An Exploration of the Contribution of Disguise and Deceit...

An Exploration of the Contribution of Disguise and Deceit to the Humour of Twelfth Night ‘Twelfth Night’ could be seen as a play with dark and harsh meanings, for example, it could be said that Malvolio’s planned revenge at the end of the play has an uneasy effect on the audience, in a time of general harmony. However I think that although ‘Twelfth Night’ does raise some moral issues, overall it is an enjoyable play. It is a play; designed to be performed in the dark, gloomy winter to bring lightness into peoples lives and I think it is successful in doing so because of the humorous scenes and characters. I have decided to investigate disguise and deceit because I think it is interesting to see†¦show more content†¦An Elizabethan audience would also recognise that Malvolio is not of noble blood and a noblewomen, like Olivia, would not marry below her status. They would find it quite amusing that Malvolio would even think that marrying Olivia is possible and would enjoy Malvolio disguising the Shakespearean class system from himself. The language Malvolio uses while daydreaming about Olivia, emphasise his self-importance: He repeatedly uses the words ‘I’, ‘Me’ and ‘My’ eg: ‘She may command me: I serve her’; ‘She manifests herself to my love;’ ‘I thank my stars, I am happy’ Malvolio also speaks without pausing between words, emphasising his increasing self-deceit: he lists the things he will do when he marries Olivia: ‘I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point device, the very man.’ This speech may also make the audience laugh as he is deceiving himself that such behaviour will impress her. The language Malvolio uses has double meaning, which is lost on a 21st century audience but would appeal to an Elizabethan one. For example, when reading the letter Malvolio says ‘Theses be her very Cs, her Us and her Ts.’ An Elizabethan audience would know that ‘cut’ was slang for female genitals. This joke would not have the same