Humour can take many forms. It can be savage silly, uproarious or just an undertone. Discuss with detailed reference to your play.
             Twelfth Night was written by William Shakespeare around 1600 as the last of his three "mature comedies" (the other two being Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It). Like his early comedies, Twelfth Night is essentially a celebration of romantic love and can be seen as a traditional romantic comedy. The play has many of the elements common to Elizabethan romantic comedy, including the devices of mistaken identity, separated twins, and gender-crossing disguise, and its plot revolves around overcoming obstacles to "true" love. Like other representatives of the genre, Twelfth Night also features a sub-plot in which a self-inflated character, the steward Malvolio, is brought to his knees through a trick set up by the cunning Maria and drunkard, Sir Toby Belch.
             The humour in Twelfth Night is undertone. It is not uproariously funny but it consists of many other aspects of humour that the characters are not always aware of. The humour is aimed at the ludicrous and not the ridiculous. It makes us laugh at the follies of mankind, not despise them and even if they have flaws in their character you can still relate to them in a warm way. Shakespeare exaggerates the mannerisms and any slight peculiarity or defects in their character in a way that amuses the audience. Shakespeare¡s object is to turn the meanest or rudest incidences into a pleasant experience for the audience.
             The twisted plots and bizarre characters is one form of comedy displayed in Shakespeare¡s work. In Twelfth Night I would agree that this would be the greatest aspect of humour. The plot thickens in surprise as the unexpected story lines build up. At the end the secrets that are displayed to the characters consist of, gender-crossing disguise and mistaken identity.
             The use of dramatic irony is also very important
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