Madness In Twelfth Night

“Madness” is a mutual theme in many of Shakespeare’s plays including Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear, but none of Shakespeare’s plays reference madness more often than Twelfth Night (Joost). Madness is seen in multiple instances throughout the play, especially in the final scenes of the play. Madness in Twelfth Night is used as a state of mind when the character is confused about the true reality that is occurring around them causing them to live in a fantasy (Joost). This contributes to the insanity of the plot by characterizing the mental state of several different characters.
Monvolio’s madness is the subject of many scenes in Twelfth Night, and this makes for an interesting topic due to the fact Monvolio knows that he is truly sane in spite of the accusations of those around him. In IV.III.89 Feste dressed as curate speaks to Monvolio in the prison and says, “Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a fool,” (Shakespeare). Monvolio continues to declare his innocence throughout the scene only to encourage the accusations. The truth ultimately comes to light in the last few pages of the play when Maria’s hoax is revealed. Another example of an allegation of madness is aimed toward Antonio when he tells Orsino of his adventures with Sebastian.

After Antonio has finished his tale Orsino declares his words to be foolish in V.I.96, “But for thee, fellow: fellow, thy words are madness.” Although their names are cleared at the conclusion of the play Monvoilo and Antonio do not get the cheerful ending expected in a comedy. These allegations of madness overshadowed their desires of love (Monvolio’s love for Olivia, and Antonio’s love for Sebastian) providing a tragic note to the lighthearted comedy.
This brings up the idea of who gets to determine who is mad and who is sane.

I believe that we all have a certain amount of madness within us. If we didn’t how would we accomplish any great feat. Accomplishment takes risk, passion, and desire, which are all different forms of madness. In Twelfth Night only a few are labeled as “mad,” but those who are not marked as such are also misled be their surroundings, creating their own false reality. In fact, when examined almost all the characters exhibit some trait that can be portrayed as madness (Chidester). This is a perfect example of how society continues to work today, and how we all possess our own unique, wonderful, and foolish

madness.