Oct. 30th Blog 10: Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night was very interesting to act out in class. I got to play Viola who disguises herself as a man, Cesario, which I really liked to do. I liked it because its not something most people would do today. If someone were to dress as the opposite gender most people would stare and make fun of or something to that degree.

I had a favorite line from Fabian in ACT 3 scene 4, lines 136-137: “If this were played upon a stage now, I could / condemn it as an improbable fiction.” I thought this was funny how Shakespeare put this in his play. It was like he wanted to make it some sort of joke because this is performed on a stage and a character bringing it up is not expected. When a play is performed, its almost like a movie, actors don’t say in a movie how if this was a movie such and such. But actors in a play have more freedom and includes the audience they are performing for, so saying this line could include the audience and to make sure they know that this play is fictional, it’s not real.

I also really liked ACT 2 scene 5 where Malvolio is talking about things he would do if he were Count Malvolio. This scene was acted out in class and I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Plough play Malvolio in this scene because he really got into the role. I had already liked and thought this scene was funny before Dr. Plough acted it out but he just gave it more umph.

The Fool in this play is very different from all the rest. When I picture a fool in a Shakespeare play, I think of someone who’s funny and seemingly crazy but the fool here is none of that really. He has a way with words and every once in a while we might see a funny line but its completely different from what we have come to think of fools in Shakespeare’s plays. With all the other plays we have read so far this semester, the fools have been funny and jumping around, as I usually picture them.

The ending where Olivia, Sebastian, Viola, and Orsino get together, we know they will be getting married which reminds me of “As You Like It” where there is more than one wedding at the end. But since Shakespeare does not like repeating things, he does not show the weddings on stage, they take place offstage unlike his play “As You Like It.” He throws a curveball when he has similarities between the two plays but when we think it will be just like the other play, he says nope, its gonna be this way and puts a twist to it which I think keeps the two plays separate and interesting in their own way.