The Superficial Appearance Of A Romantic Conclusion

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night ends, as all his comedies do, happily, with all major plot lines neatly wrapped up and any conflicts resolved. The validity of these resolutions however can be called into question and the possibility that Shakespeare’s intent was in fact to criticise the notion of a true happy ending, must be considered. This idea is established in the ridiculous nature of the overly simplified solutions to the complex problems established throughout the play. However it is in the very definition of a Shakespearean comedy that it must end happily and it can be argued that this is proof that they were written purely for the purpose of entertainment or as a ‘break’ from reality, and that because of this the quick and simple solutions to the problems accumulated throughout the play are not limited by the logic of the ‘real’ world. Equally however, it can be said that if Shakespeare truly wanted to create an idyllic ending to the play, he was more than capable of writing one much more satisfying for his audience than the quick-fix ending of Twelfth night, and that it was in fact his intention to cause his audience to feel somewhat sceptical towards the ending. Feste’s song at the very end of the final scene supports this argument as it creates a melancholic atmosphere through lines such as, "For the rain it raineth every day.", which are in juxtaposition with the otherwise picturesque conclusion to the play thereby offsetting the celebratory tone of the ending.

Many of the solutions given to us at the end of the play seem very tenuous, for example the pairing of Olivia and Sebastian who were only wed due to a misunderstanding and know nothing of each other and are realistically, unlikely to be as compatible as they seem to believe. Sebastian moves from questioning Olivia’s sanity, "Or else the lady’s mad" to agreeing to marry her, "I’ll follow this man, and go with you" all within the same act. These solutions bring to light the question of whether the characters happiness at the end of play will last, or if it will be short lived. In spite of this, the superficial appearance of the resolutions in the play can still be validated through the idea that comedies are to be taken with a light heart and not subjected to pedantic scrutiny. The idea of "going with" the plot of the play is evident in Shakespeare’s representation of Malvolio. For the duration of the play he is ridiculed and ostracised by the other characters for his lack of a sense of humour and reluctance to ‘play along’ with their jokes, as shown in Act I Scene V when he is asked for his opinion on the clown, "Yes, and shall do till the pangs of death shake him: infirmity, that decays the wise, doth make the better fool." By which he implies that the most amusing thing that Feste could do would be to die, showing that he has no interest in the clown’s attempts at humour. The phrase "shake him" also conveys the idea that Malvolio believes Feste to be insane, which is ironic considering that at the end of the play it is Feste that accuses Malvolio of being insane. Shakespeare may be using Malvolio as a tool to show his audience that in order to enjoy and understand comedy, you must be willing to accept and participate in the ridiculousness, and that the ending therefore, despite being unrealistic, is simply part of the comedic aspects of the play it’s unconventional nature is an inevitable feature of the ‘comedic resolution’.

Towards the end of the play, when it seems at its most chaotic, Shakespeare cuts between different characters and their conflicts, leaving suspended resolutions. This could be Shakespeare’s way of showing the audience the impossibility of having a real ending or final conclusion to people’s lives, which are actually a constant stream of suspended resolutions and fleeting happiness. The ending he does supply could be his representation of what an attempt at a conclusion might look like and is so absurd in it’s over simplified rationalisations in order to demonstrate its futility. Comparisons of the unusual world we are shown in the play and real life also bring the believability of the ending into dispute. As the pace of the play increases rapidly and the characters seem to become less and less coherent, which makes the happiness in the end seem artificial and unconvincing to the audience. It can be argued that Shakespeare used this technique to show his audience that happy endings like the ones in his plays are not real and cannot be real.

The other worldly behaviour shown throughout this play, such as the reversals of gender roles and class systems, separates it from the normal expectations you would have for more traditional resolutions, which would be an ill fit for the unusual problems we are presented with in the play. It is often the unusual actions of the characters that create comedy in the play, as their behaviour subverts ordinary conventions of the time to humorous effect. The strange behaviour of the characters is accepted as normal in Illyria, and though we do see some evidence of toying with identity prior to the shipwreck, it is clear that this is done in jest, for the entertainment of the passengers of the ship and is only temporary. However as the setting shifts onto the island, it seems even the characters that have not been in Illyria for very long are quickly taken in by the unusual behaviour of the other inhabitants, this is seen in Sebastian’s initial reaction to Olivia and Feste’s misunderstanding of his identity. He recognises that the situation is abnormal, but appears to be the only one as the characters continue to behave as though their actions are commonplace, and as a result rather than questioning them he questions himself and adapts to this new idea of normality. This may be Shakespeare’s way of showing his audience how quickly a change can occur in what is considered normal, much like in the Twelfth Night carnival season observed at the time that the play was written. This carnival which gives the play its title was a time when the world was turned on its head and people were given the chance to behave completely oppositely to the manor that they would usually be expected.

As the play reaches its conclusion however, the speed with which the characters abandoned their usual social constraints is mirrored in the pace that they revert back to their original roles. Olivia for example, who has defied the strict expectations of women of the time by not only refusing to give in to Orsino and marry a man she doesn’t want, but rather pursuing her own choice and being outrageously forward about it, at the end of the play is begging for a man she hardly knows. "What shall you ask of me that I’ll deny" she says to Sebastian, showing how completely submissive she has become, as she is willing to give all of herself over to him. Viola is equally subdued by Orsino at the conclusion of the play as she becomes merely her "master’s mistress", thereby losing her own identity as she allows herself to be pushed into a more traditional view of a woman. Once Viola is shed of her disguise, she becomes much less vocal, and one of the few times she does speak is to explain why she reluctantly cannot comply to Orsino’s superficial request to see her dressed as a woman, "Give me your hand and let me see you dressed in woman’s clothing." The nature of this request also shows that Orsino has reverted back to the original view he had of woman at the start of the play. His earlier confrontation with Olivia is as overly dramatic and artificially passionate as his failed attempts at wooing her were at the start of the play. He shows the fickle nature of his thoughts as he toys with the idea of killing Olivia, "Why should I not, had I the heart to do it, like the Egyptian thief at point of death, kill what I love?" but eventually settles on the equally ludicrous idea of sacrificing Viola instead, "I’ll sacrifice the lamb that I do love to spite a raven’s heart within a dove." And does so before Olivia even has the chance to explain the relationship she believes to have with Viola/Cesario. This indicates that Orsino has forgotten all of what Viola taught him of ‘real love’, showing that their relationship, like Olivia and Sebastian’s, is also doomed to fail. This in conjunction with the freedoms of characters being significantly lesser than at the start of the play, as many of them are wed or forced into more conventional roles, undermines the validity of the ‘happy ending’ and the resolution of the play as a whole.

In conclusion I agree that twelfth night remains sceptical about the possibility of a comedic resolution, I believe that through rushed and offbeat atmosphere generated at the end of the play, Shakespeare is trying to convey the idea that comedies can have no final end, and much as the carnivals held at the time that give this work it’s title, they are only meant to be enjoyed temporarily and with a light heart, and any attempted conclusion will be forced and unrealistic.