The casting of this production of Twelfth Night reinforces a number of steroetypes about class in British society.
What did you observe about various characters' class in the video? (Think about their manners, accents and vocabulary, how they confidently they moved, facial expression, treatment of others etc.)
Which characters seemed to be free of class?
Do you think Shakespeare intended the play to be a comment on class? Can you provide evidence for your viewpoint?
We think that Feste is a charater that was free of class. he was able to mix with each class but was still accepted. Maria also had the freedom of class but not the power or respect of people in other classes. Although Malvolio was of a higher class than some other people in the play, he still didnt have any respect from anyone, and as soon as he started to say what he thought he was put in the cell
:)
There are characters in the play that are definitely of higher class, like Orsino and Olivia. However, I think that Feste was distinctly one of those that seemed free of class. He could be himself, and did not have the constraints of class, but enjoyed the sense of power that came with his position.
Most of the other characters seem to have there own status, whether it be servant or steward, but they are also treated equally. Feste is a class of his own.
I thought that all of the characters played their roles really well and they kept their class really well. I don't think there was one character that stood out to be free of class, but when Sir Toby and Sir Andrew were drunk that could be a sign that they lost some of their class due to being crazy and rude.
I don't think that Shakespear really thought about having the play to be a comment on class. I think that at the time that he was writing it the option of having different styles of talk weren't really an issue. Speaking properly like they did in the play was the way that everyone talked back then so it would have been second nature to write the play as he did with that form of class. The evidence that could be provided for this would be only that of which was known back then. I personally don't think that Shakespeare would have thought about having another form of class.
Orsino seemed to portray a character in whom was quite in the 'upper class' and thought he was better than everyone else. He thought he could win Olivia's love but he was wrong finding out in the end that he did not love her at all.
He didn't seem to treat others fairly because they didn't have what he had.
Malvolio looked quite scruffy in the film and seemed like he was trying to be someone he wasn't. He didn't seem to have a close relationship with anyone and he wasn't really accepted by the others because of his religion. Malvolio accepted others for who they were and didnt judge them on other aspects.
Sir Toby Belch seemed to always be cheerful seeing he was drunk most of the time. He treated people in the moment speaking as he felt, and he was very supportive of Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Sir Andrew may have felt Sir Toby was a true friend, but all Toby really wanted was his money.
Feste played quite a good role and played his part very well. He was always happy too, but didnt always accept others as shown for his help of revenge on Malvolio.
To me there was a division of class in the Twelfth Night. One of the ways I saw this was in the way the film was shot. It seemed as if when people like Feste, Maria and at times Malvolio spoke the shot was from further away, but when people like Orsino, Olivia and Viola/Cesario spoke the camera was in close and focusing on their faces, indicating that what they had to say was of more significance than the others.
I think that the only character free of class was Feste. He spoke to everyone in the play, those important and those not and was able to be himself infront both, joking and singing.
I agree that out of everyone Feste didn't have a class as much as the other characters.
I think that Shakespeare almost did the opposite in defining the class as to showing that everybody, no matter their class, were part of the story. Often stories are based on a single class but Shakespeare showed the different levels of people without focussing in on their differences.
I think that Shakespeare showed that the way people think of themselves can separate them from others. Two examples of this are: Orsino thought of himself highly and only associated with the top class, and Marlvolio thought himself great, and so this was the reason for his lack of respect from both the top and lower class.
Shakespeare also showed that Viola could come in from any background, dress as a man and be a servant, and then marry a man from a high class. If you hide your background well enough and act like one of a different class you can be a member of that class.
I think perhaps the movie showed the lack of divisions between the people more than the play. The main reason is probably because the upperclasses didn't dress extravagently compared to the lowerclasses and also the guests of the house, which I would assume to be higher class, spent much time with the servants of the house.
I don't believe that Feste was free of class. To the other characters he seemed to be layed back and free of worries, but in truth he didn't really enjoy his job.]
Orsino was very upper class and new it. Viola was more middle class thoughout the play. When playing Cesario she was lower because of the orders given to her by Orsino, but as Viola she was richer and therefor higher in class. Antonio was lower class because of his odeal with Illyria govenment. Olivia is also upper class, by the way she run the household and dealt easily with forbidding Malvlio, dealing with Sir Toby and rejecting Orsino offers (even though she knows his a very powerful man.) Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are upper class but with all their drinking arent very respected. Malvolio is middle class but loses points with the lack of respect from the others.
Bear in mind when discussing the class issues in Twelfth Night that, as a steward and waiting-gentlewoman respectively, Malvolio and Maria are retainers but not servants in a modern sense. They would come from "good" families - provincial gentry fallen on hard times and forced to work, perhaps. Maria in this version seemed more a maid than a waiting-gentlewoman (assisted by the costuming, which smacked more of the 1620s or 1630s* than of 1601 when the play was written - class divisions entrenched themselves in costume in those decades); Malvolio's accent seemed a touch affected, but then a provincial, just as much as a servant of working class origins, would need to affect the accent of the upper-upper class.
*Later than that, apparently - I've looked it up and they were going for 1650ish.
I don't know why we're doing someone's school essay on this board, but here's a tip - and it works for all of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Notice the use of 'You' or 'Thou'. It's like 'tu' and 'vous' in French. 'You' indicates respect. 'Thou' indicates familiarity, affection, or higher speaking to lower.
Sir Andrew calls Sir Toby 'you', Toby calls Andrew 'thou'. Andrew is younger than Toby and so has a slightly lower status. Olivia calls Viola/Cesario 'thou', as does Orsino. Orsino and Olivia address each other politely as 'you'.
An interesting one - Antonio calls Sebastian 'you' when actually speaking to him, but when he's speaking rhetorically, after Sebastian's gone, he calls him 'thou'. Because he loves him.
Find some more.
Oh, and another tip - if you look at the Dramatis Personae at the beginning of your text, the characters are almost always listed in order of rank, not in order of appearance or according to the size of the role. So for example in Hamlet, Claudius King of Denmark will come before Hamlet Prince of Denmark.