Essay on Twelfth Night: A Gender-Bending Journey

Charles is of opinion that, “the representation of homoerotic attraction in Twelfth Night functions rather as a means of dramatizing the socially constructed basis of a sexuality that is determined by gender identity” (Charles 1997:122). As mentioned above, homosexuality was not acceptable in the Elizabethan society for the most part. It was even considered as sodomy. Before the twins, Viola and Sebastian, are married to heterosexual partners, both are involved in some form of homosexual relationship. While Oliva seems to be unaware of Cesario/Viola’s true sex, the hint at the possibility of homoeroticism through dramatic irony is already enough to disrupt the stereotypical gender system. After Malvolio presents Viola/Cesario with Olivia’s ring, Cesarios says, “I am the man; if it be so, as ‘tis,/Poor lady, she were better love a dream” (Shakespeare 2004:84). Charles explains the best stating that dramatic irony tells us Oliva’s true hidden passion is for the female character (Charles 1997:133). In addition she

Gender equality is one of the main focuses in the Shakespearean play Twelfth Night. The movie “She’s the Man” is inspired by this play. The movie “She's the Man” challenges traditional views of males and females in society. In the movie, Amanda Bynes’s coach informs her soccer team that there will no longer be a girl’s team throughout the rest of the year. Unhappy about her coach’s statement, Amanda suggests that the girls should collaborate with the boys and play together on one team. The boys and coach find the idea to be laughable and disagree. When Amanda’s star athlete older brother runs off to travel the country to go on tour with his band, he convinces Amanda to disguise herself as him until his return. She pretends to be him for two

Twelfth Night is a very feminist play once readers have been reading it. The story’s protagonist is a woman, Viola. Viola displays herself as a rational, strong, witting woman, who has to disguise herself as a man to be able to become a faithful attendant of Orsino. With Viola doing this it creates a big sexual mess as Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him since he still thinks she is a man. While Olivia, who is the object of Orsino’s affection, falls for Cesario, the disguise for Viola. Once Viola’s true identity is revealed Orsino declares his love for Viola which suggest that he may really just loved the masculinity she possessed. Orsino says to Viola, even after seeing her true identity, “Cesario, come; For so you shall be, while you are a man; But when in other habits you are seen, Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night 5.1.2599-26001). After everything has been reveled Orsino still calls Viola by her disguise name…her boy name, Cesario. The readers can only wonder is Orsino truly loved Viola for her or if he was in love with the male persona she gave.

In Twelfth Night, the protagonist of the story, Viola, is displayed as a rational, sacrificial, sincere, strong, witty woman, who disguises herself as a man, to become a faithful attendant of Orsino. Viola is one with sacrificial and patient love, willingly loving Orsino, and attending to his every need. Orsino, on the other hand, is shown as an emotional man, who has superficial and transient love for Olivia. This love is very abruptly shifted to Viola at the end of the play, when Viola reveals her true identity. Through this contrast of these two individuals, we can see that Shakespeare makes a distinct different between genders, and allows to draw a contrast between characters to think deeper into their characters and purpose in the story, beyond their surface appearances.

This scene continues to highlight the Duke’s attraction to Cesario, as the Duke describes his appearance saying, “Diana’s lip is not more smooth and rubious” (1.4. 30-31). The Duke’s description of Cesario’s features show that he has noticed specific details about them, even as trifling as the redness of his lips. The Duke’s bizarre amount of attentiveness to Cesario’s physicality suggests that the Duke is concealing romantic desires towards him. The depiction of Cesario and the Duke’s relationship as being a representation of homosexual love is a radical approach, as homosexuality was considered sinful at the time of the play’s production. Also, their affection for each other is not depicted as being markedly vile, which highlights Shakespeare’s forward-thinking mindset. However, the Duke’s over-analysis of Cesario’s feminine qualities, apparent when he comments Cesario’s appearance “is semblative a woman’s part” (1.4.33), incites a conservative outlook on their relationship. The characteristics of Cesario’s beauty the Duke is most drawn to are his feminine qualities, which argues that the root of the Duke’s fascination with Cesario lies in his femininity. The Duke’s emphasis of Cesario’s womanly traits suggests the Duke is attracted to women, which usurps his homoerotic desires and charges Twelfth Night’s traditional perspective on romance.

was Olivia, a rich countess, ends up falling in love with her. Viola/Cesario did not

Much of the first half of the Twelfth Night is about disguised identities and general misconceptions about who is actually who. The play opens on a note of melancholy and death, Orsino grieving because Olivia refuses to love him and Viola and Olivia mourning the deaths of their brothers. It is following a shipwreck that Viola disguises herself as a male, ensuring that confusion will be part of the plot. The idea of masquerading as a member of the opposite sex is a familiar device and the “complications, artificial as they may appear, are an essential part of the play’s complete development.” (Travers 308) It is interesting to note that unlike other comedies such as “The Tempest”, Shakespeare does not create an older generation who prevent the young lovers from being together; instead it is the perplexity about gender and that keeps them apart. Sebastian, Viola’s identical twin, is the solution to all of the problems, though his appearance does add to it for a short while. Viola, dressed as Cesario, is mistaken for Sebastian by Antonio, and is asked for the money that he gave to Sebastian. However, this type of confusion adds to the comic nature of the plot as the audience is aware of the concealed identities. Order eventually comes from the chaos, disguises are shed and identities are revealed. The appearance of Sebastian ensures that the marriage will be possible for the main characters; Viola is free to marry Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, although she

At this point in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Olivia is becoming more outgoing towards Cesario, making flirtatious comments to him. For example, when Olivia apologizes to Viola for how strange she acted upon receiving Orsino’s ring, her pitiful response makes Olivia think “that’s a degree to love” (3.1.130), and that “wit nor reason can [her] passion hide” (3.1.160). In other words, Olivia’s passionate love for Cesario is accumulating each day, and her adoration for him cannot be hidden. She desperately yearns for Cesario to return the love, and is willing to wait for his views to change.

Comedy, in the Elizabethan era, often included themes of wit, mistaken identity, love, and tragedy, all tied up with a happy ending. These themes are prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a comical play that explores the pangs of unrequited love and the confusion of gender. Love is a powerful emotion that causes suffering, happiness, and disorder throughout the play. The play also demonstrates the blurred lines of gender identity, which ties into the modern day debate on sexuality and gender identity. The main characters in the play, Viola, Olivia, and Orsino are connected by a love triangle, each person pursuing an unrequited love. Suffering from love and the fluidity of gender are the prevalent themes explored throughout the play and intertwined with Viola, Olivia, and Orsino.

In 'Twelfth Night’, gender and sexuality in many ways add to the play’s themes of madness. 'Twelfth Night ' is a reflection of renaissance thought and culture, the renaissance was a transitional period from the medieval to the radical Elizabethan era. The culture of the time was a contradictory one, as from one aspect it was influenced by the patriarchal medieval time, where women were under the rule of men and seen as needing the protection of men, however, from another perspective, the culture was a changing one as women were starting to receive education and many humanists believed that women should be given more rights. The play reflects these attitudes and often challenges the social hierarchy and establishes ideas on gender roles, sexuality and cross-dressing. These factors indeed undermine the expectations of male and female behaviour, and in turn further the play 's theme of madness which has a comedic effect on the audience due to the shock humour it provides.

Shakespear portrays the women as fragile, with the way they act, and the way others act towards them, Viola is seen as a very emotional woman, who is in mourning for the death of her brother in (1.2.4) "My brother he is in Elysium", but at the same time falls in love with duke Orsino as shown in (5.1.130-131) when she says: "After him I love/More than I love these eyes, more than my life,". While Viola is in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with Viola who, while masquerading as a man is charged with delivering massages of love to Olivia. Olivia's love becomes obvious when in (2.2.21) Olivia, desperate to spend more time with Cesario/Viola sends Malvolio to return a ring to Cesario/Viola which had never been his/hers to begin with. Viola quickly

William Shakespeare, in his well-known comedy Twelfth Night, creates a plot that revolves around mistaken identity and deception. Mistaken identity, along with disguises, rules the play and affects the lives of several of the characters. Shakespeare's techniques involve mistaken identity to bring humor, mystery, and complication to the play. Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola who is disguised as a eunuch, Maria who writes a letter to Malvolio as Olivia, and then the mix-up between Sebastian and Viola are revealed.

When Olivia declares that not even "wit nor reason"(143) can hide her passion, she suggests that she would love Cesario even if it were against logic, as a same sex couple would be. Despite the unacceptability of a same sex romance in Shakespeare's time, the hints toward this reading seem visible enough to have been thought of then as well as today. Although probably not intended to the extent of a lesbian courtship, the situation of a woman wooing another woman presents a comical picture for the audience, perhaps even more so in the Elizabethan era with two male actors wooing each other as women. Shakespeare is able to pose the question of homosexual love by using "Cesario" as a shield to protect both the characters within the play and the audience from having to deal with the question directly.

It is here that I imagine Shakespeare was trying to fore-shadow future events. The audience may being to predict that Olivia would make rash decisions based on her blind love.

In the famous comedy Twelfth Night, Shakespeare dabbles with the phenomenon of love. This is seen through his various characters who are forced to deal with the aspects brought on by love. Characters like Cesario, who is Viola dressed as a boy. In the play the characters deal with their problems around love. The three major characters that love seems to impact more than the rest are Duke Orsino, Lady Olivia, and her servant Malvolio. Each of these characters is affected by love and each reacts differently when in love to out of love. Their reactions to love are based on their behavior, their speech, and their relations with other characters.