Humans are the only known species to have a complex verbal means of communication. The words we speak everyday communicate opinions, define objects, and distribute knowledge. Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night not only proves the importance of words in society, but provides explanation of word usage through the minor character Feste the Jester. Feste plays an important role as a “corrupter of words” and explains to the reader how powerful words are. With this understanding, he affirms that people are what they do; which can be proven, through Feste’s words, to be true.
It is prudent to know that Feste does not believe people are constant. From Twelfth NIght we find numerous lines of Feste providing evidence of the changing nature of people. He clearly acknowledges Olivia for acting paradoxical when she insults him, but later “hast spoke for …show more content…
This feedback gives his beliefs some merit. But to play the part of the opposition: to claim people are as they do is more a statement of action and consistency than vocabulary. This would be problematic, if we believed Feste says people act in accordance with how society defines them; this is not what he believes. Feste’s ideology is that every action one makes contributes to their identity, arigo their definition. To prove through example: “Anything that’s mended is but patched; virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue,” when an honest man steals, he isn’t no longer honest, but an honest man who made a mistake; a criminal who commits an act of kindness does not eliminate his past, but mends it. People identify others through words of description obtained from past actions. We cannot change the past; therefore we cannot rewrite our identity, but we can add to it. This is the truth Feste tries to tell to
It is prudent to know that Feste does not believe people are constant. From Twelfth NIght we find numerous lines of Feste providing evidence of the changing nature of people. He clearly acknowledges Olivia for acting paradoxical when she insults him, but later “hast spoke for …show more content…
This feedback gives his beliefs some merit. But to play the part of the opposition: to claim people are as they do is more a statement of action and consistency than vocabulary. This would be problematic, if we believed Feste says people act in accordance with how society defines them; this is not what he believes. Feste’s ideology is that every action one makes contributes to their identity, arigo their definition. To prove through example: “Anything that’s mended is but patched; virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue,” when an honest man steals, he isn’t no longer honest, but an honest man who made a mistake; a criminal who commits an act of kindness does not eliminate his past, but mends it. People identify others through words of description obtained from past actions. We cannot change the past; therefore we cannot rewrite our identity, but we can add to it. This is the truth Feste tries to tell to