The Role and Nature of The Fool
However, despite Feste's playful and outwardly frivolous nature, we see at certain times during the play that he is very capable of taking revenge upon those with whom he is not on good terms. Furthermore he has a darker and mysterious side to him. Malvolio's insulting account to Olivia of Feste's defeat in a battle of wits by a village idiot infuriates Feste and he assists with Maria's and Sir Toby Belch's plot of revenge against the arrogant steward. Feste's opportunity for revenge comes in his confrontation with Malvolio at the end of the play: he disguises himself as a priest and confuses Malvolio even further, although he does enable Malvolio to get out of his sorry state.
It is also possible to see Feste as a slightly tragic character, with an underlying sadness to him. At the end of the play, he sings the famous line, "For the rain it raineth every day," - suggesting that every day brings some kind of misery - a somewhat melancholy line for a clown.
Read more about this topic: Feste
Famous quotes containing the words role, nature and/or fool:
“Womens battle for financial equality has barely been joined, much less won. Society still traditionally assigns to woman the role of money-handler rather than money-maker, and our assigned specialty is far more likely to be home economics than financial economics.”
—Paula Nelson (b. 1945)
“An interesting play cannot in the nature of things mean anything but a play in which problems of conduct and character of personal importance to the audience are raised and suggestively discussed.”
—George Bernard Shaw (18561950)
“Funny aint it. Here I am worrying about a woman. Men dont worry much about women when theyre around. But when it gets way off from home like we are now, and where he knows hes going a lot further away ... I mean thats when a woman gets workin in your mind. You reckon youre a fool for not noticin before how, how big a part of things they be. There aint nothin like seein a womans face.”
—Dudley Nichols (18951960)