Act 2, Scene 3 of Twelfth Night delves into the comedic escapades of Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, highlighting their revelry, flawed philosophies, and the brewing conflict with Malvolio, all while setting the stage for future plot developments.
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hello and welcome to our next episode in
our journey through 12th night let's
crack on see where we are we are
into act two Scene Three here we are
brilliant and following on from VI
Soliloquy we now move back to the
secondary characters where we got s Toby
and Sir Andrew who we've been introduced
to earlier on in the play back in act
one and again we've got them again it
for a comedy scene but this actually
does link to the rest of the play you
will see as we go through and you have
soby and Sir Andrew the context here is
is that they are returning back to
Olivia's House following a night out
drinking and partying as is particularly
sir Toby's way in sir Andrew is happy to
go along with all this and enjoys this
lifestyle as well and Shakespeare starts
a seene in Media res as well so we've
got not to be a bed after midnight is to
be up at times and this is actually
there's a lot of things in this play
about contrasts aren't there and the
idea in this case is is that you're up
late anyway so if you're up late
drinking you're actually up
early this is the logic of
soobi no my truth I know not but I know
to be up late is to be up late and that
in itself is a use of tautology an
unnecessary repetition of words or ideas
ideas but anyway t a u t o l o g y
toogy just rewind if you do if you want
to hear that again but unnecessary
repetition of words or ideas so sir
Andrew's philosophy is a lot simpler a
false conclusion I hate it as an
unfilled can as in I don't like to have
an empty drinking vessel to be up after
midnight and to go to bed then is early
and so that to go to bed after midnight
is to go to bed be times does not our
lives consist of the four elements so
what you've got here is Shakespeare is
giving sat toi a form of comedic
philosophy I suppose this is his life's
philosophy but it's not dedicated to
anything that
Grand like the Ancients word you know
like the ancient Greek philosophers sat
toi's philosophy is dedicated to
drinking and enjoying himself so his
logic is as I've said before if you're
staying up drinking you're actually up
early and then again he's drawing on the
Pythagorean ideas about the four
elements as in the ideas of the the body
is governed by these
different elements in nature and there's
loads of other things you can see about
this but and also you know this links to
the humors in the body as well they
thought that the four
elements actually governed governed
everything based on the old
ideas and I just realized I said
Pythagorean that's something that comes
up later on to do with Pythagoras I meant
meant Plato
Plato
sorry even I make mistake no I do make
mistakes so no I do make mistakes
sometimes but yeah PL platonic ideas of
the elements
so this is his logic I think it rather
consists of eating and drinking so
Andrew get misunderstanding but thinking
our lives really not governed by the
elements but by eating eating and
drinking thou art a scholar this is very
much untrue of Sir Andrew isn't it this
is true he's very stupid actually so
it's ironic let is therefore eat and
drink so you can see where Shakespeare
is establishing this mock philosophical language
language
here Mar and I say a stupid why this is
Mariah and don't be confused Hang on
we're going on with the name here some
sometimes she's referred to as mistress
Mary it's because names were much looser
in Shakespeare's time so yeah don't
stress over it not that you would I'm
sure here comes feste the fool brilliant
we like feste here comes the Fallen
Faith how now my hearts did you ever see
the picture of we3 this is thought
actually to be a reference to a Pub
which had a fa a famous pub which had a
famous sign of three faces on it so the
idea of we three the idea of of feste
here being with S Andrew and so Toby is
actually a connection to this famous pub
and drinking it's not an liyan Pub it's
an English pub they're talking about
welcome as now let's have a catch so
that's a type of song they're going to sing
sing
songs then sir Andrew gives him lots of praise
praise
and Sir Andrew seems to be impressed by
his feste's
performance last night or the previous
night he go very gracious fooling us
that when thou spokes of pig pigro
groetus of the vapens passing the
equinal of queas was very good in FA
this is either sir Andrew
misunderstanding what feste was talking
about or more likely feste is making up
facts and fooling sandrew and he's just
believing it all
probably just sandre being stupid is
more more likely to was very good in
faith I sent the the six for the lemon
lemon is like his sweet performance
effectively so he's been given a tip and
I did imp Peto vitility from malvolio's
nose is a whipstock my lady is a wet
handed the meridon and no bottle ale
houses so alcohol references there as well
well
so they're going to have a s song and
12th night obviously reflects singing
and we've talked about paradoxes as well
how things we've had that with the start
of the scene about staying up late even
though you're actually up early
technically and 12th night was all about
singing dancing paradoxes role reversal
so we're seeing all these things in the
play so he's going to sing a song would
you have a love song or a song of good
life a love song a love song I I care
not for Good Life so this is again meant
to be perceived as humorous because it's
the idea of sandrew doesn't want to live
good life but it's Shakespeare
exploiting a sense of pragmatics as in
the context that implied meanings so
Andrew means the song but it sounds like
he means that he doesn't care to have a
good life which could actually be a
reference to his foolishness and his
excessive drinking as well could link to
that so we have a song from feste and
it's a love song and it moves both sand
and sat
toi mous voice is I'm true KN a
contagious breath very speaking
contagious in faith this is very similar
to oro's speech at the start of the play
isn't it and you think about how he
talks about music and Shakespeare using
metaphors for music the idea here is
contagious to hear by the nose that is D
in Contagion so that is actually an
example of synesthesia when you're blending
blending
senses so there's lots of sens imagery
in the play as well don't be alarmed by
the ghost in the background if you can
hear that it is just the wind I
hope shall We rise the night hel and I
catch or Draw three Souls out of one
Weaver shall we do that so there's an
idea of again that links to the three
picture of we three and the idea they're
going to have a lot of Mer and dancing
I'm going to sing a loud song
now I am dog to catch some dogs will
catch well this is all puns on catch is
a type
of type of song and the idea of dogs
obviously you could throw a ball and
they catch a ball you can link ideas
here to Andrew's lack of intelligence as
well then we have a li I should never
begin if I hold my piece this is a pun
and it's actually oh again I've got to
think carefully how to phrase this on
YouTube it's um my piece is a is a pun
on a man's appendage as in yeah a piece
yeah because there were Cod pieces in
Shakespeare's time and a Cod piece goes
over a
man's private parts and it was a part of
the clothing that men wore so hold my
peace yeah anyway hopefully you get the
idea it's crude humor basically which
Shakespeare's obviously fond of it his
audience were fond of it you
know then we have Mariah come in because
they're singing such a loud song Mariah
comes in what's going on malol is going
to hear you my lady's a cayan we are
politicians Mal is a pegar Ramsey and
you see there's that link to the idea of
philosophers again as well so
Shakespeare extending that theme
extending that
imagery mon I can consanguinous which
means I'm not of her blood it actually
Shakespeare as I've said you before
Shakespeare will often Define a
complicated word or
metaphor afterwards so because he's
thinking of audien is listening to it he
does that because it actually reinforces
what people
hear then you're getting a hint here of
so to's affection for Mariah which is
significant for later on in the
play Then he does it well enough to be
disposed and so do I doo he does it with
a better Grace but I do it more natural
which again is more ironic again his
sense of pragmatics here the idea of Sir
Andrew is naturally stupid he's
naturally foolish whereas with feste
it's all a performance better a witty
fool than a foolish wit of course if you
recall that oh the 12th day of December
so that is a kind of seasonal reference
you don't actually get a lot in the play
that suggests it being necessarily set
at Christmas time but there is something
you could argue contributes to that
sense of
it important see moment in the scene
sorry I should say where malvolio comes
in and
interrupts the partying here and again
it's significant linking to 12th night
where you had in the real Festival you
would often have role reversal I've
mentioned this before but you would have
things like where servants would be
served by their masters and things like
that and in this scene there's a similar
inversion where you've got malvolio who
is a servant who is telling off sir
Andrew and and Sir Toby on Knights you
know these are socially higher than him
and he's got Authority in that yes he is
the chief servant he's the steward he is
the main servant of of Olivia he's the
chief of the staff there but he's not a
noble you know he hasn't got Noble blood
he's not a knight himself or anything
you know but he talks to people who are
socially above him and Shakespeare's
really echoing that sense of the 12th night
night
Festival my masters are you mad or what
are you have you know wit manners nor
honesty but to gabble like Tinkers this
time of Tinkers were doorto door
salesmen effectively with a real
reputation for excessive behavior and
drinking do you make an ale house of my
lady's house so as a
pub that you uh you squeak out your cozy
as catches without any mitigation or
remorse of voice so these are like lower
class songs he's saying like your
singing These low class songs you're
behaving like LS effectively Hooligans
even that's how he sees them is no
respect of place persons nor time in you
Shakespeare shows this with if you no
respect for Place persons nor
time so so toi and malvolio are
antithetical characters Shakespeare sets
them up as oppositional characters they
have completely different philosophies on
on
life and Toby we did keep time sir in
our catches and that's a musical
reference as in keeping time when you're
singing I almost started singing Step in
Time from Mary Poppins then but to spare
you the misery of that and also uh a
potential copyright strike from Disney I
don't I won't sing it so you're spared you're
you're
lucky then so Toby I must be round with
you as I'm going to be blunt with you
then you've got to amend your drinking
you can't carry on partying and drinking
in this
way if not and it would please you to
take leave of her she is very willing to
bid you farewell again it seems
on Olivia has you know a dim view of so
toi's Behavior but actually when I sit
here thinking about as recording this
now I'm just trying to think have we
ever actually seen Olivia make this
threat is it something that malvolio's
just interpreted or is it just
malvolio's own opinion coming through
yeah I've not really thought of it like
that before you always get stuff every
time you revisit a Shakespeare play you
always get more stuff out of it that
you've not noticed before or you notice
you've got something wrong for years you
know or you see it completely
differently or there's always something
it's a gift that keeps on giving so in
defiance of malvolio they continue
singing and sing a different song and
remember I said about the class conflict
here Out Of Tune Sir You Lie aren't any
more than a Steward so so Toby
effectively pulls rank so he's related
to Olivia he's a knight and I'm you know
he's establishing I'm better than you
I'm of a higher Social Status do th
think because thou are virtuous so shall
be no more cakes and Ale is this just
because this is what you want you think
no one's going to be partying anymore
just because that's what you you want
like Thou Art in the right go so rub
your chain with crumbs and the chain is
his sign of authority as a chief as a
well as a chief servant as a steward he
would have a chain to mark his authority
malvolio actually is also
he criticizes that's all you are you're
nothing you're just a steward you're not
you can't tell me what to
do and Mariah's role in all this as well
she shall know of it by this
hand so go shake your ears which is an
insult of of the time contemporary insult
insult
then the idea of what they're going to
do to get revenge on malvolio do it I'll
write the a challenge this is the idea
that they're going to do actually this
comes back later on in the play but not
with malvolio as well but the idea of
having a jewel or something like that
sweet to Toby be patient for tonight so
this isn't going to work she's saying if
the Olivia is more interested in Cesario
she's not going to be listing to
anything like this she's not going to
want to hear this let's do something
more subtle if I do not g into an into a
neighbor to make him a common Recreation
do not think I have wit enough to lie
straight in my bed I know I can do it so
G Shakespeare pushing and challenging
gender expectations of the time Mariah
actually says I've got a plan and this
is what I'm going to do so don't don't
have a duel with him we're going to be
more subtle than that Olivia's too busy
with this with Cesario and everything
let's just let's get our revenge on in a
more subtler
way possess has possessor tell us
something of it Mary say sometimes is a
kind of Puritan and you might know a bit
about Puritans as well but in
Shakespeare's time they they hadn't
grown to be as powerful a force as they
were obviously when you get to the
English Civil War like lat in the 1600s
but in in this time period it's a
growing religious movement a growing
faction and they had nothing to do with
the theater like hated dancing excessive excessive
excessive
drinking um they didn't like they found
things like churches with paintings and
statues and is too lavish they found
that too effective they liked really
everything to be really simple plain and
focused on the Bible got Christianity
their interpretation of it as well they
grew you know obviously so so
much that leads to the English Civil War
and you've obviously got the founding
fathers of America the the um the
pilgrim fathers I should say being
Puritans themselves because at that time
no one wanted them in Europe because
they were annoying and caused lots of
problems so they went over to set up a
new life in America anyway I'm going off
on one sometimes people write about
marolo saying he's a Puritan he's not
actually a Puritan look at this line
sometimes he is a kind of Puritan so
Mariah is just likening him to a Puritan
saying he's got some of those shared
values but she's not saying he actually
is a Puritan
but a lot of this audience going to
plays this audience are going to have a
dim view of Puritans because they want
to band the theater and everything so
they're not going to be sympathetic with pans
pans
anyway and then um I have no Exquisite
reason for it the idea of beating him up
because he's a Puritan but I have reason
good enough so again it's another one of
these one of these paradoxical sentence
Shake spear establishes here for sir
Andrew the r outlines her plan some
obscure Epistles of love so we're going
to give some
letters to malvolio because he's so
pompous which actually this bit
described which I've skipped over but it
describes how pompous malvolio is and
they're going to set him up with these
fake love letters and alter his behavior
he's going to change his behavior having
based on what he reads in these
letters I can write very like my lady or
niece on a forgotten manner we can hard
make distinction of our hands so it's
revealed that Mariah conveniently can
write in a very similar way actually
it's not impossible is it's not that
implausible to to think that could
happen especially if someone's lived and
worked closely with someone else like
it's not impossible she may have even
had to have copied her handwriting for
various documents or things like that
that's not impossible at
all so she's going to write a letter as
if it's from Olivia excellent I smell
device I have it in my nose too so you
Andrew Shakespeare has sir Andrew extend
the metaphor but not really
understanding what's going on he shall
think by the letter that that will drop
they come from my niece that she's in
love with him so again Shakespeare
making it really clear like people think
sometimes oh I can't understand
Shakespeare if you if you track it and
listen because he's obviously he is
thinking of audience is listening to
what he's saying if you listen he will
repeat ideas and outline it you don't
necessarily have to understand every
single word and in various Productions
they will cut out words you know they'll
change lines as long as you get the idea
of what's being said that's all that
matters and good actors can always
overcome any difficulties audiences
might have with the uh with the language
itself and directors and the rest of the
production team I should say as
well often it comes down to the actors
in terms of how they deliver the lines
but it can be other things as well
sport Royal sport Royal sorry I warrant
you I know my physic will work with him
I will plant you two and let the fool
make a third that is well we will come
back to that later right remember this
line for later on because there's an odd
there's an oddity in this play and I'll
talk about it later that's the old bit
idea the idea of you two so Andrew sat
toi and feste you're going to lie and
wait and you can observe how he takes it
this night to bed and dream on the event
farewell and you've
got sat
toi bidding farewell to Mariah
addressing her as Pena who is an
Amazonian Queen this is an example of
interesting ter an antono Maria or antonomasia
antonomasia
antonomasia a n t o n o m a s i a and
that is when you
give when you name a person based on a
fictional character or historical figure
or someone from the Bible or anything
like that and it's like if you call
someone a scrooge for being tight they
tight F you call him a scrooge you know
that's unfair on Scrooge because he was
good in the end and you know you call
I'm a scrooge you can say so I was
really mean and now I'm really nice no I
mean you mean
okay bit unfair
anyway so before me she's a good went
she's a beagle true bread very strange
cuz this the type of dog so he's saying
how much he likes her and he say he's
comparing her to a to a dog one that
adores me but he means in a
complimentary way again this could be
another strange 12th night type Paradox
maybe but very strange it's meant to be
anyway what are that I was adored once
too so we don't find out any more of
that sir Andrew's had his own love story
in the past we find out nothing about it
at all so it's delivered here for comedy
purposes that's the bed night that need
send for more money so zobby is leeching
money off of so Andrew isn't he he wants
to get so Andrew's
cash s for Monday night if th not the
end call me cut if I do not never trust
me take it out you will come come I'll
burn I'll go burn some sack is too late
to go to bed now come night come night
so he ends the scene how we began which
is effectively saying well you're up
early you know you're up late you're
actually up early so you might as well
just carry on drinking so that is what
they do and unlike s Toby and Sir Andrew
I'm going to stop now and thank you for
listening like comment
subscribe look at my other videos I
think I got some terms ones I can't
which ones I did now if I did an Anton
amazia one maybe I did anyway if I
haven't tell me and maybe I'll make one
anyway thank you for listening I'm
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