Sir Toby Belch, Olivia’s uncle, is a hard-drinking partygoer whose joie de vivre and high spirits stand in stark opposition to the character of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s play. But he is no fool. Although Sir Toby speaks highly of Sir Andrew, claiming he can speak many languages, we quickly learn […]
The character of Olivia in Shakespeare’s classic comedy Twelfth Night; or, What You Will is one of his more complex comic heroines, because of the inner conflict raging within the character after she falls in love with what she thinks is a young servant named Cesario (but is in fact […]
King John is the most unheroic of Shakespeare’s protagonists. He is not the cruellest, but he is perhaps the most craven, the one lacking in personal depth and, for want of a better word, character. He is more put-upon than anything, which somehow succeeds in making his acts of violence […]