Gender & Identity
Shadows of Commom Group Think
Identity
I find myself to be confused when it comes to my own identity. I am confused on what career I'd like to study. I am confused on whether there is or isn't some form of hierarchy/deity that really does control everything. Heck, I'm confused on whether or not I'm really, truely moving after the 2014 school year ends due to the fact that my moving has been moved around several times. To be completely honest though, I doubt that anyone really knows what there true identity is. Whether they know they truely love what they do or that they've just followed a herd for such a long time, to where now there identity becomes that of the herd.
In the play Twelfth Night, the character Feste knows that he is wise, yet he acts as a fool. I say this because while he acts like a typical fool, doing things that people request for money, he also speaks some pretty wise things. This is shown when Feste says, "For what says Quinapalus? “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit" (I.V.31-32).Page 2. What Feste is saying here, while pretty obvious, is that he's fine with being a smart fool instead of a foolish person. Not only does he himself talk wise of himself at times, but so do other characters in the story. Later on, Viola speaks to herself about Feste in a high fashion about his wit.
Gender
Due to being a majorily white/partially Filipino male, there are several precepts that people believe I must follow. For example: I must be good at math. I've got to disregard music such as Hip Hop, or I need to be extremely athletic. Some of these are true and some are false for myself in particular. However, I still have to work fairly hard to be as decent as I am at math and I Hip Hop tends to be my music of choice; as well as I'm not extremely athletic.
Feste is a male character in Twelfth Night that plays the role of a fool. He, being a male, is typically thought of to be strong in both mind and body. I will be talking about his mental strength here instead of physical strength. Meaning that he needs to be able to be made fun and be able to brush it off; as well as he needs to be somewhat wise. He shows this mental strength quite a few times in Twelfth Night. An example of it, is when Feste says to Viola, "You have said, sir. To see this age! A sentence is but a cheveril glove to a good wit. How quickly the wrong side may be turned outward!" (III.I.10-12).Page 1. What Feste is saying here, is that anyone in this day and age can bend words to their whim. This is also Feste poking fun at himself since he literally does this for a job; which also goes hand-in-hand with him following that mental strength since he finds no problem in making a joke of himself and about himself. Atop of that, he shows off, many many times, in the story that he is fairly wise and he makes the other characters, as well as the readers, think more deeply about what he is saying and what he truely means.
Viola
Feste (The Fool)
Malvolio
Perception
Same as the majority of the world, I tend to act differently around a certain select group of people such as friends, family, teachers, etc. Do to this, the image that I radiate varies from person to person. However I believe that in general I am perceived by most people as a somewhat smart individual that most likely comes off as slightly rude, but still partially well mannored. I believe that I am perceived as this since I enjoy using sarcasm and literary devices in my typical speech to see iif the person I am talking to will pick up on them; whether these literary devices be for good or for bad use, I still use them anyways. I also believe that I am perceived as well mannored since I try to be polite by holding doors for people, not dragging personal problems into large social areas, and others small things that the majority of U.S. citizens have for some reason forgotten.
I believe that other characters in Twelfth Night see Feste as a wise man that just plays a fool. I say this because he tends to out wit the other characters and make them question things more often. This is also proven when Viola says to herself, "This fellow is wise enough to play the fool, and to do that well craves a kind of wit..." "...For folly that he wisely shows is fit. but wise men, folly-fall'n, quite taint their wit" (III.I.53-54, 60-61).Page 4. What Viola is saying, is that only wise people can play the role of the fool easily. On top of that, she's also saying that Feste is smart about how he acts as a fool too.
Similarities and Differences
A similarity between Feste and myself would be that we both tend to twist our usage of words around to work in our favor; as well as bluff our way out of things. As shown in Twelfth Night, Feste tends to use words to get himself out of things. The quote from my Identity section above shows this since Feste made up the name Quinapalus and that "quote" from this Quinapalus on the spot.
A difference between Feste and myself would be that Feste tends to stay calm in most, if not all, situation. I myself, cannot stay calm in a lot of situations. However, in Act 4 Scene 2, Feste, dressed and acting like a priest, walks in and calmly takes control of the situation while tricking Malvolio. He goes even further to show this once he walks out of the cell and has an argument between himself as Feste and himself as the priest. The entire time while sounding and acting as calm as he would if he was actually both characters.