Cybermanor Research.doc

7/29/2019 Cybermanor Research.doc

1/6

21M.611 Foundations of Theater

4 Oct. 2011

Twelfth Night Scene Reinterpretation

Act I, Scene V

Characters:

*Noah: Feste -- MIT Super-senior, Course 21L

*Brett: Malvolio -- MIT Freshman, infatuated with Olivia

*Dhruv: Sir Toby Belch -- BU Senior, cousin of Olivia

*Hannah: Maria -- MIT Junior, Course 16

*Jessie: Olivia -- MIT Junior, cousin of Sir Toby, brother just dropped out of MIT

*Nancy: Viola -- MIT Freshman, wanted to go through rush, became enamored with Orsino

Setting/Background:

The scene is set in Burton 1, where Malvolio, Maria, and Olivia all live in the same suite.

Feste lives down the hall . Maria and Olivia are best friends. Olivias brother just dropped out ofMIT (died), and Olivia has taken up working extra hard because of it. Malvolio and Olivia are

working on PSets in their suite lounge.

Viola is a freshman woman who thought Rush sounded like a lot of fun, and so dressed

up as a boy. Viola intended to drop the disguise soon after, but quickly became infatuated with

Orsino, the president of the fraternity where Viola is now a part. Orsino in turn is infatuated with

Olivia, and sends Viola, his favorite new member, to go and woo her.

The set is comprised of three main rooms; reading from right to left: a hallway, a suite

study lounge, and Olivias bedroom.

Character Background -- Malvolio:

Malvolio is an incoming freshman from the greater Boston area who was the smartest inhis high school class. Especially when it comes to interacting with women, he is socially

awkward and unsure of what to say or how to act. In these situations he tends to act superior

and intellectual, behaving condescendingly to others in an effort to boost his own social status.

Because of this, he had few friends in high school, and is running into a similar situation here at

MIT. He likes Olivia because of her wit and intelligence, and sees an opportunity for himself in

comforting her after her brother dropped out of MIT. In an effort to woo her, he is ultra-helpful

and friendly, almost to the point of being subservient. Malvolio holds a strong dislike for Feste,

for a few reasons, including: Feste is much more successful at getting Olivias attention and is

typically the life of the party, making Malvolio jealous and threatened; Feste is a super-senior in

a humanities major, earning Malvolios scorn.

Malvolios primary objective in this scene, as throughout the beginning of the play, is to

win over Olivias heart, leading to the sub-objective of trying to keep her away from Feste, or

alternatively to make Olivia dislike Feste as much as Malvolio does. Malvolio returned from

classes earlier in the day, saw Olivia working in the lounge alone, and jumped at the opportunity

to work with her and try to make her feel better. And now I can edit this on the fly. Which is

incredibly awesome.


2/6

Character Background - Olivia

For our version of The Twelfth Night, Olivia is a junior at MIT and is attempting to get

through her work for the night. She is anxious and a bit annoyed because she has just failed a

test in an important class. Added to this, her brother has just been thrown out of MIT due to

failing too many classes. She wants to focus, and swears she will not see anyone until shegraduates except for her suite mates, Malvolio and Maria.

We changed some of the entrances for our staging. Initially, Feste enters the suite after

talking to Maria in the hall. This is because Olivia is studying with Malvolio. Feste is another

resident of the same dorm, and a friend of the group in the suite. He has been gone doing, well,

they dont really know what and has ditched them for a time. Olivia is rather annoyed that he

chose such an inconvenient time to make an appearance and initially really wants him to go

away. At the same time, as all MIT students, she is looking from a distraction from both her work

and bad mood which is why she is willing to let Feste talk once he offers some entertainment.

Malvolio is a friend of Olivias but he is an over-eager freshman with a crush on Olivia, and while

she finds him interesting, he is also far too over-eager for her tastes. She wants him to lighten

up a bit and let her enjoy Festes company.

When Maria enters, Olivia is exasperated that more people are bothering her. She

wishes to get her work done, and while some distractions are acceptable this one is a surprise

and she does not know what to expect. She wants to avoid it, especially if its from the Count

Orsino a frat boy that has been hitting on her way too much. However, she wouldnt want

anyone to have to deal with her Cousin Toby Belch, so she saves him.

However, now that she has been forced to deal with the stranger at the gates in some

way, she is intrigued. She wants to know what his business is. So she questions Toby as he

passes through.

Olivia then finds out that the man, woman Viola, will not leave and this intrigues her

more, while simultaneously annoying her. She allows him entrance because she wants to seewho this headstrong man is, but she does not really want to deal with him. She disguises herself

so she still has the opportunity to ward him off if she is not as interesting as she thinks. She

wants to get information out of him, and find out what her deal is, and occasionally wants her to

leave until Viola starts snapping back at her.

Olivia starts giving in once she finds that Viola is not going completely by Orsinos word.

She is amused and wants to outdo her. She wants to show off how pretty she is and be praised.

When Viola will not oblige, she quickly goes back to being completely cold and sending Viola

away.

Once Viola gives the speech on what she would do to woo Olivia, Olivia has been

caught. She wants a man that will do all these insane things because theyre romantic. From

there, she is trying to get Violas attention and drop hints that she should come back. She wantsto give her enough clues to come without outwardly saying so she is still proud. She sends

Malvolio so that Viola might return. And then she wants to express her love and sort out her

thoughts.

Character Background - Sir Toby Belch

Toby is a senior at BU and is Olivias cousin. He loves to go out with his buddies and hit

up bars in Boston and pickup girls. He has always had a liking for Maria, Olivias roommate. The


3/6

night of Viola arrival, Toby has hit up several bars and is pretty tipsy. His first objective is to see

if he can hook up with Maria that night; he visits his cousin, Olivia, to disguise his true objective.

On Olivias floor, Toby meets Viola but he doesnt really care about her presence or purpose.

When Maria is ordered by Olivia to stop Toby from chatting with the unexpected guest, Toby

sees it as an opportunity to flirt with Maria. But Maria quickly shoos him off the premises, not

wanting to upset Olivia more than she already is. Toby is discouraged and decides to pass outon one of the beds in Olivias floor suite. While walking back to the beds, Toby sees Feste and

Olivia. Toby also does not want to annoy Olivia further by seeming drunk because that might

make Olivia more reluctant to invite him over on future occasions, lowering his chances to get

with Maria. So he tries his best to be in control and seem normal while moving towards safe

haven as quickly as he can.

Character Background - Feste

Feste is a super-senior from Washington state who is studying Literature. He is very well read,

and quite smart; for example, he is able to effortlessly quote Latin phrases such as cucullus/

non facit monachum (I.v.51-52). Incidentally, this citation is particularly prescient as Olivia will

don a hood when speaking with Viola, indicating Festes wit. However, Feste frequently lets his

desire to have fun come before his work explaining why he needs the extra semester to finish

getting his degree. This also explains his choice in major: while he started out in a relatively

technical major (electrical engineering), he made the decision to switch to a more enjoyable, but

less practical major. Other students sometimes look down on Feste because of his carefree

demeanor, perceiving him as less hardworking, while others deride his less rigorous choice in

major.

Feste also enjoys flirting with women (he is quite charming, but not extremely charming), and is

particularly fond of Olivia, whom he does genuinely care about. However, he is not devoted to

Olivia in the same way that Orsino is in love with Olivia. Instead, he is perfectly content to flirtwith other women. While he has many acquaintances and students enjoy having him around

when they are in a good mood, he has relatively few close friends. Despite being quite witty, he

is sometimes insecure or uncertain about his abilities. Festes mini-monologue, in which he

exclaims Wit, ant be thy will, put me into good fooling, reveals this nervousness (I.v.30).

However, he hides this insecurity and radiates confidence in his interactions with others. He is

also quite good at gauging how others feel and adjusting his shtick accordingly. He lives on the

same hall as Olivia, Maria, etc., but lives in a different suite. In the past Feste has spent much of

his time in their suite. However, since Malvolio, a new freshman, moved in, Feste has spent less

time in their suite, as he finds Malvolio to be childish and judgmental.

For the past few years, Feste has cheered up Olivia and her suite in stressful times. However,after hearing about how Olivias brother has dropped out, Feste has decided to avoid Olivias

suite for a week for two reasons: first, he feels that it might be smart to give Olivia her space,

and second, by making Olivia miss having him around to cheer her up, it is more likely that she

will reciprocate his affections. Maria acknowledges Festes typically positive effect on Olivia in

the scenes opening lines (My lady will hang thee for thy absence (I.v.3)).


4/6

At the start of the scene, Feste has decided that it is time to visit Olivia to try to cheer her up and

attempt to win her over. He encounters her best friend Maria in the hallway, who confronts him

about his absence. Festes initial objective in their conversation (during Marias first line) is to

gauge the mood of Olivias suite. Marias opening line answers Festes question. The rest of

Festes interaction with Maria serves two main objectives: first, to enjoy himself by engaging in

stimulating banter with Maria (even going so far as to flirt a little bit), and second, to justify hisown behavior. e.g. those that are fools, let them use their talents (I.v.14)). There is also an

auxiliary objective in the back of Festes mind that if he wants to ultimately win Olivia over, he

must have her best friend Marias approval.

After Maria exits, Feste delivers a mini-soliloquy in which he wishes that his wit will serve him

well when he approaches Olivia. His main objective here is to mentally prepare himself to meet

Olivia. He delivers this monologue in a prayer-like manner, clasping his hands together at the

line Wit. . .put me into good fooling (I.v.30). He then takes a deep breath after the monologue

to prepare him to talk with Olivia.

In his interaction with Olivia, Feste has two (related) objectives: first, to make Olivia feel better,

and second (and more importantly), to flirt with her. While Feste achieves the first in the scene,

he does not end up achieving the second. Feste attempts his objectives through two main

activities; he both engages in banter that justifies his own seemingly foolish behavior, e.g. Two

faults, madonna, that drink and good counsel/ will amend and attempts to wow Olivia by

proving her own foolishness, e.g. give me leave to/prove you a fool (I.v.39-40, I.v.53-54). Both

of these activities end up working, as shown by Olivias laugh as she delivers the line What

think you of this fool and when she describes fools as generous, guiltless/ and of free

disposition (I.v.69, I.v.87-88). Malvolios disdain initially appears to be the main obstacle,

however, Malvolio inadvertently helps Feste progress towards his objective by being so

unpleasantly serious.

Character Background - ViolaViola is a freshman at MIT who is considering majoring in political science. In order to

participate in fraternity rush, she decides to dress as a guy (justifying it to herself as research

into gender and power dynamics) and calls herself Cesario. There, at the fraternity, she meets

and takes a liking to Orsino. In order to stay at the fraternity (and therefore close to Orsino), she

decides to keep her guise even after rush ends. She of course knows about Orsinos infatuation

with Olivia. She is willing to help set Orsino up with Olivia, believing this will help Orsino be

happy, and so does not object when Orsino, having had Olivia reject all the other invitations

from the other frat brothers, turns to her to try to woo Olivia on Orsinos behalf (Orsino is dimly,

in a silly lovestruck manner, obeying Olivias injunction against seeing her himself). Viola hasnot met Olivia nor Olivias suitemates before, and thus does not know what Olivia looks like, nor

is she immediately aware of the recent death of Olivias brother. We did not set Sebastians

relationship to Viola, choosing to ignore it as he does not play a role in our scene.

Thus, upon Violas entrance into the scene, she is attempting to play the part of the aggressive

messenger, hoping to woo Olivia on Orsinos behalf, while almost entirely ignoring her jealous

side. Having lived casually in a fraternity for a while now (her entertainment when she


5/6

apologizes for her rudeness), she nevertheless tries to act the part of a gentleman although she

is by nature more jestful. Her primary objective is to get Olivia to agree to date Orsino, but her

secondary objectives show themselves as the scene progresses.

In particular, when Viola asks Olivia, Let me see your face, she both wants to see if Olivia is

worthy of Orsino and to assess for herself what it is that has drawn Orsino so. As they converse,Viola learns more about Olivia, she feels more sympathy for Orsinos anguish and is slightly

exasperated by how adamant Olivia is about not dating Orsino. Her objective, at this point, is

less to play the polite gentleman who cannot be refused and more to bring Olivia back down to

earth and make her acknowledge Orsino. She also draws upon snark to hide her own hurt

feelings with regards to Orsinos affections. By this point, Viola has realized that Olivia is upset

over her brothers death but thinks that Olivia is overdoing it. When she launches into one of

her longest lines regarding how she would make the babbling gossip of the air / Cry out

Olivia!, she is actually addressing Orsino in her mind, describing how she would court Orsino if

she were willing to take the risk of moving beyond the frat buddies role she plays with Orsino.

From her own (forcefully dampened) anguish Viola gives double meaning to the lines, You

should not rest / Between the elements of air and earth, / But you should pity me!

She leaves with her primary objective unfulfilled and a parting shot, calling Olivia fair cruelty,

and is not appeased (and rather insulted) by Olivias offering of a Starbucks gift card to smooth

the tensions between them.

Character Background: Maria

Maria is junior at MIT majoring in Aeronautics and Astronautics (course 16). She is rather clever

school was something that she was always naturally good at. In this way, she is very similar

to Malvolio, a smart MIT freshman who lives in her suite on Burton 1. Maria is best friends with

Feste, an also clever, MIT super-senior who is majoring in Course 21L.

Maria came from a suburb of Detroit and did not grow up with much money. However, even

though she didnt attend a prestigious high school like many of her peers at MIT, she was able

to prove her full academic ability by independently entering science fairs and mathematics

competitions throughout her teenage years. As the scene opens, Maria runs into Feste in the

hallway and asks where Feste has been. Feste is known for entertaining and cheering up Olivia,

who also lives in her suite. Maria cares for Olivia because she is Olivias best friend. Olivia is

upset because her brother recently dropped out of MIT. Marias objective in this opening scene

is to figure out where Feste has been. Her overarching objective is to make sure that Olivia is

happy.

Later, Maria enters the study lounge where Olivia is studying. Olivia is stressed and Maria does

not wish to bother her, but she wishes to tell Olivia that there is a fine gentleman waiting for her

outside. The fine gentleman is Viola, an MIT freshman is delivering a message on behalf of

Orsino, an older fraternity brother who rushed Viola. Sir Toby Belch, a senior at BUT who likes

Olivia, was keeping him at the entrance to the lounge. Marias objective in this scene, again, is

to grant the wishes of Olivia (Give me my veil: come, throw it o'er my face, Olivia orders as


6/6

Maria rushes to grab a sweater for Olivia). She wants to make sure Olivias wishes are granted

and that she is kept happy.

Cybermanor Research.doc

Documents

Transcript of Cybermanor Research.doc