‘Madness bubbles under the surface of the play, providing great comedy and risking tragedy.’ To what degree are the central characters in some way mad, or verging on madness?
In Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ the madness being referred to in the title could describe mayhem, silliness, uproar and risky behaviour. No one is truly insane; however a number of characters are accused of being mad and certainly psychologically unstable, and a current of insanity or zaniness runs through the action of the play. Throughout ‘Twelfth Night’, madness could be perceived to be bubbling under the surface. We see this from the opening line ‘If music be the food of love, play on. ’ Orsino is perhaps showing some of the symptoms of madness such as obsession. Immediately the audience is alerted to the potential madness to follow; the line acts as a means for Shakespeare to foreshadow future madness. It seems there is obvious psychological instability here. Shakespeare introduces the idea of love-sickness and makes us aware that love will be the basis for the majority of madness within the play. It is clear that Shakespeare wanted to demonstrate the potential madness has to lead characters into great sadness or despair, shown in various forms such as obsessive behaviour, excess and addiction, madness of love, grief and inflexible belief.
Madness in ‘Twelfth Night’ is multi-dimensional. It creates seemingly conflicting consequences it succeeds in creating comedy and threatening tragedy. Probably the most obvious scene involving madness and comedy is Act II, Scene V, where the self-important, self-deluded Malvolio is duped by Maria and Sir Toby into believing that Olivia loves him. In contrast, madness is seen to threaten tragedy to some extent; Orsino is so overwhelmed with love-sickness that, at the end of the play, he actually threatens to kill Olivia and ‘threaten the lamb that I do