A Tale Told By Idiots-Shakespeare's Fools In Twelfth Night

Fool is an ancient and attractive image of Literature.From the incarnation of mediaeval evil spirit to the banished civil of ancient cities,then to the stage clown in the Renaissance Literature,finally fools are concerned for their special identity and situation.They gradually walk up to the central of the stage and voice their obscure yet profound sound.The Twelfth Night shapes a world dominated by fools.The love affairs between Olivia,Viola and Orsino form the main plot,and the prank which Maria and Toby plans to revenge Malvolio is the sub-plot.Together they build a world where logic and order disappeared.Feste,as the real fool in the play,seems to be involved in all plots,yet indifferently free from all events.Thus he becomes the only reasonable observer in the play.Olivia,Viola and Orsino are fools for love.From the view of reason,the matching of Olivia and Sebastian,Viola and Orsino are out of hurry and ridiculous.It is more like a game and given a complete ending.In fact,passionate indulgence and madness are the source of their joy from humanistic view.The theme of fools is Renaissance humanism's exploration of the meaning of life and affirmation of the value of life.Malvolio is a fool for desire.Malvolio is a rather complicated character.He rejects the pleasure in any form and obtains superiority from his high morality.However unfortunately,he loses himself in the pursuit of the desire.Malvolio is a miniature of the Puritans in Renaissance.His firm belief in the letter is also a manifestation of the Puritan pursuit of assurances to maintain redemption.Like contemporary playwrights,Shakespeare seemed to believe that pursuing,not to mention believing that one has maintain the assurances of redemption is an act of fools rather than a wise man.Feste is a fool for truth.The fool becomes the only one with wits while almost everyone in Twelfth Night is in lunatic.Feste's wisdom is like a mirror that reflects the derangement of human nature and presents the thinking as philosophers.At the same time,fools reveal an ancient theme in the Bible: the human beings are all fools compared to God's wisdom.And the ending of this drama shows that mankind can be saved by its own ability.Erasmus promotes folly to the height of human nature and hold that folly is the secret of the soul's salvation.Twelfth Night presents a revival of humanism by overflowing enthusiasm,unfettered action,frank tongue and carefree carnival.Twelfth Night shapes a world in chaos and disorder;it is no more than a tale told by idiots which signifying nothing.However,there is no joy in life without folly.It is the essence of human beings and human nature.What Shakespeare tries to explore in his works is the meaning and value of life.Shakespeare's praise of folly is actually the praise of humanistic,and the calling for human nature.