The Analysis of the Metatheatre in Twelfth Night - Essay Example

Metatheatre in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Introduction Scholars who study and those who have studied Shakespeare’s pieces agree mostly on the notion that he employed metatheatre in most of them. Metatheatre, in definition, refers to self-reflexivity, or mere acknowledgement that whatever one is doing is not real, but is just an act. Metatheatre can play multiple roles in plays or artistic performances such as relating a play to the wider world, giving insight into an actor, and encouraging self-knowledge amongst the audiences. Metatheatre ranges in effect when used in plays-within-plays, when characters seem to “step out” of the illusion created by theatre in order to address the audiences directly. Shakespeare, it appears used metatheatre in creating these highlighted elements as is evident in his popular play Romeo and Juliet. This study text will evaluate his play Twelfth Night and highlight several instances where metatheatre and artifice suffice in justifying the statement that most of his works were indeed metatheatrical. In the Twelfth Night, Viola, who is a lady, is disguised as a boy, Cesario. The point of metadrama in the play suffices when Cesario (Viola) is seen saying to Olivia, “I am not that I play” (Shakespeare n.p.). This was after Olivia had prepared the ground for the metatheatrical portrayal when she asks Cesario, “Are you a comedian?” Her utterance has multiple meanings which reveal the metatheatre. First, she is trying to say that in the play where she is playing the role of Cesario, she is not him. Concisely, she is not the young man that she is portrayed as, but is actually a lady, Viola. This revelation simply tells the audience that she is only disguised as Cesario, but in real life, she is not. In this, Viola has stepped out of the play and has come out to the audience. Second, and to the audience who understand that it is Viola, who is acting as Cesario, there is an increased connection with the play. In short, in being able to uncover the disguise, they are bound to enjoy the play more. Closely related to the revelation seen in Cesario’s “removal” of her disguise is the act of a girl-playing-boy. The mere fact that Cesario, who the audience once viewed as a lady has forced them to realize, or rather, remember that she is female. This is also a form of acknowledging that the play is just that; a play. Better put, the audience might have been deeply engrossed into the Twelfth Night that they forgot that it was all an illusion. The same happens with the actors; they might be so indulged into their acting that they forget that it is all a play. As such, when Shakespeare applied metatheatre into his plays, it may have acted to remind both the actors and audience where they were. Again, it reminded them what they were doing. Both of them in “remembering” or “realizing” that Cesario was actually a lady and not a man came to the reality that this was just a play. Such metatheatrical portrayals further engage the audience and the actors. In yet another instance, Viola is seen agreeing to the fact that she is not a man, but a lady. This is also metatheatrical in that she portrays self-consciousness and pushes the fictional illusion of drama aside. The evidence is seen in her conversation with Feste and Olivia in which they are discussing beards. Feste says to Viola, “In his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard” upon which she responds, “By my troth, I’ll tell thee, I am almost sick for one- though I would not have it grow on my chin”. From this utterance, we can tell that Viola was talking beyond the play, in the real world. The idea is that since she was a woman, she would never have a beard grow on her chin. As the conversation proceeds, she again says to Olivia, “Then think you right: I am not what I am” (Shakespeare n.p.). In this phrase, Shakespeare created a metadramatic effect in that Olivia implies that she is not the Cesario we are seeing, and two, she is not the male person she is playing. Both of these bring out the acknowledgement that the play is merely fictitious, and that Viola has a real side to herself. Shakespeare’s use of songs in most of his works, let alone in the Twelfth Night, sums up as a form of metatheatre. Shakespeare was a renowned playwright, poet, and composer amongst other things. It is possible that he was careful enough to understand that all his abilities were important to him and that he had to keep all of them alive. In the Twelfth Night, he is seen, integrating a song of his into the play. Again, while the play was supposed to be simply a scripted creation, he decided to bring in some reality into it. He uses his character Sir Andrew to introduce the aspect. “Excellent! Why, this is the best fooling, when all is done. Now, a song” (Shakespeare n.p.). In this phrase, two things are evident; first, the character’s utterance that “this is the best fooling” may have pointed at the play. The play is merely a created act, and was acting to fool the people. Having revealed the truth to his audiences, Shakespeare next brings in his other ability; that is songwriting. Sir Andrew’s proposal of, “now, a song” is seconded by Sir Toby Belch, and the clown is ready to sing. The song that the clown sings is titled O Mistress mine, where are you roaming? and is one of Shakespeare’s songs. The idea in this tactical merge between drama and song brings the audience out the illusion into reality after they realize that a song they knew is actually being sung in the play they are watching. The metatheatrical aspect here is that the song acknowledges of the play’s fiction since it is “real”. Metadrama suffices in another form in that Shakespeare included plays within his plays. In the Twelfth Night, he wittingly uses play-within-a-play and tries to conceal this from being too obvious. This is seen in Scene 4 when Fabian says, “If this were played on a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction” (Shakespeare n.p.). The clever integration of a play within a play lies in that Fabian, Shakespeare, and the audience all know that Twelfth Night is an act. However, Fabian’s utterance is applied as a way of convincing, or rather, further indulging the audience into the play. When the audience hears him say, “If this was acted”, a clear show of artifice is evident. This is because it deceives the audience into perceiving of the play as real, and that within the play, further acting could happen. In short, the audience is made to feel as is they are in the play. As such, this revelation justifies the application of metatheatre in the Twelfth Night play. Metatheatre plays a role of connecting plays or a play to the wider [real] world. Shakespeare, as has been revealed, applied metatheatre in most of his works, as such; he used it to connect to the real world. In Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian are fraternal twins, and from the play, we understand that Viola after being washed ashore believes that her twin brother Sebastian is dead (Shakespeare n.p.). In Shakespeare’s biography, it is known that just before he traveled to London to start his career in theatre, his wife Anne had given birth to fraternal twins. About a decade later, while still in London, he learnt that his only son had died. Shortly after, the play, Twelfth Night was created. It is sufficient to state that the play was a direct gimmick of what had happened in his real life. Rather, he was expressing an emotional part of his life through the play. In the light of this, the metatheatrical aspect of connecting plays to the real world is evident. This is because had Shakespeare not had bore twins and one of them died, then Twelfth Night would probably not be the same. Again, audiences this play would always connect it to this occurrence that happened in his real life. Finally, it is evident that Shakespeare openly created the metatheatrical effects in his plays. This is shown by his choice of words. He created these effects by using words such as “stage” within Twelfth Night. Fabian uses it, “If these were played upon a stage…” The other word used that portrays metatheatre is “play”. Viola says, “I am not that I play.” Additionally, the word play is used by Sir Tolby Belch where he says “Shall I play my freedom…” The clown too, talking to Viola, uses the word. “I would play Lord Pandarus of Phrygia”. Finally, the word “disguise” is applied severally throughout the play (Shakespeare n.p.). These and other words that add up as artifice work to create the aspect of metatheatre. Their application creates self-awareness, self-reflectivity, and/or self-consciousness such that the fictitious aspect of the play stands out against reality. Apart from creating the metadrama for Shakespeare, they added to the humor since the Twelfth Night is a comedy. In indulging the audience, humor was easy to come by. Conclusion Shakespeare is said to have applied metatheatre in most of his works. As the above study text discusses, he applied metatheatrical effects in different forms. Metatheatre is decoding of fiction out of a play by contrasting it to reality. It applies multiple ways in achieving this. One of them is the use of play-within-play, girl-acting-boy or boy-acting-girl, and “removal” of disguise. In addition, Shakespeare integrated real-life experiences in his play. For instance, he used his own song, O Mistress mine, where are you roaming? in the Twelfth Night. Again, his fraternal twins and the death of the male one are reflected within the play. Collectively, the discussed elements in this paper justify the use of metatheatre in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Work Cited Shakespeare. “Twelfth Night”. Shakespeare.mit.edu, 1602. Web. 29 Nov. 2014. Read More