Twelfth Night Satire

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“Live from New York, it's Saturday night!” The popular television show Saturday Night Live uses humorous skits to point out problems of popular celebrities, politicians, and cultural phenomenon. One skit, “NFL Intros”, parodies the starting lineups televised during football games. Usually, the players announce the college they attended, but in the Saturday Night Live parody, the players say what crimes they committed. This highlights the recent controversies within the National Football League, where serious offences have gone unpunished because of the players celebrity status..As it has for centuries, comedy has provided an acceptable platform for cultural commentary. Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, uses comedy to criticize …show more content…
When Orsino rambles on about his passionate love for Olivia, Feste slips in a snide comment to send the message that Orsino’s love will prove empty and meaningless. “‘Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal’” (Shakespeare 2.4.80-82). Taffeta, a textile, and opal, a gemstone, change color depending on the viewer’s perspective. Feste states that Orsino’s ambivalence resembles a taffeta jacket. Orsino's love for Olivia will amount to nothing and like the changing colors of the coat, his love will waver and shift to a different hue. Feste believes that Orsino “loves” Olivia because they make sense together. Orsino and Olivia are suitable according to Elizabethan culture. They are both affluent, of the right age, and attractive. Feste contends that Orsino mistakes his love for lust because society asserts that compatibility equals love. Shakespeare, through the voice of Feste, argues that true love endures through a choice of self-sacrifice. However, most people had an antithetical view of marriage. At the time, “Marriages would be arranged to bring prestige or wealth to the family…” (Alchin) and “In non-noble families, the most common age for marriage is 25-26 for men, about 23 for women” (Life in Elizabethan England). Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a woman nine years his senior. In his own life, Shakespeare strayed outside the typical parameters for love and marriage of the time. A person who only fulfills societal requirements simplifies finding an acceptable partner. A rarity entails two people giving themselves completely to each other. Shakespeare warns the audience to not blindly follow the expectations of the public, but to push boundaries and question the accepted
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