The Purpose of Disguise in Twelfth Night Essay

Almost all of the characters in this play either perform some sort of identity deception or are tricked by someone else that is disguised. Viola’s concealment and the resulting chaos are crucial to the development of the plot, and some of the most important elements. Without the use of disguise, there would be little adventure or conspiracy and Shakespeare would not have been able to generate enough distraction and internal struggle in his characters, thus, disguise is the a major basis for his entire

Viola is the main character in both works, who disguises herself as a male to fit into an area where men typically dominate. Duke Orsino is the main romantic interest to Viola in Twelfth Night and She’s the Man; a man who is hopelessly in love with Lady Olivia, who pays no attention to him because she is infatuated with Viola’s male identity. Next to the characters, the plot in both works are nearly identical: the female lead, Viola, wishes to conquer gender inequalities and pretends to be a male, only to gain the affections of a fairly popular woman, Olivia. Meanwhile, Viola harbors feelings for the male lead, Orsino, who desires the heart of Olivia. Both stories end with Viola and Sebastian ending up in the same place with the rest of the characters, bring a disturbing but satisfying conclusion to all the disorder. This confusing love triangle is what fuels the film and its Shakespearean source, and runs as the theme in both stories. With a female protagonist interested in a male lead, who in turn is interested in a female side character that is interested in the gender-bent identity of the protagonist, only confusion and chaos is to ensue. It is this confusion that spreads through all of the characters outside of Viola, Orsino, and Olivia, and propels the actions of many characters in both Twelfth Night and She’s the

Malvolio is deeply in love with Olivia, whom he is a servant to. He has often received negative signals from her, but he does not pay attention to them. Malvolio receives a note that Maria left for him as a trick and Malvolio quickly believes that it is from Olivia to him. Malvolio is so content with the idea of Olivia finally showing her affection for him that he doesn't question why, in the note, she asks him to act so oddly or hear the snickering of the pranksters watching him.

movie varies greatly from the original play. The frivolous tone of this adaptation fails to epitomize the historical setting, depth of characters, and poetic magnificence of this comedic play. In She’s The Man the plot revolves around Viola, and her struggle to be recognized as a professional soccer player. When the girls’ team at her school is cancelled, she decides to disguise herself as her twin brother Sebastian (who coincidentally leaves for London to pursue his passion in music) in order to join the boys’ soccer team at his boarding school. However she is instantly captivated by her new roommate Duke Orsino, and he asks her to divulge his fervent and vehement love for their classmate Olivia. The movie essentially modernizes the play in order to remove the boring stigma associated with Shakespeare’s plays but with some futile additions that distort or are gross misrepresentations of the original play.

    It is not unusual that the fool should be a prominent figure and make an important contribution in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In William Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery. He and many other characters combine their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that either escape reality or live a dream. In Twelfth Night, Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses.

The use of disguise features throughout 12th night. As the play is a comedy it has to involve certain conventions such as green worlds and confusion, the inclusion of disguise allows Shakespeare to generate comedy and a positive response from the audience as well as making the conventions of comedy easier to include in the play.

“Insight into character comes from listening intently to the spoken word. The physical person, their charisma, charm and dramatic flair is more often used to persuade audiences, as they use these stealth tools of disguise and deception” (Degenerez). This quote applies in an interesting way for Viola, who the only way those in the play know her true self is when she speaks, since she wears a literal disguise. Throughout Twelfth Night, Viola is a character who part of play is centered and her progression of her place in the comedy. She goes from the confused, shipwrecked girl to the masked, controlled image of a man and then to a realization of everyone, including herself, of who she really is.

Mistaken Identity affecting numerous lives within the Play Twelfth Night Every so often people surprise us. At other times, they completely shock us. Sometimes, they turn out to be someone completely different from what we thought they would be. Sometimes the clues were right in front of our noses the entire time.

Viola, alone in a strange land, disguises herself as a man in order to gain access to Duke Orsino's palace. She plays the role of Orsino's servant, Cesario, to be near him for she knows that he is the man who can help her in Illyria. On first hearing Orsino's name, Viola says: "Orsino! I have heard my father name him: He was a bachelor

Aside from the fact that Cesario is falling for a man who is already infatuated, Olivia begins to reveal her true feelings as well. Establishing dramatic irony towards Cesario's disguise and feelings towards Olivia and Orsino add to the comedic effect while developing the plot and engaging the audience. Seeing how

Twelfth Night is riddled with numerous cases of disguise, deception, and mistaken identity which helps shape the play because with none of these three things there is no Twelfth Night. It adds to the plentiful cases of humor in the play as well as affecting the other themes like love. The mistaken identities and disguises help entangle the love of each of the characters into a mess that doesn’t clearly resolve itself until the end when they all finally try to shed those disguises; for example, when Cesario reveals that he is actually a woman named Viola.

When Viola said, “Find me the right disguise so I can look the way I want.” Viola is going to disguise as her lost brother, Sebastian who she thought was dead. People do not know if Sebastian is dead or who he really is. Later in the story, Sebastian comes back and thought Viola was his brother. He did not believe it was Viola because she looked exactly like Sebastian, so Viola had to prove to Sebastian it was really her.

In William Shakespeare's comedic play, Twelfth Night, a recurring theme is deception. The characters in the play used deception for a variety of purposes. Viola's use of deception involves her disguising herself as a man in order to obtain a job with the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. On the other hand, Maria, Olivia's servant, writes a letter to Malvolio in Olivia's handwriting to make Malvolio act foolishly because of his love for Olivia. While some use deception as a means of survival, others use deception to trick others and make them act foolishly.

The mistaken identity in this play is related to the prevalence of disguises in the play as Viola's male clothing leads to her being mistaken for her brother Sebastian. Sebastian is mistaken for Viola (or rather, Cesario) by Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, and then by Olivia, who quickly marries him. Meanwhile, Antonio mistakes Viola for Sebastian and thinks that his friend has betrayed him when Viola claims not to know him. While Viola is in a sword fight against Sir Andrew, Antonio is trying to be a loyal friend by taking the place of Viola, who he thinks is Sebastian. Antonio is not liked by Orsino's court, so he is then arrested and taken away. While this is happening, Antonio asks Viola for his purse back, which he gives to Sebastian. Viola becomes extremely confused and claimed not having his purse and being a close friend of his. Antonio takes this as deception and thinks that Sebastian, who is really Viola, is a coward. These cases of mistaken identity, common in

Although Viola faced a lot of confusion and conflicts she was equipped to handle this because she was mostly causing it by cross dressing and lying about who she truly was. But, Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andres, servants to Olivia, all decided to play practical jokes on Molvolio. By giving Molvolio a note and disguising it to look like Olivia’s hand writing, they caused Molvolio to make a fool of himself. The note left him directions to behave and dress a certain, this caused ignominious Molvolio to become confused. By being deceitful and conspiring, Sir Toby, Maria, and Sir Andrews colors shined through. Not to mention, Molvolio’s true self became evident after misidentifying the letter. Molvolio became arrogant and was filled with self-importance, but when things became clear and Molvolio discovered the note was not written from Olivia he became embarrassed. He could not move forward, forgive and forget, so he left. This is how misidentification can cause conflicts and cause character’s true selves to shine