Twelfth Night

In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and in Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, two ladies are presented, that are not necessarily the leading protagonist, but they help unravel the plays’ plots into something amazing. Twelfth Night features Maria, the lady in waiting to Olivia. At first Maria comes off as a dilettante, later on we find out that’s not the case at all. Meanwhile, in The Imaginary Invalid, there is the disputatious Toinette, who is the maidservant and nurse to the imaginary invalid himself, Argan. Maria and Toinette are two strong women characters, their strength and wit is depicted through Maria and Toinette’s deceiving schemes to make their plays more stimulating as well as their objectivity throughout all the chaos in their respective play.

In addition, Maria plays the role of the lady in waiting who essentially doesn’t do anything for herself except take orders. Later on the reader soon realizes that, Maria is a strong witty character that takes matters in to her own hands. Maria developes a strategy, first she goes for the messed up drunken Sir Toby and her goal is to straighten him out. Maria confronts Sir Toby about his drunkenness, “That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday” (1.3.128). Sir Toby begins to take notice in Maria. Maria begins to plot with Toby to bring down Malvolio (the condescending butler) as a practical joke. Through the process of plotting against Malvolio with Toby, Maria develops a back bone something she was not known for with Olivia. Maria took the lead in the plotting and Toby starts taking her orders, “Observe him, for the love of mockery, for I know this letter will make a contemplative idiot of him” (2.5.18-19) As a result of the jokes success, Mari...

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...was depicted through her persistence to help aid Toby and eventually gain his approval as well as becoming his equal. Meanwhile, Toinette’s dependability is depicted through her selfless; as Argan’s nurse/maidservant and confidant to his daughter. And her quick wit that in the end allowed her to come up with a plan that would ultimately make that play the quirky comedy it is today. Thus, concluding that both Maria and Toinette are similar, because they are both strong character and quite witty, witty enough to change the total outcome of their respective plays.

Works Cited

Molière. The Imaginary Invalid. A Dozen French Farces: Medieval to Modern.

Ed. and Trans. Albert Bremel. New York: Limelight, 1997.13-64. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and

Paul Werstine. New York: Washington Square Press, 2005. Print