Episode 199:

The line I have used for the title of today’s episode is spoken by Feste the fool, a central character in ‘Twelfth Night’. Fools have already played significant roles in Shakespeare’s previous plays and as you will hear there are possible connections between them and Feste, but significant as he is, and fools will be in forthcoming Shakespeare plays, there is so much more to Twelfth Night than just that one character. It is a play where other Shakespearean comedic characteristics also feature – identical twins, empowered and quick-witted women, variants on the braggart soldier character, and an exotic, virtually mystical, setting, spring to mind. If ever there was a comedy where Shakespeare was completely in his stride then this, for me, is the one.

The early performance history of the play

The dating of the play

The early print history of the play

The sources for the play

The establishing of social roles in the play

The positions of the knights Sir Toby and Sir Andrew

The role of Feste, the fool.

The impact of Feste’s songs

Feste as a portrait of Thomas Nashe

The centrality of Malvolio to the themes of the play

Feste’s sung epilogue to the play

Love, desire and infatuation in the play