#sir toby

[lipstickhamlet]

twelfth night a plot: SQUEEEEE OMG lord orsino is so cute but lady olivia likes me too and i'm being mistaken for my twin brother!!

twelfth night b plot: ok sir toby now hit the second tower

[artemlegere]

The Duel between Sir Toby and Sebastian (from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', Act IV, Scene 1

Artist: George Clint, ARA (English 1770-1854)

Date: 1832-1833

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Royal Trust Collections, United Kingdom

Description

Oil painting on canvas, The Duel between Sir Toby and Sebastian (from William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', Act IV, Scene 1) by George Clint ARA (London 1770 – Kensington 1854). The scene shows Sir Toby and Sebastian dueling, and in the centre Olivia is trying to part them. Behind Sir Toby on the far left is Sir Andrew Aguecheek, behind Sebastian is Fabian. There is a terrace in the foreground, with buildings on the right background.

[plate2]

Rewatching a crown of candy for the whatever-eth time, thinking about either a written or drawn scene with post-ending Ruby in the classroom her and Jet originally snuck out of. A dark and dusty room she once learned in, echoes of Lapin's voice in the walls, evidence that Jet sat at the desk next to her, straw on the ground. Ruby knowing out of the three of them, she's the one who survived. She's able to sit at the desk once more and only feel the vague impressions of the past. I can see it so clearly in my mind as I rewatch the first scene. And then I can imagine Theo coming in again, just as he did that original day, but this time, without Sir Toby by his side. This time, instead of being there for duty like he had been once before, he's there for comfort. He's there to help one of the others who survived, knowing that they both have to live on despite the echoes of the past. Two out of a previous five.

[greencheekconure27]

Thinking about Maria in Twelfth Night today, and I'm sure somebody else analyzed this before me (and probably much better) but:

Sir Toby is often seen as the instigator of the prank on Malvolio, but Maria? Maria is the one who turns on him the very SECOND he threatens her place in the household. She wasn't interested in enabling Toby before this, but this is where it flips, and she immediately goes all-out.

My theory is that before Malvolio came along she was Olivia's closest confidant (besides Feste, who apparently has a tendency to disappear from time to time), and I do think she genuinely loves her. Then Olivia's father and brother die, and suddenly she has to handle all the family affairs, and on top of that she isolates herself in her grief. So Malvolio,(who originally would interact more with her father and later brother) becomes closer to her, displacing Maria; the distance between her and the rest of the household keeps growing, and Malvolio gains more and more power because Olivia's too miserable to intercede on their behalf. To Toby and by extension Andrew Malvolio is merely a nuisance and an upstart- they still are above him on the social ladder, and it's pretty clear to everybody that Olivia will keep putting up with Toby's shenanigans no matter what she says.To Maria, he's a genuine threat and a rival for her mistress's favour. I don't think she's doing this for Toby (she likes him yes but she also disapproves of his behaviour) or just out of pettiness; she really wants Malvolio out of the way, so she encourages the others' petty grievances to achieve this goal. She's not just the brains behind the operation, she's the one who gets the most out of it, which includes her marrying Toby before the truth comes out to secure her position even better.

(Feste participates partially because a) he views it as part of his court jester duties to restore the balance (which is why he also helps him when the rest of the company starts going overboard) b) Malvolio attempted to threaten his position as well c) general love of chaos)

[kaz-of-crows]

as much as i hate modern setting shakespeare, i do love the heart hands our toby does when he says “sneck up” which makes it effectively “kill yourself 🫶”

[courtjestrr]

🃏 ⤷ Twelfth Night Incorrect Quotes #54

Olivia: I left instructions for everyone while I'm gone. Sir Toby: Mine just says "Toby no." Olivia: I want you to apply it to every possible situation.

[its-shakespeare-baby]

Me: *Reading Twelfth Night*

Me: Haha, Sir Toby Belch isn’t a great person, but he’s very funny!

Olivia: “What’s a drunken man like, Fool?”

Feste: “Like a drowned man, a fool, and a mad man.  One draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him, and a third drowns him.”

Me: ......SO LETS UNPACK THAT-

I researched so much stuff for an hour, ya’ll, and I found something interesting that I want to explore a little bit. 

So, this is one of my favorite moments in Twelfth Night, as well as the part that actually includes Sir Toby. It can be really fun for the actor playing Sir Toby, and my director had Feste, Olivia, and Toby do some really interesting staging. For example, when Toby greets Feste, he starts to collapse, and as Feste says “Good Sir Toby,” she (in my trope’s production, Feste uses she/her pronouns) catches him and practically carries him over to a chair, glancing at Olivia in a way that’s a mix of concerned and panicked, because Toby is clearly not okay.

When Toby says “give me faith, say I. Well, it’s all one,” he begins to awkwardly wander offstage, mumbling absolute nonsense to himself. Feste and Olivia quietly watch him, with Olivia looking both tired and slightly resigned. That part of the scene started out kinda funny, but soon grows sad. It’s funny to the audience, but for the characters, it is heartbreaking.

This made me think a bit more about Sir Toby’s alcoholism. Olivia says that she thinks Sir Toby is basically at end stage alcoholism. And while Feste assures her that he is not there yet, it is still implied that he is getting close, or that things are looking really bad.

I already knew that alcoholism can cause personality changes, so I decided it would be interesting to look into that and see potential ways Toby’s issues may be manifesting. And oh boy, did I go down a rabbit hole.

So, I began research the mental effects of alcoholism and how it can affect one’s personality, and found some slightly surprising stuff that reveals some explanations for some of Toby’s behaviors and actions.

First important thing to note: severe alcoholism and drinking daily can cause long-term or even permanent brain damage. This can lead to other issues that I’ll touch on.

So, lets review some of Toby’s more obvious behaviors that line up with alcohol use. One is his cheerful, fun-loving side. He is often a cheerful drunk who just wants to party and enjoy life. This is the least sinister of the personality effects.

But there is also so mood swings. The scene I talked about earlier is a good example of this. Also, multiple times throughout him trying to exorcise Malvolio, he rapidly switches between gentle to extreme.

He can also be weirdly aggressive at times. I’ll have to re-look through the play again, but I do know that that is a thing he does on occasion.

But the ones I was thinking about the most that pulled me down the rabbit hole further after a bit of thinking were the ones not just caused by drinking, but by the brain damage that comes with too much drinking.

On a couple of articles I’ve seen on alcoholism, one quickly mentioned long term result was “antisocial tendences.” I decided to look into this a little more, and started researching certain symptoms of ASPD. And Sir Toby fit into a weird number of symptoms. He can be very charismatic when he wants to be. He often uses/manipulates others for his own gain. He has very little regard for other’s feelings, or at least low levels of empathy, based on how he treats both Sir Andrew and Malvolio. And he seems to lack guilt over most of his actions.

Now I’m not saying he has ASPD, as his relationships with Maria, Olivia, and Feste say otherwise (yes, he’s not the most considerate towards Olivia. But it seems that he still cares about her and is trying to help a little bit). What I am saying is that the effects of AUD (alcohol-use disorder) may have given him “antisocial tendencies” and contributed to these parts of his personality. Heck, apparently drinking can sometimes lead to lowered empathy.

Sir Toby also beings to make more weird/irrational decisions. This is a bit more of a gradual, overtime thing, but there are a couple moments where you might ask yourself: “Sir Toby Belch, what are you doing and why?”

When he suggests that they tie Malvolio up and imprison him, the others are confused at first, because even though a few go along with it, it is still a weird idea to think up. There were a few other moments (I can’t remember exactly) that made me wonder what was going through his head, or when he simply does whatever because he wants to. He being to act a little...off.

One thing I found out that isn’t exactly shown in the script, but would be interesting to see, is that alcoholism can lead to memory issues and confusion/spaciness. There could be a few more moments where he’s just...out of it. He spaces out, takes a sec to snap out of it, and continues on like nothing happened. This is just something I’d find neat.

~~~

Of course, not all folks with AUD are like Toby (nor is everyone with ASPD or antisocial tendencies). I’m not trying to villainize anyone, as folks with addictions tend to be villainized a lot, and that must suck. In fact, I think it makes Toby a bit more of a sympathetic character.

There is also a chance that not all of Toby’s actions can be explained away by just “he has an alcohol addiction.” He should be held accountable for at least some of his actions, and said actions shouldn’t be brushed aside.

But I do think they had an influence, and that his AUD may have had long-term damage that has caused him to be the way he is. It’s actually really sad to think about.

Because of all this, I’ve realized that, while I love depictions of Toby that present him as secretly just a plain old jerk who’s good at hiding it, I actually like depictions of him in which he is portrayed as having AUD induced mental health issues. While I need to reread more of the play (as the most recent version I’ve read has been shorten), the scenes I’ve read through show some behaviors of Toby’s line up quite well with certain long-term effects that severe AUD can have on a person.

It adds a certain layer of depth to him, especially if you show it gradually getting worse and worse, and he goes from funny to slightly disturbing. As the play goes on, he gets drunk more and more frequently, and his behavior/mannerisms become increasingly erratic.

It could be implied that he used to be a much more toned down person, maybe even a relatively kind one, but as the years went by and his addiction got worse, he became nearly unrecogniseable, developing a new personality that would manipulate, torment, and act out.

Over the course of the play, we watch the fool become a mad man until he drowns.

[the-mad-prince-of-denmark]

Andrew: We found Malvolio! So you know what we’re getting tonight~.

Sir Toby: Yelled at. We’re getting yelled at.