...have you no wit, manners, nor honesty... Is there no respect of place, person or time in you?" (Lines 87-92). Through this speech, he shows his contempt for the others, treating them like children or animals that have to be shown the proper way to conduct themselves.

Maria serves as a buffer between Malvolio, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby; therefore, she should be portrayed as being very emotional, yet possessing the skill and cunning to overcome her emotions to plot against Malvolio. She is disgusted at the noise and drinking, but shows her tolerance by siding against Malvolio. Maria is fond of Sir Toby and Andrew's merriment, but not the brawling, remarking to Toby, "For the love o'God, peace!" (Line 86). She has great intelligence and shows this by devising the cunning plan to fool Malvolio. She scorns him while at the same time "adoring" Toby as he tells us, "She's a beagle true-bred, and one that adores me" (Lines 179-180).

Sir Andrew, on the other hand, is Toby's innocent as well as ignorant dupe. He follows Toby's lead and advice in everything thereby

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Approximate Word count = 918
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)