The blurb on the BBC Shakespeare video of Twelfth Night describes this play as "a mad extravanza of disguise and ambiguity".
Do you think Shakespeare is saying something about appearance and reality through all the deceit, disguising and forgery in this play?
Or it it all just superficial entertainment?
Although the happenings of twelfth night are presented in a comic way, Shakespeare is also saying something about reality. There is darkness in the way Maria and the others trick Malvolio, nearly to the verge of madness. The disguises used by characters like Feste are also similar to how people can cover up what is really going on, by presenting a front and using trickery. Twelfth night is not all about fun.
shareI agree. This is comedy with a serious point about the ways people use trickery to belittle others. The "joke" that is played on Malvolio in revenge for a petty offence is really nasty. The other point I thought Shakespeare was trying to make was about how we pretend to be someone we are not because we are scared of revealing who we really are and being made vulnerable.
shareI also agree that the play and movie were set out to be a comedy when Shakespeare started to write it but is also serious, with all the disguises. In fact the whole play is a bit of disguise. It is a comedy on the outside and more serious inside.
shareThe Twelfth Night written By William Shakespeare is an obvious all round comedy. Although the comedy base line of the play was obviously also made as a trick and when taking a closer look their is an underlining sneekyness about it that makes the play show its seriousness in its crossing to the viewers.
This is especially used in the missunderstanding with Malvolio. He is miss-lead by Maria and together with the others they begin to play a trick on him. This shows the characters real personality traits and shows the comedys seriousness. I thehn therefore beleive that through the play Shakespeare's characters use comedy to show their appearance through deceit and disguise.