In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there is a high and low (or comic) plot. This division of the plot serves as a parallel: the actions and characters of the low plot coincide with the actions and characters of the high plot. The presence of mirroring primary and secondary plots in the plays serves to advance the theme of the stories. Say no to plagiarism. Get a custom essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayIn Twelfth Night, the main or "high" plot is the action between Olivia, Viola/"Cesario", Orsino and finally Sebastian and Antoine. The audience is reminded that the theme of the play is “mistaken identity.” We first see this in the main plot where Viola disguises herself as a man to become Orsino's young page, "Cesario". Feste, Olivia's court clown allows for some comic relief, but also ironically reflects the main plot theme of disguised identity in Act I, Scene V, when Olivia orders him taken away after an inexplicable absence for a certain period of time. The clown quotes a Latin proverb: “The hood does not make the monk”, that is to say: “Clothes do not make the man”. In the second act of Twelfth Night, a mistaken identity (that of Viola/Cesario) is reflected in the subplot where Malvolio is the target of a prank orchestrated by Maria. The fact that the members of Olivia's house think that Olivia is in love with him is, again, parallel to the love triangle between Olivia, Orsino and Cesario which is our main focus. Malvolio follows "Olivia"'s orders in the letter to wear yellow stockings, "wear garters", and smile constantly, and he is deceived into believing that Olivia may actually have romantic feelings towards him. The joke raises familiar themes of the confusing fluidity of identity, the illusions and delusions of love, and the importance of clothing that establishes one's identity and position. Toby and the others laugh at Malvolio's fantasy that Olivia might have real feelings towards him because he is not of "noble" blood. This, we remember, is of great importance to making love possible, as Olivia first becomes interested in "Cesario" in Act IV after discovering that he is a gentleman. Malvolio's fantasy consists of changing clothes: he imagines himself "in my velvet robe with branches" (II.v. 47-48), which was the clothing of a rich nobleman and not that of a steward. Olivia's letter also asks her to change her clothes, wear yellow stockings and crossed garters, and change her personality. We thus see the direct parallels with the central plot where Viola disguises herself in men's clothing. From Act III onwards, cases of mistaken identity and deception become more complicated. The first case is in Malvolio's supposed madness because he thinks he shares a secret understanding with Olivia, even though the strange things he does and says baffle her. Another misunderstanding occurs in the main plot when Cesario/Viola's brother Sebastian and his friend Antonio arrive in Illyria and Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are very confused because "Cesario" is called "Sebastian" when Antonio is taken away by the police. Antonio, in turn, is considered crazy, like Malvolio who was locked in a small dark room because he was wrongly considered crazy. Themes of madness and illusion are addressed in the main and subplots of Twelfth Night. The prank on Malvolio continues with Feste visiting him in the dark prison pretending to be a priest. Feste, the "priest", claims that the play is not reallydark, but it is full of windows and light, and so Malvolio must be mad if he cannot see the light. Elsewhere, in the high plot, Sebastian is very confused, but delighted, by this adoring woman, Olivia, who is apparently in love with him. At one point, Sebastian asks, "Are all people crazy?" ". “Or am I crazy...?” » In the final act, the main and subplots follow each other sequentially as they have throughout the previous acts of the play. The concepts of misunderstanding, mistaken identity, and insanity are all resolved. In Doctor Faustus, the function of a plot division works in much the same way as in Twelfth Night, that is, the plot divisions run parallel to each other with the aim of carrying around the important themes of the play. Not only does Marlow use the division of plot to advance themes, but more importantly to remind and inform the audience of remarkable things. In a different way, however, the important anti-religious theme of Dr. Faustus is advanced without a distinct parallel between the high and low plot. This conflict with religion can be seen in the main plot when Faustus, Cornelius and Valdes appear as an "unholy trinity", or after Faustus signs the deed and says "Consummatum est" or "It is finished" - des words of blasphemy as were the last words of Christ on the cross. Another advancement of the anti-religious theme exists as Faustus oscillates between good and bad angels. There are no clear parallels between these examples of such an important theme. There are certainly similarities, but we do not find as obvious resistance to God in the low plot as in the high plot. If it was more like Twelfth Night, the clown would have remained indecisive, reflecting Faustus' situation with his good and bad angels, or Wagner would have said something in denial and rejection of God. This is how the two plays differ: the major themes of Twelfth Night found in the high plot always seem to directly parallel the theme of the low plot. Other themes in Dr. Faustus follow a more distinct path of parallelism. In Scene III, for example, Faustus brings up Mephistophilis, to whom Faustus informs that he would be willing to sell his soul to Satan in exchange for Mephistophilis' services for the next twenty-seven years. As in Shakespeare's play, the subplot parallels the main plot, in this case when Faustus' servant Wagner convinces the clown to agree to serve him for seven years in Scene IV. The clown's decision to sell his soul to the Devil for a shoulder of mutton makes the parallel between scenes III and IV even clearer. The clown's response is that he would need a sheep "well roasted and a good sauce (IV.12)" to "pay so dearly". The suggestion that his soul is a very high price to pay reminds the audience that Faustus has just agreed to sell his soul to Lucifer. Another important connection between the high and low plots occurs when Robin the Ostler finds one of Faustus' plots. "conjuring books", and he and Ralph decide to try it. Scenes VIII and IX illustrate the negative consequences of using magic as Mephistophilis transformed Robin and Ralph into monkeys as punishment for attempting to use the Book of Faustus to conjure without having made any sort of "agreement" to allow them to do so. Faustus' contract with the Devil is brought up in the lower plot when Ralph asks Robin what book he has and he replies, "What book!" Well, the most intolerable book to conjure ever was invented by a sulfur devil (VIII.19). -20). This could..