A To Z Challenge 2022: Shakespeare - B Is For (Toby) Belch and Brutus

Malvolio And Sir Toby. George Clint. Public Domain

 Today’s first Shakespeare character is Sir Toby Belch from Twelfth Night. 

The play was probably written for a performance sometime soon after Christmas, 1601 or 1602. It’s a romantic comedy with a pair of twins, Viola and Sebastian. They have been separated during a storm at sea and each thinks the other is dead. Viola disguises herself as a boy and gets a job with Duke Orsino, who fancies an independent young woman called Olivia.

Sir Toby is her uncle, who lives with her. Heaven knows why she puts up with him. He is loud and vulgar, the kind of person who parties till the small hours, and something of a parasite, not only on his niece, but on his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, whom he keeps around with promises of maybe being able to marry Olivia.

He does get a great line: “ Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?” It’s spoken to the steward, Malvolio, who is a wet blanket. So, in other words, “Just because you can’t handle a bit of fun, why should the rest of us miss out?” A good line to wet blankets in general.

He and his mates play a practical joke on Malvolio which works, then he gets to marry Maria, Olivia’s maid, who has helped with the joke. 

The title may have been just about the date it was performed, but Twelfth Night was always about chaos and things turned upside down. There was a Lord of Misrule who presided over it all. I’ve often thought there was a connection to the Roman Saturnalia, which also was about turning things upside down. 

If Toby Belch isn’t a Lord of Misrule, who is?

I will be referring to Twelfth Night later in this series, so we will leave it here for now. There is an American production on YouTube from the Texas Shakespeare Festival.

Another Shakespearean B is Marcus Brutus from Julius Caesar. Despite the play’s title, Brutus is the lead role. The play is set in the days leading up to the assassination of Caesar and the time after, to the battle of Philippi, and seen largely from Brutus’s viewpoint. He is the only one of the assassins seen sympathetically. He loves his wife, Portia, though she is angry with him for not telling her what’s going on. He is kind to his young servant, Lucius.

He doesn’t really want to do it, but is persuaded that it’s his duty, because he is related to another Brutus, who did his duty during the days of the early Republic. The very idea of having kings was unthinkable to Romans, and Caesar pretty clearly wants to be king. The other assassins, however, do it for their own gains. Brutus does it because he thinks it’s the right thing to do. Even Mark Antony, Caesar’s friend, says so after his death. 

The classic film version had James Mason as Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius - the guy with the lean and hungry look - and Marlon Brando as Mark Antony. That was the version I first saw when I was studying the play at school. There have been more since then, including one with Jason Robards as Brutus and Charlton Heston as Mark Antony. I haven’t seen that one, but I’ve seen it on stage before; the most recent production I have seen was done in modern dress with TV news reporters. Cassius was played by a woman. 

There is a lot of that happening these days, presumably because there really aren’t many roles for women. 

If you want to have a bit of fun with this play, look up “Rinse The Blood Off My Toga” on YouTube. It’s a hilarious skit by the wonderful Wayne and Schuster, done as a private eye story, in which the PI investigates Caesar’s murder on the request of Brutus.( “I told him, ‘Julie don’t go! Julie don’t go! It’s the Ides of March already!’”) 

There are other very funny lines, but I’ll leave you to find them. 

Tomorrow’s post will be about the play Coriolanus which is not performed often, but for which I have a soft spot.