Significance of Few Minor Characters of Shakespeares Twelfth Night - Essay Example

Essay- Significance of few Minor Characters of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” This essay endeavors to understand as to why the three apparently minor characters of the play “Twelfth Night”, penned down by William Shakespeare, are actually rather significant when the entire plot (of the play) is taken into consideration. These are the three characters in question: Sir Toby, Maria and Sir Andrew. When the sequence of events of the whole play is taken, it so transpires that these characters indeed have tremendous importance. The ensuing paragraphs strive to comprehend this very aspect, by succinctly and yet meticulously examining the play. Firstly, when the character of Sir Toby is taken into consideration, it is clear that it (the character) has been created for the purpose of humor. But here, it needs to be specifically highlighted that this character is a one having negative shades. Sir Toby resides in the house of his niece, even though he is in no way entitled to do so. Also, he treats all servants of the household in an extremely abusive manner. As a matter of fact, Sir Toby believes in using people for meeting his own interests. This is evident not just by the fact that he makes the home of his niece as his permanent residence, but also by the way in which he interacts with Sir Andrew, another comical character of the play. On one occasion in the play, Sir Toby states “What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure cares an enemy to life.” These lines vividly focus on the fact that he has no sympathy for his niece, who is grieving the death of her brother. The fact that this focuses on his inhuman nature warrants no special mention. In another situation of the play, Sir Toby is unhesitant while remarking “With drinking healths to my niece: Ill drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria: hes a coward and a coystrill that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn o the toe like a parish-top. What, wench! Castiliano vulgo! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface.” Even a superficial reading of these lines is enough to convince anyone that, Sir Toby believes solely in drinking and making merry, even at others’ expense! Likewise, there are numerous examples in the play that stress on the negativity of Sir Toby’s character. (1) (2) Next, the focus needs to move on to the character of Maria, who is another member of Olivia’s household. In fact, it is in no way an overstatement in maintaining that the character of Maria is very much similar to the one of Sir Toby, having all the related negative traits. Shakespeare describes her as one of the most beautiful woman one can hope to see in Illyria! Just like Sir Toby, even she is very keen on continuing to enjoy in Olivia’s home, without being hindered by anyone. When Malvolio attempts to thwart the unscrupulous attempts of Maria and Sir Toby, she gangs up with Sir Toby and makes sure that Malvolio is pushed into trouble! There is one circumstance in the play where, Maria aggressively comments "Get ye all three into the box-tree: Malvolios coming down this walk: he has been yonder i the sun practising behavior to his own shadow this half hour: observe him, for the love of mockery; for I know this letter will make a contemplative idiot of him. Close, in the name of jesting! Lie thou there, for here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling.” Here, it is clear as to how much Maria despised Malvolio for the simple reason that he is loyal to Olvilia. This particular extract from the play shows that Maria is indeed a part of the conspiracy hatched against Malvolio. At one more point, she forcefully states “Most villanously; like a pedant that keeps a school i the church. I have dogged him, like his murderer. He does obey every point of the letter that I dropped to betray him: he does smile his face into more lines than is in the new map with the augmentation of the Indies: you have not seen such a thing as tis. I can hardly forbear hurling things at him. I know my lady will strike him: if she do, hell smile and taket for a great favour.” This again speaks volumes about the evil nature of Maria, and which has been firmly established by the points discussed in this paragraph. (1) (2) Now, the character of Sir Andrew has to be briefly analyzed. In the play “Twelfth Night”, the character of Sir Andrew is that of a wealthy man who is very gullible to the extent of being fully oblivious to the fact that he is being taken for a ride by people, only for furthering their own ulterior motives. This is clearly evident by the way in which Sir Toby uses him, in the household of Olivia. As a matter of fact, the foolishness of Sir Andrew becomes obvious when he starts to believe that he can actually marry Olivia! It is just not possible that a pretty looking and rich lady like Olivia could get attracted to an ageing man like Sir Andrew! But he succumbs to the craftiness of Sir Toby! There is one particular occasion in the play where Sir Toby comments about Sir Andrew, in this way: “For Andrew, if he were opened, and you find so much blood in his liver as will clog the foot of a flea, Ill eat the rest of the anatomy." These words subtly emphasize on the fact as to how big a fool Sir Andrew is! In fact, by uttering those words, Sir Toby wanted to throw light on his (Sir Andrew) lack of wisdom itself! (1) At this point, it is but obvious to wonder as to how the two negative characters (Sir Toby and Maria) and one insignificant character (Sir Andrew) of “Twelfth Night” are very important, when the overall plot of the play is viewed. It is this very angle that is going to be analyzed now. There is no denying of the fact that Sir Toby and Maria are of questionable integrity and that they reside at Olivia’s place purely for their own selfish purposes. Also, there is not even an iota of doubt in emphatically terming Sir Andrew as an out and out fool! Yet, all these three characters are highly relevant, for the play. Sir Toby and Maria manipulate circumstances at the household of Olivia in such a way that, some things do happen! Here, as and when needed, both of them utilize Sir Andrew, too. Notwithstanding the fact that all this is done by them (Sir Toby and Maria) for meeting their own interests, yet; what happens towards end of the play is something pleasant: The two siblings, Sebastian and Viola, who earlier considered each other to be dead, are able to meet after a long duration, and their joy knew no bounds! Similarly, in the concluding stages of the play, people are able to get united with persons, to whom they were nourishing romantic feelings. Even the man who has been unfairly locked-up in the home of Olivia is set free. To put the matter in a nutshell, everyone is happy at the end, whatever might be the adversities they might have hitherto endured! But for this sequence of events, the starting point of which are the conspiring tactics of Sir Toby and Maria, such pleasant circumstances would not have been possible. Hence, in a way, the pleasant end of the play can primarily be attributed to the characters of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria. (3) This essay can be concluded with the thought that, in a play, the positivity of the positive characters and positive situations becomes more striking, only when it is seen in relation to negativity of the negative characters and the unpleasant events they bring about. The play “Twelfth Night” is no exception to that. Even here, one feels happy on seeing the joy of all good characters, only when the same is viewed against backdrop of the earlier unfavorable events, conspiracies and evil acts, among others. The topic of this paper is an exhaustive one and it is not possible to cover all its aspects in a brief essay such as this one. Yet, a sincere attempt has been made to cover the most salient of all the points. Sources 1) “Twelfth Night”, shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/full.html, Internet, NP, ND. 2) “Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare”, cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/literature/twelfth-night/character-analysis/sir-toby-belch-sir-andrew-aguecheek-maria.html, Internet, CliffsNotes,ND. 3) “Twelfth Night William Shakespeare”, sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/summary.html, Internet, SparkNotes LLC, 2012. Read More