Danish Girl Student

Re-read 1.5, and when you re-read focus on the character of Feste.  Answer these questions in your next blog post:  (Don’t forget to link back to this blog!)

1. How long do you think he has been in Olivia’s household?
2. Is Feste a carefree fool with no troubles?
3. Does he have a brain?
4. If you were a director of this play either on stage or in film, who would you cast for Feste?  (Someone you know? A Hollywood actor? Your brother?)  How would you costume him/ her?
5. Find some clues in the script that suggest action for Feste — particularly action that brings out the sillyness and merry-making in Feste’s nature.  If you were a director, what would you want the Fool to be doing physically in this scene?

Answers:

1.  I think feste has been in Olivias household for quite a while because from the way they talk to eachother is quite familiar as opposed to more formally, which implies he has known her for quite a while. And also maria says at one point “My lady will hang thee for thy absence” (1.5.2-3) which sort of means that Festes absence is not usual and Olivia prefers when he is in the house which may imply he doesn’t leave often. However, at one point maria tells him

2.  He seems to be a bit of carefree fool, who may have troubles but dismisses them quite passively and often turns them into a joke or doesn’t make a big deal out of them instead of facing them straightforwardly.

3. Yes, literally he ofcourse has a brain but in this context it is implied that his brain it resembles that of stone; small and useless. I think he has a brain, he just doesn’t use it the way he should.

4.  If I were the director I would probably cast Ian as Feste because they are both very lively funny people and Ian has a good sense of humour and would be able to express the character of Feste. When I imagine feste, he is in bright colours like red,yellow,orange, and he has a very odd looking hat on that almost resembles that of a joker.

5.  In 1.5 will be in a very joyful,playful and carefree mood, therefore I picture his movements to be obvious and big. At one point Feste makes up a philosopher, “For what says Quinapalus?” (1.5.29) in this sentence I imagine Feste staring into space admiringly as he says the name Quinapalus to sort of show that Quinapalus is a great (not to mention fake) philosopher. Also for this speech, “Like a drowned man,a fool, and a madman; one draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him and a third drowns him.”(1.5.8-9) I see him prancing around Olivia acting out a madman, a fool and  a drowned man quite comically.

1.  “And I think I have the back-trick simply as strong as any man in Illyria” (1.3.100-101)

I like these lines because often you don’t find a man who is boasting competitevly about how strong his back-trick is. I also think you can imagine it very clearly in your head and you get to imagine how you think the dance would be like imitated by a drunken man.

2. “Pour quoi, my dear knight?”(1.3.76)

I chose this line because it stood out amongst the rest possibly because it is in italic but also because it is in a different language. Alot of the language used in this play are not used today and I liked how the french word “Pour quoi” has not changed its meaning or form since William Shakespeare wrote it.

3.  “Good Mistress Accost, I desire better aquaintence.” (1.3.43) I find it amusing how he thinks Mary’s name is Accost and even after they tell him again he still gets it wrong,possibly because he has drank so much. 

4. ” Confine? I’ll confine myself no finer than I am: these clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be those boots too; and they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps.” (1.3.8-10)

I pictured this line being said by Sir Toby quite comically as I read over it. I imagine him using over enthusiastic and dramatic gestured towards his clothes while also barely being able to stand up!!

When I lived in Zimbabwe my best friend invited me to go on holiday with her. The exciting thing was that I was going to be going with her family for ten days to Cape Town, so of course I said yes.

When we got to Cape Town we went to a McDonalds straight away and we were so excited seeing as you can’t really get much of anything in Zimbabwe. The house we stayed in was really amazing and overlooked the harbour, it had a big jacuzzi, flat screen tv, everything.

We did lots of things during our stay in Cape Town, like going up Table Mountain which was such an invigourating experience, we were so high up ! It was incredibly scary using the cable cars to get up though, because there were about 10 people per cable car and as you got nearer and nearer to the top there were lots of points that stuck out from only about a meter away and it felt like you were going to crash into them.  The view from the top was incredible, and was definatly worth the trip up.

We, visited Cape of Good Hope, and that was also a good experience. We arrived at the beach and immediatly ran to the water playing in the waves for around a half hour or so. Then, as we got tired we came out and had a rest and ate some lunch. Suddenly, my friends dad who using the binoculars shouted, ” Whale ! Or shark ! Or dolphin !” and he was frantically pointing out to sea where we could see a large black fin moving through the water. The fin wasn’t too far from where me and my friend had been splashing around and I suddenly felt very sick in the stomach.  My friends dad passed the binoculars around and by the time it got to me, the fin had disappeared. After 10 minutes of staring into the sea, skimming the horizon for anymore signs of the animal, we gave up. The lunch was packed away quickly, and we went for a walk along the shore. By this time, the shark,dolphin or whale was at the back of our minds until we were walking back to the car. I looked into the waves that were crashing onto the shore and saw something in them. I stopped and looked harder to see a mediocre sized shadow inside the light blue waves as they broke appart. I told the rest, and after we watched it some more we came to the conclusion that it was a small shark, supposedly the same one we had seen before. I got quite scared thinking about how me and my friend were playing in those exact waves only an hour and a half ago.

The days passed by, with many exciting activities taking place but there was one thing the holiday was lacking. A whale. We had all wanted to see the famous whales that so many people had talked about. The problem was we were always too lazy to get up early to take a trip out on boat to see them. But we were told they sometimes came in close to shore and so we decided we would just hope they would instead of taking the boat trip. Then, on the very last day as we were driving to the airport, we were passing the harbour and my friends mom said, “It’s a shame we didn’t see any whales. It really would have been the highlight of this holiday. But just incase, girls, keep your eye on the sea incase we do see one.” So we did. And that second as we looked out onto the sea, a HUGE tail/fin of a whale came up through the water and slapped back down aggravating the sea. We were all speechless at that point and my friend had her hand clasped to her mouth, her eyes wide. “Wow.” was all I said, and it was really a good ending to a brilliant holiday.