In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there is a high and a 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 mirrored primary and secondary plots in plays serves to advance the theme of the stories. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In Twelfth Night the main, or "high" plot is the action between Olivia, Viola/"Cesario", Orsino, and finally Sebastian and Antonio. The audience is reminded that the theme of the show is "mistaken identity." We first see this in the main plot, when Viola disguises herself as a man to become Orsino's young page, "Cesario". Feste, the clown in Olivia's court, provides some comic relief, but also ironically mirrors the main theme of the masked identity plot in Act I, Scene V, when Olivia orders him taken away after being inexplicably missing for a while. The clown quotes a Latin proverb: "The hood does not make the monk", that is, "Clothes do not make the man". In the second act of Twelfth Night, the exchange of identities (that of Viola/Cesario) is mirrored in the secondary plot when Malvolio is the butt of a prank orchestrated by Maria. The fact that members of Olivia's house made him believe that Olivia is in love with him, once again, parallels the love triangle between Olivia, Orsino and Cesario that is our main focus. Malvolio follows "Olivia's" orders in the letter to wear yellow stockings and "go with crossed garters" and to smile constantly, and is led to believe that Olivia may actually have romantic feelings towards him. The joke raises the familiar themes of the confusing fluidity of identity, the illusions and delusions of love, and the importance of clothing in establishing one's identity and position. Toby and the others laugh at Malvolio's fantasy that Olivia might have real feelings towards him because she is not of "noble" blood. This, we will remember, is of great importance for love to be possible, as Olivia first becomes interested in "Cesario" in Act IV after discovering that he is a gentleman. Malvolio's fantasy involves a change of clothes: he imagines himself "in my branched velvet robe" (II.v. 47-48), which was the dress of a rich nobleman, not that of an administrator. Olivia's letter also asks him to change his attire, wearing yellow stockings and crisscrossed suspenders, and to change his personality. We thus see direct parallels with the central plot in which Viola dresses up in men's clothing. In Act III, cases of mistaken identity and deception become more complicated. The first case is found in Malvolio's alleged madness because he thinks he shares a secret understanding with Olivia, even though the strange things he does and says disconcert 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 become very confused as "Cesario" is called "Sebastian" when Antonio is taken away by the police. Antonio, in turn, is believed to be mad, mirroring the fact that Malvolio was locked in a small dark room because he was mistakenly thought to be mad. Themes of madness and illusion are addressed in both the primary and secondary plots of Twelfth Night. The practical joke on Malvolio continues with Feste visiting him in the dark prison pretending to be a priest. Feste, the "priest", pretends that the room is not actually dark, but fullof windows and light, and that therefore Malvolio must be mad if he cannot see the light. Elsewhere in the main 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 they all crazy?". "Or am I crazy...?" In the final act, the primary and secondary plots follow each other sequentially as they did in the previous acts of the play. The concepts of misunderstanding, mistaken identity and insanity are all resolved. In Doctor Faustus, the plot division function works in much the same way as in Twelfth Night, that is, the plot divisions are parallel to each other in order to carry along important themes of the play. Marlow not only uses plot division to advance themes, but more importantly, to remind and inform the audience of things worth noting. Differently, however, the important anti-religious theme in Dr. Faustus is advanced without a clear parallel between the high and low plots. 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" – words of blasphemy as they were the last words of Christ on the cross. Another progression of the anti-religious theme exists when Faustus oscillates between good and bad angels. There are no clear parallels between these examples of such an important topic. True, there are similarities, but in the low plot one does not find such obvious resistance to God as in the high one. If it had been more like Twelfth Night, the clown would have remained indecisive, mirroring the situation of Faustus with his good and bad angels, or Wagner would have said something in denial and rejection of God. This is why the two works 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, Faust summons Mephistopheles, who Faust informs that he would be willing to sell his soul to Satan in exchange for Mephistopheles' services for the next twenty-seven years. As in Shakespeare's play, the secondary plot parallels the main plot, in this case, as 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 Scene III and Scene IV even clearer. The clown's response is that he should have the mutton "well roasted and with a good sauce (IV.12)" if he wants to "pay so dearly". The suggestion that his soul is a very high price to pay serves to remind 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 groom finds one of the "conjure books" and he and Ralph decide to try it. Scenes VIII and IX illustrate the negative consequences of using magic as Mephistopheles turns Robin and Ralph into monkeys as punishment for attempting to use the book of Faustus to conjure without having made any kind of "agreement" to authorize them to do so. Faustus's deal with the Devil is hinted at in the low plot when Ralph asks Robin what book he has and he replies, "What a book! Why, the most intolerable book to conjure that was ever invented by any brimstone devil (VIII. 19 -20).This may suggest that Robin agrees with the deal Faustus made with the devil, but more importantly, it only serves to remind the audience that the book was actually invented by a devil, adding so a bit of dramatic irony.