The Role of Clowns in Twelfth Night and the Winters Tale - Essay Example

29 November The role of clowns in Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale: Clowning orthe presence of fools is widely recognized as a persistent and very powerful feature of Shakespeare’s work known today. The primary job of Shakespearean clowns is to criticize people of high social standing by clever use of jokes. These jesters or clowns are not just appointed in the courts or present elsewhere in the story to make silly jokes. Instead, Shakespeare usually pays great attention to such characters in his plays to enhance theatrical effect. These fools are not used for entertainment purpose alone and suggesting that they were frequently employed by Shakespeare to provide a comedic relief to the audience from dark heaviness of the main action is empty mockery. However, this much is also true that in most Shakespearean plays it seems as if the scenes of clowns are almost strategically placed after particularly violent or dark scenes. The purpose of this essay is to contemplate the role of clowns in two very popular comedies by Shakespeare namely Twelfth Night and The Winter’s Tale to analyze if clowning is employed merely for comic relief or it also works to convey the message of the dramas. Feste is the name of clown who appears in Twelfth Night and is especially favored by Olivia who is the very beautiful countess and has given Feste full authority to cross boundaries and say whatever he likes (LitCharts) understanding his knack for humor and intellect. But, is Feste used by Shakespeare to make jokes alone which have no deep meaning to them or convey no meaning as suggested by some critics that clowns are mainly used to provide comic relief? The answer is a clear no because in the beginning of the play when Olivia is introduced terrifically grieving over her dead brother and displaying no signs of moving on with life, Feste makes a very bold gesture by telling Olivia to quite her mopping attitude which has actually become quite ridiculous. He does not only make silly or shallow remarks about the way she cries or stays melancholic, but illustrates a very important message of life by claiming that it is not him but Olivia who is acting like the real fool wasting all her energy in mourning instead of concentrating on her life. This critically important statement is made by no other character but Feste which suggests that the role of clowns is used by Shakespeare in his plays to both calm the readers and highlight the weaknesses of other characters which are otherwise untouchable and cannot be reproached by anyone. In addition to that, he also thinks that witty criticism is his prized prerogative. So, he is frequently seen driving others mad particularly Olivia’s greedy and wasteful uncle Toby Belch who is one of the favorite targets of Feste. Given the nature of his brilliant criticism and the way he digs with acute intelligence into dark aspects of other serious-natured characters, this much is obvious that Feste is no ordinary fool but an exceptionally smart jester who is a genius with punning. Viola (Cesario), another heroine of the play, describes Feste as the wisest cat in the play. Why would Feste be described as the wisest cat in town were his job cracking jokes alone as assumed by some critics to provide comedic relief from tension of the main plot? In fact, he is described in this manner by others because his intellect of smart wordplay is secret to none and everybody, even those who resent him like Olivia’s uncle, acknowledge the brainpower of this enormously powerful Shakespearean clown. He not only picks on the clear weaknesses of others around him, but also has a real talent for shrewdly observing grave or serious situations (Geraghty). He makes people laugh over his wise puns and also makes a good living out of it. He accurately measures the ridiculousness of the starting scene where Olivia is dressed up like a nun for grieving purpose and mockingly characterizes her silly attitude as plain unnecessary and stupid overindulgence. Because he is licensed by Olivia to fool around does not mean that Feste uses his position to make jokes about Olivia alone as at one point in the play, he also very cleverly criticizes Duke Orsino too comparing his moodiness to an opal that frequently changes color (Delahoyde). Though Feste is only a clown in the play, but he makes a point of wittingly criticizing the duke when he finds his moodiness objectionable. An average clown with no exceptional talent or skills would not know how to make a deal out of weaknesses of characters that are of high social standing, but Feste is not an average clown considering the momentous value attached to his role by Shakespeare. Written near the end of his career, The Winter’s Tale written by Shakespeare is hardly considered a comedy presently given how it is fraught with tragedies. Actually, it is more a story of jealousy and loss. The first part of the play is rather dark, while the other part is suggestive of Shakespeare’s typical comedy style. In this play, the jester is simply referred to as the clown and no name is ascribed to him. In stark contrast to the other comedy discussed before, here the clown is nameless which is suggestive of significantly less importance attached to this character in comparison to Feste. The clown in this play does not play an influential role and does not possess considerable talent or brainpower. In contrast to Feste who had a real knack for sizing up intricate situations, identifying weaknesses, making puns, and criticizing others, the clown is rather dull and even an obscure figure. His talent for witty sarcasm is laughably dwarfed by that of Feste in Twelfth Night. That is why it is claimed that out of all Shakespearean clowns, only Feste “is the best endowed with a many-sided mirth” (Mabillard). The clown is introduced as son of the old shepherd who plays the role of adoptive father to the king’s abandoned daughter. While Feste was the wisest cat of the play impossible to be intimidated or duped by anyone in the whole town, the clown is effortlessly fooled by Autolycus on routine basis. Autolycus is just an aimless wanderer intent on taking advantage of anyone who appears like an easy target for him. He most often preys on those who have considerably soft minds and are dull enough to defend themselves. In contrast to an enigmatically sharp and astute jester that Feste is, the clown is just as much dull, defenseless, and susceptible. Nothing about his role is meant to strike the readers as he is not an influential jester but only a disadvantaged person of the society who is an easy target for rather cunning Autolycus. It seems like Shakespeare has mainly incorporated this character of the clown in his play as a way of inculcating a little bit of lightheartedness into the plot. If this is in fact right, then this strategy makes these assumptions emphatic that clowning is sometimes used by Shakespeare to provide the readers a comedic relief and a break from hard action. The clown, in accordance with this idea, is seen in this play attempting to make rather mundane pranks to maintain some levity amidst one tragedy after another. An important factor which creates difference between the roles of Feste and the clown is related to their respective backgrounds. While Feste is like a court jester appointed and licensed by a person of high social standing, the clown is just a disadvantaged person from countryside. The court clowns or those appointed by the elites of the society are expected to excel at their jobs by making critically acclaimed jokes. So in order to not disappoint their benefactors, they try really hard to come across as shrewd individuals until they master the art of intellectual antics. The clown, on the other hand, is a countryside jester and his role is typical of Shakespeare’s other rural clowns who are not meant to be exceptionally sharp or create a penetrating impression on other characters or the readers (Nguyen). He is only able to play average tricks on others which come natural to typical village boys who do not make much use of their brains. Introduced as a buffoonish son of the old shepherd and possessing little talent if any, the power of his role is painfully limited in contrast to that of Feste’s. In conclusion, the roles of Feste and the clown are different to each other as Feste uses his wits very shrewdly to reveal critically important aspects of the story. This suggests that although not belonging to high social class, he is actually considerably intellectual in comparison to the clown in the other play who plays mundane tricks and is not a character of acumen. Feste attempts to construct a festive atmosphere in the play by his talent of humoring people, but is clearly annoyed by the way Olivia’s sobriety stands in stark contrast to his feisty attitude. Being Olivia’s licensed fool, the most prominent role of Feste is that of a talented comedian cracking wise jokes as often as possible. Works cited: Delahoyde, Michael. TWELFTH NIGHT. public.wsu.edu, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Geraghty, Jenia. Shakespeare: Twelfth Night. Lsj.org, 2002. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. LitCharts. Twelfth Night William Shakespeare. Litcharts.com, 2008. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare’s Characters: Feste (Twelfth Night). Shakespeare-online.com, 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Nguyen, Tintin. Clown: Character Description. thewinterstale.org, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013. Read More