Traditionally, in the merrymaking of Twelth Night the general order of things is overturned. Show, by reference to several examples, how this topsy-turvydom is presented in 'Twelth Night'.

Shakespeare wrote this play in about 1600 to be performed in front of Queen Elizabeth and her court on the Twelth Night of Christmas. Twelth Night is a romantic comedy of misreadings. In the play disguise, mistaken identity and the ambiguities of language all conspire to confuse the characters' judgement of one another and their perception of the World. Throughout the play the humour in Twelth Night varies from slapstick comedy to dramatic irony. Shakespeare is constantly mocking how idiodically people behave when they are in love. He presents the audience with a range of characters illustrating the different types of comedy and emphasising the contrasts between them. The audience is manipulated by using situations that we can identify with. Throughout the play we find ourselves laughing at the misfortune of most, if not all the characters within the play

Shakespeare creates comedy very well through his use of mistaken identity and confusion in love.

This is Feste with Olivia where he manages to twist around conversations and arguements. When Olivia enters accompanied by her steward Malvolio, she is very solemm and in no mood for listening to the prattling clown. She orders him away but Feste eventually amuses her and softens her towards him. Through Feste, Shakespeare creates a quick-witted comedy. In this scene, Act I Scene V, we discover the quickness of Feste's mind. Feste plays a 'fool' but actually he is a linkage to the audience and he frequently proves others to be 'fools';

Shakespeare creates a very different comedy through the character Feste.

This shocks Sebastian, as he has never met Olivia in his life previously;

Feste's character is summed up well when he says;

Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are straight forward in their comic behaviour whereas Maria introduces an element of mischief. The excited Malvolio thinking that his mistress is in love with him loses his sense of pride and dresses in yellow stockings hoping to please the beautiful Olivia. Malvolio falls for the prank and is persuaded to to indulge in ludicrous behaviour symbolised by his dress. The humour in this is that such a respected figure in society is foolish enough to become the centre of a joke, Malvolio suffers severe Humiliation. The intelligent clown to Olivia, Feste, rightly says,

"Nothing that is so, is so"

All the forms of humour in Twelth Night come from watching people get confused in the madness of love. Shakespeare uses familiar situations so that we do not suspend belief in the plot. By having situations that are serious, like Viola's unrequited love for Orsino, the foolish behaviour of the other characters is exploited as ridiculous. Shakespeare did this in order to show how comedy can be created through the exploration of different and more serious themes.

The most obvious fools of the play are Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. They present the audience with a farcical performance of drunkenness and over indulgence. Even their names suggest that they are excessive in their eating and drinking. Throughout the play they are continually flaunting their foolish behaviour and provoking the pompous Malvolio. They dislike Malvolio because he is a self-righteous puritan and often tries to spoil their fun. Malvolio's presence as a steward means that he does not accommodate lower gentry fools such as Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. When they are disturbing Olivia's household, he asks them,

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Approximate Word count = 1844
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)