Inkshedding

In The Twelfth Night, Act II, Scene Three, the Fool says, “How now, my hearts? Did you ever see the picture of ‘we three’? I believe this quote makes fun of the characters altogether. “How now” is a greeting, such as saying hello to friends. This is informal, however, the second part insinuates how the feste thinks they look like fools standing around talking about nonsense. “We three” is a reference to a picture of the fools, making the viewer into the 3^rd fool. It is almost like he is making fun of Toby and Andrew, and to do so, he must make fun of himself as well. Toby just demanded another drink, calling for himself to be labeled as a fool. His foolishness is different than “the Fool’s” foolishness. The Fool is smarter than he seems but the two dopey men Toby and Andrew are not. The catch is, the Fool already self-identifies as a fool, so what does he care if he gets called one? It’s basically a round about Shakesperian way of saying “it takes one to know one”. Maybe the Fool will play a bigger role later on in the play? Toby and Andrew don’t even get a joke that they are being called fools.