The Plight for Fruit Snacks

Service learning is unfamiliar territory to me, as is the Tunbridge school. Reluctantly, I stumbled across the correct entrance which led me to the correct office and up to the correct classroom. Without any invitation at all, I walked into Room 202. Twenty-eight eyes stared back at me. “My name is, Sam.” Without much discourse, the teacher said, “Welcome,” gave me a handful of red tickets and told me to sit next to Corey. Corey was working in his math book (not my forte in the slightest). I pulled up a chair next to him and tried to figure out what they were learning. I sat on my hands so that Corey couldn’t see me counting on them and hoping to God math class was ending soon. The red tickets laid in my lap and his eyes quickly diverted to them. Immediately he began to work more diligently; working fast and with extreme focus. He completed the four pages required of him and then asked me for the tickets. The tickets was the teacher’s way to give some incentive to the kids; twenty tickets and you earn a small prize, one hundred tickets earns a large prize. I forfeited two tickets and he added them to his collection. There, in that plastic bag was Corey’s scholarly virtue embodied in red paper tickets. But was it honest depiction of Corey’s integrity? Or just a disguise used to attain a treat?

Now I’ll attempt to connect this with Shakespeare’s, Twelfth Night. While reading I became stuck on the notion of “true love” and the loves triangles and deceit that ensue. As I further examined each character’s romantic desires, I began to realize that their love was entirely based under false pretenses. Orsino is in love with the idea of love, and Olivia is just the object in his fabricated vision of love. Malvolio had no intent with love until a false letter gives great prospect to a more lavish lifestyle. Viola is actually a woman, or on the stage in Shakespeare’s time a man dressed as a woman, dressed as a man, which emphasizes the humor and deceit in the plot. Which means that Olivia is falling for a woman, making her desire to be that of a homosexual relationship. Each character is painted as a fool (and quite physically as well, ie. Malvolio’s yellow tights). The only instance that true love is portrayed in the first half of Twelfth Night  is seen when Olivia is mourning the death of her brother. Ironically enough, Orsino, the man who speaks of nothing else than true love, mocks and ridicules her and construes the idea that Olivia’s love for her brother will ultimately be channeled and directed towards him. 

The question posed is what is the purpose in desiring love? Orsino wins his trophy wife, but then what? He said it himself that a man should never marry an older woman because her looks have faded and a woman who has lost her virginity is of no value. When Malvolio reads the counterfeit letter his initial reaction is, “’Tis but fortune; all is fortune” (2.5, line 23) “To be Count Malvolio” (2.5, line 34). He does not care for Olivia, but cares for the immense wealth he will inherit when they are married. He goes on to make a complete fool of himself, imagining himself the owner of such an estate and the joy he will find in abusing Sir Toby as his inferior. These are only immediate gains without any thought to the permanent circumstances they could potentially find themselves in. 

I believe Shakespeare is emphasizing the inherent nature of desire. In the second half of Twelfth Night order is restored and each character finds their suitable match, but until then, Shakespeare creates the hilarious encounters and mishaps to demonstrate what happens when people act on their false ideals and desires. Alas, desire is important. Without it, mankind would fail to propel forward and lay at a standstill. But there is a difference between false desires and true desires. Corey wanted to do well on his math packet because he wanted a bag of fruit snacks and a new pencil. And who could blame Corey? I’m not trying to devalue him as a human being, but you can see where there might be some worry. The kid is in 3rd grade, so of course I can’t expect him to be enthralled with all of his coursework. But it is interesting to contemplate his truthful self and whether or not the teacher should be rewarding him for something that is expected. I cannot argue with the teacher’s method; it proves to be extremely effective. Hell! I’d be more willing to pay attention in a mundane course with the promise of a treat. But is Corey learning? Is Corey being truth to himself? I think Shakespeare would argue that acting on false desires is dangerous and that in the end, you look like a fool. 

Lies and Love

            In the first half of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night there is a lot of love and deception. The love triangle, or whatever shape it turns out to be, involves a massive amount of deception. The deception leads to some very awkward romances.

            The biggest deception of all is, of course, Viola pretending to be Cesario. Viola plan to dress like a young man leads to several interesting romances. First Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, asks Cesario to talk to Olivia for him. After talking to Cesario Olivia falls for him, actually a her. Olivia turns down Orsino and tries to seduce Cesario. This leads to further problems with Malvolio. Malvolio is in a relationship with Olivia but learns, or is tricked into thinking that Olivia is in love with Cesario. Malvolio is again deceived but this time by Maria. Maria tricks Malvolio into believing that Olivia still loves him; she writes him fake love letters from Olivia. Things get even more complicated when Viola, still acting as Cesario develops feelings for Orsino. Since she does not want to blow her identity she has trouble expressing her feelings for Orsino. Viola tries to drop hints to Orsino but, since she is still Cesario, Orsino does not pick up on any of the subtleties. What makes the play even more comedic is that all the female parts during Shakespeare’s time would be played by young boys.

            Since the audience was used to seeing boys playing the roles of women the play gained an extra sense of humor and realism. The fact that a young boy is playing a role of a woman who is disguised as a man is hilarious. It is funny enough in the play that Viola is pretending to be a man named Cesario but it becomes even funnier that a boy is playing the role of Viola. There is also extra realism added to the play due to the fact that the audience is used to seeing boys play women roles. The audience can understand and relate to the characters in the play. They understand how a boy could be mistaken for s woman and vice versa. They see it when they go to any play.

            Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s funniest plays. The story itself could be done in a serious way. It could be made into a semi-dramatic work but Shakespeare chooses to make it into a very funny comedic work. He uses love and deception in such a way that everything comes together to form a hilarious and semi controversial story.

Foolish Assumptions

            One of the central motifs of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is disguise and mistaken gender identity.  In the beginning of the play, Viola states “I prithee, and I’ll pay thee bounteously, / Conceal me what I am, and be my aid / For such disguise as haply shall become / The form of my intent” (4).  She is asking the sea captain to help disguise her as a man in order to work for Orsino, while Viola’s disguise could also be interpreted as a mechanism to make her feel safe in the unknown land that she has entered.  When Viola first meets Orsino, she is introduced as Cesario to match her disguise as a teenage boy, though Orsino states “Diana’s lip / Is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe / Is as the maiden’s organ, shrill and sound; / And all is semblative a woman’s part” (9).  While Orsino notices that Cesario’s features resemble those of a woman, he is fooled by Viola’s disguise.  Maria is also fooled by Viola’s disguise when she tells Olivia that Cesario “is a fair young man, and well attended” (12).  Malvolio states that Cesario is “Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy…He is very well-favoured and he speaks very shrewishly; one would think his mother’s milk were scarce out of him” (13).  After talking with Cesario, Olivia states “I’ll be sworn thou art [a gentleman]; / Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit, / Do give thee five-fold blazon,” (17) also believing that Cesario is actually a man.  Viola successfully fools everyone that she is a man in the first half of the play and even unintentionally causes Olivia to fall in love with Cesario.

            During the time that Twelfth Night was originally performed, it was not unusual that a man could successfully disguise himself as a woman or vice versa.  Only men were allowed to perform in England during the early 1600s, meaning that young boys would disguise themselves as women in order to play female characters on stage.  Thus, the idea that a woman could successfully disguise herself as a man was not a ridiculous idea at the time when the play was written and first performed.  This notion that women could easily disguise themselves as men and vice versa adds to the gender confusion that comprises Twelfth Night.

            I was surprised that I was able to find a connection between Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and my service experience at Tunbridge, especially concerning gender confusion.  Last semester, I volunteered with a special education class, which was composed of only eight or so students.  I’m kind of embarrassed to admit that I was pretty convinced that one of the students was a girl when in fact the entire class was composed of boys.  In my defense, this student had a very gender-neutral name, had his hair in braids that reached down his waist, had very feminine features, and, since he had not hit puberty yet, had a fairly high voice.  On top of it all, the uniform at Tunbridge consists of athletic wear, meaning that girls and boys are almost identically dressed.  Similarly to how Sir Andrew makes a fool of himself by repeatedly getting Maria’s name wrong when they are introduced by Sir Toby, I felt like a fool when I learned that this student was in fact a boy.  While reading Twelfth Night, I noticed that the other characters describe Cesario as I would have described this student: in their cross-dressing and youthfulness, both Cesario and this student seemed girlish.  In my reading and in my service experience, I learned that we can easily be fooled merely by the way that someone chooses to dress.

The Power of Questions

          I have always loved the play Twelfth Night, especially since one of my favorite movies was based off of it: She’s The Man. Last year I took a course on Shakespearean comedies and loved the play, although it did register slightly below Much Ado About Nothing. When I found out I had to read for this course I was really excited, but slightly confused. Unlike The Miller’s Tale there is no burning of bottoms and unlike The Adventure’s of Huckleberry Finn, there is no constant use of offensive words. Why could Twelfth Night possibly be banned? After looking it up, I found that it was banned in 1996:

School authorities in Merrimack, N.H. found nothing amusing about Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, in which a girl washes ashore after a shipwreck, disguises herself as a page, and falls in love with her male master. That jolly cross-dressing and fake-same-sex romance was deemed in violation of the district's ‘prohibition of alternative lifestyle instruction,’ and copies of the play were pulled from schools.¹

 

 I found this slightly ridiculous for many reasons. First, all the crushes are just a misunderstanding. The Duke never feels anything for Cesario/Viola but a brotherly/masculine love that is acceptable at the time. Olivia, while she does have a crush on someone who is actually a woman, is unaware of it and truly believes she is in love with a man. I personally do not believe that same-sex love is an issue, but I understand that there are different opinions on the matter. Yet, this said, there is never any same-sex anything, just misunderstandings. Second, the cross-dressing part is ignorant. In Shakespeare’s time, many young men would have to cross-dress to play the female parts. Viola is not exerting herself as a sexual man, but instead a eunuch.

          I found this ban slightly disturbing for other reasons as well. I felt that it was missing the point of the play entirely to pick on issues, such as gay marriage, that are prevalent today but not as much so when the play was written. Banning this book is taking away not only the enjoyment of a great work, but also the history and context of the story. Even if it does bring up present day issues, to ban a book from school does not allow for healthy conversation.

At my experience at Tunbridge School last Thursday, I arrived at my classroom a few minutes early and found the teacher and students engrossed in group reading. Mr. Gottlieb asked me to sit and join them, which I gladly did. I had no idea what the book was, but I was fascinated by the students. They kept asking question after question. It was amazing to see their willingness to learn. One girl even asked why a certain flower died, to which the teacher explained about the geography of the setting. Although these fifth graders may be too young to tackle Twelfth Night, it is student like them that make me believe banning it is the wrong decision. They truly want to learn about every little detail of the story, and seemed to get enjoyment out of even the little details. Not allowing their intellectual abilities to grow to their natural capacity would be a crime. When these kids are able to finally get to the reading level of Shakespeare, not only will they learn, but they will enjoy the experience.

After the group reading was over, the teacher needed me to organize some of his binders for him. While he felt bad about giving me a tedious task, I was glad for three reasons. One, I actually enjoy organizing, it is a stress-reliever for me. Second, I know the feeling I get when everything is organized and know how important that can be for a classroom. Lastly, I was nervous (although definitely excited) to work with the kids directly. While I hole-punched and alphabetized, I listened to Mr. Gottlieb teach. The students had moved on to individual reading while some would individually meet with the teacher to discuss their book. One book was about Hitler. Once again the student was full with many questions about what happened. Obviously the nature of the subject is a tragic one, but not teaching the information would be a disservice. Only through knowledge and experience can a person truly understand and grow from something. This kid learned not only the history but empathy for not only the Jews, but the Nazis that were forced to work as well. I remember the student asking why some of the Nazis did such horrible things, and the teacher explaining about how some of them had families to worry about. Without healthy discussion how will a person ever truly grow in understanding? The same with the alternative life-style and cross-dressing issue of Twelfth Night. Not only is it an issue that can often require empathy, but it is a part of the history and present of mankind.

 

Works Cited

1.     http://theweek.com/article/index/249922/americas-most-surprising-banned-books

Brighter Lenses

Brighter Lenses

In the scene in which Feste and Olivia converse about her grief for her brother’s death, stichomythia is used to make light of a rather serious topic. The scene is a reminder that our emotions may cloud our judgment of a situation, conjuring an attitude that may be more self-centered than constructive; sometimes, an outside perspective is needed to correct this.  Feste provokes Olivia in stating “I think his soul is in hell, madonna” (1.5.63). In defensive response, Olivia states, “I know his soul is in heaven, fool” (1.5.64). Feste wins the tet-a-tet with the checkmate line, “The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother’s soul, being in heaven” (1.5.65-66). The perspective/attitude one chooses to apply shapes the mood one experiences. I participated in service learning in Dr. Holc’s International Relations class; I served at the Esperanza Center, teaching English as a second language to refugees and immigrants. Every Tuesday night from 6pm-8pm, I drove downtown with four fellow Greyhounds. There were a few times when our energy/motivation levels would falter and we’d talk about the things we need to do—homework, catch up on sleep, etc, but the minute we walk onto the site, the focus on the self seemed to go away.

Like Olivia, I remember a few times when we experienced a weariness that was centered on ourselves. We mourned what felt like lost time that we could be using for something else, but we were able to set aside our worries to focus on our purpose. For Olivia, she needs Feste to help her realize the upside to the situation. He finds the goodness that comes from the misfortune that is Olivia’s mourning. For me, Feste came in the form of the man I was working with that night. His name was Meron and he was a refugee from Eritrea. We were working on the five sense and at the same time, working on the past tense and future tense. There was an instance when I was there, watching him write “saw,” “see,” and “will see,” and “felt,” “feel,” and “will feel,” I knew that there was no other place I would rather be that on that chair, side-by-side with him. His eyes were a dark chestnut brown and he was left-handed. Being attentive to these details made it easy to be in the moment. On our way home, my service group and I talked about the people we worked with, sharing the little stories that were the treasures we take away. The scene with Olivia and Feste in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a reminder that we are in charge of our attitude and the way we apply our energies. Sometimes, it takes someone other than ourselves to check our lens. Olivia’s ability to consider how joyous it is for her brother to be in heaven parallels how joyous it is when I am invested in the moment. Boldly and helpfully, Feste calls Olivia a fool. Constructively, he points at where she could improve the way she sees the situation that is her brother’s death. By experience and attentiveness to the moment and to others, the selfish worries that one may feel burdened by are conquered and the lenses through which we see are brighter.

Playing Parts

            “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid/ For such disguise as haply shall become/ The form of my intent.” (7). Twelfth Night is a play that is steeped in theatricality and the adoption of roles. Several characters adopt disguises to better their own position in the world around them. Here, Viola chooses to disguise herself as a man so that she can enter into Duke Orsino’s court and mourn for her brother’s presumed death in peace. This action of the adoption of disguise and therefore the denial of self, offer some form of release for characters. By being someone else rather than whom they truly are, they can find an escape from their problems, something that many people do in our world today. They believe that they can find something greater or something they want by being someone other than who they truly are.

            Malvolio would fit into this above category. Even though he is tricked into changing his character, he still willingly adopts a new persona in order to “return” Olivia’s love. The ironic thing about Malvolio’s new persona is that it makes him appear insane to all other characters that are not in on the prank. This could perhaps be a suggestion on Shakespeare’s part that the adoption of new character is an insane thing to do. However, I’m not entirely sure this is completely what Shakespeare meant. He clearly placed value on acting and portraying roles well and some of his most memorable characters are characters who could act like someone else. Hamlet could act insane and Viola could act as a man. The reason that Malvolio appears insane is because he is acting in a role that is not suited for him.

            While Viola acts very well it is not without difficulty. She admits in the first half of the play, “I would be loath to cast/ Away my speech; for, besides that it is excellently well/ penned, I have taken great pains to con it.” (19). For Viola, being a different person takes an immense amount of effort. The denial of her true self and her true nature is an extremely taxing event. In the denial of herself she also learns a great deal about herself. Shakespeare could be suggesting that adopting a new persona could be a great learning experience for individuals. However, it is not a permanent fix and should only be used in trying to learn more about oneself.

            We may not realize it but we adopt new roles every day. Whether we are conforming to social standards or meeting a new person, we are constantly acting as different people. I believe on one level that community service can cause us to act like different people but in a very positive way. In my service with Habitat for Humanity, I knew nothing about construction or the Sandtown neighborhood of Baltimore. I went out of my comfort zone in an attempt to learn something new about myself and do some good along the way. I was wary of appearing like I didn’t know what I was doing so I acted like I did. The end result was that I made a mistake constructing a window frame that took me around two hours to put together and I had to do it completely over again. While I was embarrassed by this experience I ended up learning how to actually construct a window frame.

            This was only one of the minimal learning experiences that I gained from Habitat. I was initially overwhelmed by the state of the neighborhood but by adopting a more friendly and outgoing personality I was able to meet new people and to understand what a powerful community they had. By adopting a new role, I learned something now only about myself but about the people around me. In this sense, acting helped me learn something about the world around me. 

Merry Madness: Malvolio, Gender Confusion and Disguise

Catlin Castan

Dr. Ellis

Banned Books

10 February 2014

Merry Madness: Malvolio, Gender Confusion and Disguise

            Once again in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, we see humor being used as an essential literary device. One of the play’s two major plotlines features Malvolio—Olivia’s butler—as the protagonist of his own plot. Malvolio is a “fool”; specifically what Shakespeare refers to as an “Armin fool”, a sad fool. At first glance Malvolio’s character appears to be one-dimensional but upon further inspection, he proves to be quite complex; Malvolio’s character has a dual presence as both Puritan and cavalier. In addition, Malvolio is described by the other characters within the play as “stiff”--a party-pooper--a quality that ultimately provokes Maria and Sir Toby to devise his downfall; they play on a side of Malvolio that may have otherwise remained hidden. More specifically, Malvolio possesses a false sense of self-worth, a flaw that fuels his pursuit of chasing an unattainable dream: to become a member of the nobility (i.e. when he refers to himself as “Count Mal” II.V.30). As we watch Malvolio’s ambition overcome his ability to exercise good reason, he becomes a character of pity. Shakespeare highlights this notion by use of dramatic irony; everyone else is aware of his delusions, except for he himself. It is also important to note that Malvolio—the “victim” of the prank-- is a Puritan. During Shakespeare’s time, the Puritans were the first members of the middle class in England to assume positions of authority and to acquire wealth. However, the Puritans despised the theater, so—naturally--Shakespeare despised them. Thus, Shakespeare contrives a wonderful joke around Malvolio, one that is dependent of Malvolvio’s comic flaw--being a Puritan—and the (Puritan) belief that he will be “saved” and therefore God (providence) will provide for him.

            In addition to the humor that surrounds Malvolio’s plot, Shakespeare constructs his second of the play’s two major plots in a similar fashion. Viola, a shipwrecked heroin, must adopt a disguise—specifically-- she must assume a male identity in order to remain alive. However, despite the seriousness of her condition—her life depends on the success of her disguise-- there is still something extremely hilarious about the “merry madness” that goes on within the confines of Illyria. Namely, Viola’s disguise catalyzes a series of deceptive acts, character miscommunications, and most controversially: it introduces Illyria’s homosexual antics. These homosexual undertones become evident while observing the relationships between Antonio and Sebastian, Viola and Olivia, and Cesario (Viola) and Duke Orsino. Despite their convincing disguises, all of the characters interestingly favor the gender ambiguous characteristics present with their respective lovers. For example, Olivia falls in love with Cesario because of “his” soft or feminine features, thus suggesting that perhaps Olivia desires the female form.

            Due to the homosexual presence within the play, Twelfth Night has landed itself on the banned books list; deeming the homosexual content inappropriate. This reason for banning Twelfth Night is extremely problematic, especially with the recent uprising and full-scale social movement advocating for gay rights. Banning Twelfth Night in schools for this content would make explicit our country’s disapproval and oppression of a minority group and would even go as far as to promote homophobia.

            In regards to doing service at Tunbridge, I can certainly foresee this type of message being extremely detrimental to the classroom climate, as well as greatly affecting the wellbeing of individual students. Specifically, I recently found out that one of the boys in our class has two fathers. Although I have not met his fathers (they both work full-time) the teachers that I work with only have wonderful things to say about them. In this sense, then, it would be highly inappropriate to ridicule these two fathers and potentially victimize an innocent child based off of insensitive and outdated societal conventions. Similar to the questions that were asked while reading texts by Twain and Chaucer, Shakespeare is also addressing subject matter that is often avoided by his audiences. Through his literature, Shakespeare is prompting his audience to confront uncomfortable subject matters.

            Somewhat unrelated, but in keeping with the gender/disguise motif, I found it interesting that during the time that these plays were performed, young male actors played the role of Shakespeare’s women characters. Therefore, on stage––a character such as Viola, would be played by a male actor playing the role of a woman––who is disguised as a man. Shakespeare intentionally chooses young men to play these female characters, namely—because of their high-pitched voices and seemingly feminine features; the same reasons Viola is able to pass as a young man. These young male actors are aptly fitted to play women because their inherent qualities (off stage) allow for a natural performance on stage.