Feste is a fool in the William Shakespeare'scomedyTwelfth Night. He is attached to the household of the Countess Olivia. He has apparently been there for some time, as he was a "fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much delight in". Although Olivia's father has died within the last year, it is possible that Feste approaches or has reached middle age, though he still has the wit to carry off good 'fooling' when he needs to, and the voice to sing lustily or plangently as the occasion demands. He is referred to by name only once during the play, in answer to an inquiry by Orsino of who sang a song that he heard the previous evening. Curio responds "Feste, the jester, my lord; a fool that the lady Olivia's father took much delight in. He is about the house". Throughout the rest of the play, he is addressed only as "Fool," while in the stage directions he is mentioned as "Clown." Feste seems to leave Olivia's house and return at his pleasure rather too freely for a servant. His habit of roaming gets him into trouble with Lady Olivia: when we first see him, he must talk his way out of being turned out—a grim fate in those days—for being absent, as it were, without leave. He succeeds, and once back in his lady's good graces, he weaves in and out of the action with the sort of impunity that was reserved for a person nobody took seriously.
Performances
There are instances in the play where Feste is believed to be an almost omniscient presence. Some critics have suggested that there are moments where it seems Feste knows more about Viola/Cesario's disguise than he lets on and certain stage and film adaptations have taken this approach with their portrayal of the fool. A good example is in Trevor Nunn's, in which Ben Kingsley is constantly present in the scenes that reveal the plot—in fact he is the narrator at the start of the film, describing the shipwreck and the separation of the twins. He is then shown watching Viola arrive in Illyria and the film ends with him watching the various supporting players leave Olivia's estate. When Viola removes her "Cesario" disguise he gives her a golden necklace which she discarded when first shipwrecked on Illyria's shores. Kingsley's Feste dresses in old clothes and appears to be a wanderer of no fixed abode, though he slips in and out of Olivia's estate at his will. He plays a number of musical instruments and, like most of the cast, displays a mixture of comedy and pathos.
Songs/poems
Feste, as a fool, has a repertoire of songs:
O Mistress Mine
O Mistress mine, where are you roaming? O, stay and hear! Your true love's coming, That can sing both high and low. Trip no further, pretty sweeting; Journeys end in lovers meeting, Every wise man`s son doth know, What is love? 'Tis not hereafter. Present mirth hath present laughter; What's to come is still unsure. In delay there lies no plenty, Then come kiss me, sweet and twenty. Youth's a stuff will not endure.
Hey Robin, jolly Robin, Tell me how thy lady does. My lady is unkind, perdy. Alas, why is she so? She loves another -- This song is interrupted partway through.
I Am Gone, Sir
I am gone, sir. And anon, sir, I'll be with you again, In a trice, Like to the old Vice, Your need tosustain. Who with dagger of lath, In his rage and his wrath, Cries "Ah ha" to the devil. Like a mad lad, "Pare thy nails, dad." Adieu, good man devils.
Feste's Song
When that I was and a little tiny boy, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, A foolish thing was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day. But when I came to man's estate, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate, For the rain, it raineth every day. But when I came, alas, to wive, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, By swaggering could I never thrive, For the rain, it raineth every day. But when I came unto my beds, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, With tosspots still had drunken heads, For the rain, it raineth every day. A great while ago the world begun, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain. But that's all one, our play is done, And we'll strive to please you every day
Quotes
While portraying the part of the perfect fool, Feste illustrates his intelligence and distinct understanding of events by saying "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit."
