Feste, the Clown, has his character traits established by
other characters comments, action and dialogue from his first entrance in Act I, scene
v. He and Maria enter and she is admonishing him for being absent too long from Olivia's
court. Maria's admonitions reveal that Feste relies upon his fool's wit to save him from
trouble ("those
that are fools, let them use their talents"). This is
emphasized later when Olivia approaches. He says as an
aside:
Wit,
an't be thy will, put me into good fooling!
Those wits, that think they have
thee, do very oft
prove fools; ...'Better a witty fool, than a foolish
wit.'
His action of absenting
himself when it could risk Olivia's displeasure and lead to being dismissed from court
shows he is willing to act out of independence and take
risks:
MARIA:
[My] lady will hang thee for thy absence.
Clown: Let her hang me: he that is
well hanged in this
world needs to fear no
colours.
This is an important
trait as it helps prepare for and explain his bad behavior in the vicious trick played
against Malvolio.
The dialogues he engages in with Maria
and Olivia show that he is quick to turn a phrase to double meaning, as when he answers
Olivia's pronouncement that he is "a dry fool" (i.e., no longer amusing) with the words:
"for give the dry fool drink, then is the fool not dry." His dialogue with Malvolio
shows that not everyone is a fan of the Clown's commission to deliver clownish wit,
though Olivia defends the Clown's rights as court jester to reveal distasteful truth
through foolery:
Oh, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and
taste
with a distempered appetite. To be generous,
guiltless and of
free disposition, is to take those
things for bird-bolts that you deem
cannon-bullets:
there is no slander in an allowed fool, though he
do
nothing but
rail;
In addition, Feste's
dialogue with Olivia and Malvolio helps set up the upcoming wicked prank against the
vain Malvolio who is struck "sick of self-love."
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