Research Paper On Twelfth Night

While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.

The masking of an identity is a common solution that many people of today’s society turn towards. Whether it is to hide something from someone or to use it as a form of protection. William Shakespeare’s popular play Much Ado About Nothing is an excellent example of masking that is achieved by some of the characters. The story reflects events of people masking themselves intentionally, unintentionally or having the ability to see through other’s masks. It demonstrates that masking can end in deception, although not constantly.

In the play, The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, there is a recurring theme of people hiding their real identity. First, there are cases of deception, such as Tranio pretending to be Lucentio, Lucentio pretending to be a Latin tutor, Hortensio pretending to be a music tutor. More complex than these obvious examples of deception are Shakespeare’s clever uses of psychological masks. Several characters in the play take on roles that do not agree with their personalities. The psychological masks that they wear are not immediately apparent to the audience, or even to the characters themselves, until they are unmasked through the course of the play. Shakespeare mostly uses this device with the characters of Katherina, Bianca,

In “Twelfth Night”, disguise is a key theme in order for the play to take shape. Within the first three scenes, we have several examples of characters deliberately deceiving others in order to achieve a selfish goal. An example of this is seen through Viola’s decision to disguise herself as a eunuch in order to find favour with the duke.

Disguise is one of Shakespeare's favorite ploys found in varying degrees in each of the mentioned works. Through it he alters the identity of an individual (frequently female character, though not always) and uses this disguise to heighten irony, develop theme, and enhance subtle comic innuendo. In As You Like It, Shakespeare develops specific ironies where the dialogue takes on new meaning when the true identity of the speaker (or hearer) is placed over the dialogue. By having characters in disguise, Shakespeare opens the door for all kinds of comic twists from the shepherdess in love with the "shepherd" Ganymede who is really a girl (Rosalind) to Orlando sharing feelings of love to Ganymede who is really Orlando's love Rosalind in disguise. The difficulty in maintaining a disguise or hidden identity is shown in the desire to say and experience things in the one identity than can only be accomplished by the alter identity which compounds the verbal comedy in the mistaken meanings of what is being said. In Measure for Measure, the Duke uses disguise and mistaken identity to reveal the truth about Angelo's character. At the same time this disguise provides comic moments as Lucio speaks of the Duke to the Duke while unaware of the Duke's identity.

Shakespeare's use of cross dressing and deceitfulness extends beyond the actual writings in the plays and goes onto the stage. Women were not allowed to perform on stage in Shakespeare's time. ."..all the great women's roles in Elizabethan and Jacobean plays, from Juliet and Lady Macbeth to the duchess of Malfi, were written to be

Throughout history there has been a general understanding that appearances can be deceiving. A person may go through life without anyone understanding the true reality of their character. William Shakespeare, one of the greatest writers of all time, understood the relationship between appearance and reality and often gave characters two sides to their personality.

himself just to suit his outlook on the situation. For example, the play he twists Olivia's words around to make it seem like she likes his yellow cross-gartered tights when in reality she dislikes them. Sir Toby just considers himself and no one else, not even his companions. He ignores Maria's notification about drinking into the night, and he continues to push Sir Andrew and Olivia to court. Even though he believes that Sir Andrew doesn't have a chance. Olivia considers the all-inclusive community around her, yet she furthermore assumes that no man is meriting her brilliance. She assumes that she is "all that," and that no one can organize her. For Shakespeare to incorporate this sort of just a single was most likely to demonstrate that Malvolio who thinks excessively of himself isn't right about Olivia cherishing him.

Transformation through the use of physical disguises plays a central role in Shakespeare’s comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. Many characters assume physical disguises only to reveal their true personalities in the end. Sly, the drunkard, becomes a nobleman by being "wrapped in sweet clothes"(Ind.1.135-43). To woo Bianca, Lucentio and Hortensio disguise themselves as teachers by changing their clothes. The ease with which each character assumes physical disguises to transgress social barriers suggests that people often play false roles in life to achieve their personal goals. The play thus poses the question of whether clothes and other material objects can change a person. When Tranio, disguised as Lucentio, meets Vincentio, he and Lucentio

Michael Pennington describes Twelfth Night as a typical Romantic Comedy with a sublime sense of inconcsequentiality amidst the lyrical nature that plagues its environment. Therefore it is none other than that of a romantic comedy, and by definition, seeks the usage of a most humourous yet vital factor that shapes the events that are to occur; Disguise. Disguise indeed gives rise to theatrical appeal and as Graham atkin identifies, poses a most poignant question of human identity in relation to outward realist appearance. Nonetheless, there is a diversity of opinion as to whether disguise is the primary source for such a

In William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy of Twelfth Night, Malvolio’s, Sebastian’s and Sir Andrew’s greed for power and status, mirror the theme that being socially ambitious makes people an easy target for mockery and embarrassment. In the play, Malvolio desperately tries to win Olivia’s heart, falling under Maria’s trap. Sebastian proves his shallow and ambiguous self when he agrees to wed a complete stranger for wealth, and Sir Andrew vainly tries to prove his worth and nobleness to his fellow upper classmen, turning himself into a laughing stock. These three characters’ foolish actions create humor in the play as well as preach us that social ambition is the stepping stone for humiliation.

Shakespeare uses the idea of disguise in many of his plays. It is used as an escape from the characters’ personalities and sometimes for comic effect. In As You Like it, the disguise becomes very comical as in the time it was written only men could act on stage. This could lead to much confusion and comedy in the roles of those in disguise. Disguise can give the freedom to a character to act how they like and a chance for them to show their views. It was in the 16th Century that there became an increased sense of self consciousness and identity. This led to people creating an image for themselves. If one can create a self, they can create many different versions of themselves each showing a different aspect of that person. This links in

In the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces a character called Sly who is a beggar and then a Lord takes Sly after he passes out. When Sly wakes up they convince him that he is a rich Lord with lots of money and a wife. Also, Shakespeare is known for his iambic pentameter and he uses iambic pentameter when people of noble status are talking and when Sly thinks he’s noble he talks in iambic pentameter but when he doesn’t he talks normally. ”Am I a lord, and have I such a lady?/Or do I dream? Or have I dreamed till now?” (Ind.2.68-69). Another way Shakespeare makes fun of the class roles is he has Lucentio a rich man and his servant Tranio. The two of them disguised themselves and the servant Tranio disguises himself as Lucentio (his master) and Lucentio disguises himself as Cambio a school teacher which is a lower class than what he actually is. The irony is that everyone believes them because of the clothing they are

The concept of disguise has been known and used since the beginnings of drama, but this concept was most famously known for being used in plays written by the biggest playwrights of the Elizabethan era— especially for being used in William Shakespeare’s plays. What do we mean by disguise? In broad terms, it would mean pretending to be something that one is not. The concept of disguise can mean changing behavior, or hiding intentions, the most frequent form of disguise is the change of ones personal appearance, usually through the changing of clothes, to mask ones true self. Shakespeare used disguises in various ways in his plays; As You Like It, Measure for Measure, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night were all plays in which Shakespeare used the concept of disguise as a device to further the plot, it was sometimes even used for comic relief. Disguises can be used both maliciously and/ or morally, depending on its use and its influence on the characters. In both Merchant of Venice and Measure for Measure, both Portia and Duke Vincentio donned a disguise to pursue justice how they saw morally fit, but ultimately their deception was only for selfish gain; Portia disguises herself to save a friend, and Vincentio disguises himself to know the true feelings of his subjects, both manipulate the law in the name of justice while in their disguises.

Another example is the way in which Olivia adopts the pretence of mourning and the puritanical Malvolio is tricked into the role of Olivia's suitor and becomes a smiling courtier.