Feste in "Twelfth Night"

The Role of Feste's Music in "Twelfth Night"

"Twelfth Night" is a play with multiple characters who do not see themselves clearly. Some just really don't understand who they are or what they really want. Examples of that are Olivia and Orsino Another, Malvolio, adopts postures that are superficial, trying to be something he is not. Still another, Viola, has to don a disguise because of circumstances. One character in the play who sees people as they really are is the fool, Feste. Feste uses several devices to communicate what he understands both about the people in the play and life in general, and one of those devices is song. Shakespeare heightens the importance of Feste's songs by opening and closing the play with music. Feste's songs serve to clarify the nature of events unfolding in the play without having to step outside the play and...
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