Trickery Has Always Existed

“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.

In Twelfth Night, Viola gains Orsino’s trust and he endows her to deliver his message to Olivia, his love interest. Orsino’s spills out his heart to Viola, stating that “[Viola] thou know’st no less but all,” and that he told her “the book even of my secret soul” (Shakespeare 1.4.13-14). Despite Orsino’s full-hearted honesty, Viola still goes on to declare after Orsino leaves that “whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” scheming to sabotage her meeting with Olivia (Shakespeare 1.4.41-42). Through the use of hyperboles, Shakespeare manipulates the reader by utilizing Orsino’s openness to Viola as leverage for loyalty, influencing the reader to root for his success in finding love. As a result, such language exaggerates the influencing effect on the reader and increases the impactfulness of Viola’s selfish comment following Orsino’s declarations.

Over these last three months something more complicated than expected has emerged. An intricate triangle of love has been all figured out and it is just more than surprising. After interviewing many of the people involved in this whole event we have figured all of the story. Within a short amount of time while working for the Duke Viola had fallen in love with him, but she couldn’t show it as when she was with him she was dressed as a man. Duke Orsino loved Olivia but that love was forever unrequited (unreturned). Olivia was not in love at the start but then she started to fall for Cesario, which would never work because he is actually a girl. Sebastian and

Orsino's love, however, is a courtly love. He claims to be in love with Olivia but seems rather to be in love with the idea of love and the behavior of a lover. Orsino is a Petrachan lover who chooses an object that will not return his love. Because he is not ready for commitment, he courts Olivia in a formal way. By sending his messengers to her house instead of going himself, he does not have to speak to her directly. Early in the play, Viola realises that Orsino's love for Olivia is denied and that she would also reject all men for a period of seven years. Viola believes that Orsino might not be rejected if he visited Olivia himself and says to him: "I think not so, my lord," but Orsino, not wanting to see Olivia himself and wanting to keep up the role of the disappointed lover, insists that Cesario woo her.

In Act 2 Scene 4 of “Twelfth Night” Duke Orsino was claiming that women were incapable of having feelings as strong as those of a man, Viola did not hesitate to disagree: “Too well what love women to men may owe: In faith, they are as true of heart as we. My father had a daughter loved a man, As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship.” (Shakespeare 94). Though she was disguised as Cesario at the time Viola showed no shame in expressing her opinion, and not only did she explain her point she also admitted her love for Orsino without him realizing. When she says “My father had a daughter loved a man, As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship”, she is saying that if she were a woman, which she is, she would love him immensely. Viola is not your typical Elizabethan woman; she does not shy away from arguments, and is willing to dress as man to achieve her goals. However, Viola isn’t the only bold, untraditional woman is “Twelfth Night”; Olivia, Orsino’s main love interest, seems to be anything but bold but in Act 4 Scene 3 she makes a bold, unexpected move toward Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother and her (Olivia’s) love interest at the end of the play, that showcases her character: “Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well, Now go with me and with this holy man Into the chantry by: there, before him,

Every major character in Twelfth Night experiences some form of desire or love. Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia. Viola falls in love with Orsino, while disguised as his pageboy, Cesario. Olivia falls in love with Cesario, causing an interesting love triangle, which is only resolved when Olivia falls in love with Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, and, at the last minute, Orsino decides that he actually loves Viola. Twelfth Night derives much of its comic force by satirising these lovers.

One of the predominant themes in William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is love. The notion of love is important to the plot as many of the characters are driven by love. There are multiple forms of love depicted throughout the play; each character represents a different type of love. Viola displays a patient, sincere, and enduring love for Orsion as well as a deep familial love for her brother. Sebastian and Antonio share a special bond which could be classified as brotherly love. These two bonds can be seen as the most real forms of love depicted in Twelfth Night. Orsino and Olivia have both become possessed by a deep and sudden romantic love. Also, unrequited love can be seen by Olivia and Orsino. These similarities are ironic because Orsino believes he is madly in love with Olivia, whom he has never met. Olivia falls in love with Viola (i.e., Cesario) upon their first acquaintance. Meanwhile, Viola is in love with Orsino. Each character is caught in the circle of love, however, once Viola’s true identity is revealed the characters quickly change their love interests. Lastly, Malvolio represents the egoistic and conceited side of love. He loves himself and those who he can benefit from. Shakespeare combines love with humour showing the audience how love causes people act foolishly. Although each aspect of love has been greatly exaggerated in this comedy, enduring love, familial love, unrequited love, and self-love remain present in today’s society.

The moment Sebastian enters the stage and is mistaken for his twin sister Viola, he is promptly engaged into a duel with Sir Andrew and proposed to by Olivia. Olivia asks him to marry him thinking that he is Cesario. Sebastian says, "Or I am mad, or else this is a dream / Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep / If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep" (59-61). He is confused with the sudden duel and the marriage proposal but it seems he is not complaining. The mistaken identity and gender uncertainty is all explained in the last scene when Olivia finds out that she did not marry Cesario. Orsino discovers that Cesario is really Viola and that she is in love with him and Antonio finds out that Sebastian did not really betray him. Everyone has to look back at their past experiences to determine exactly how to deal with the confusion they felt throughout the play.

Someone once said, “Don’t let two men fall in love with you, girls. It’s not the sort of thing that ends well”. Within the comedy Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, a castaway takes place on the shore of Illyria, before a love triangle constitutes. A lady named Viola survives the shipwreck, but she gets separated from her brother Sebastian. Viola believes her brother died, but the captain asserts that he is alive since he witnessed him with an emotion of determination, while holding on to a strong mast. Soon after, Viola disguises herself as a male and names herself as “Cesario”. She is employed to work as an assistant for the duke of Illyria, Orsino. Orsino is strongly in love with the Illyrian countess, Olivia. He sends

In Act 1 of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Olivia falls for the reinvented identity of Viola, “Cesario”, the character she embodies along with her physical change. During her appearance earlier in the act, Orsino orders Viola to “unfold the passion of my love”(1.5.27). In the interaction between Olivia and “Cesario”, the actions Viola performs are merely for the expression of her disguise. Even the compliments where Viola refers to Olivia as “radiant, exquisite, and unmatchable beauty” (1.5.169) are part of her cover to seem like a gentleman. Her dialogue about love where she explains how “my lord and master loves you”(1.5.252) and that “if I did love you in my master's flame”(1.5.266) is only told after Orsino orders Viola to describe his love

To straighten things up, in the beginning of the play, Viola disgued herself as a boy, to take a job as one of the Duke’s servants. Quickly, Cesario (the new name for Viola) became Duke Orsino’s favorite. His

Shakespeare finds a great way to work this special kind of love in to Twelfth Night. Throughout the play Viola is Orsino’s servant as Cesario. Viola desires marring Orsino, but he loves Olivia. Viola preforms as one of Orsino’s best servants with him even trusting her enough to deliver his messages of love to Olivia. When Orsino’s heart is broken by Olivia he finds out that Viola is a women and ask her hand in marriage. “So far beneath your soft and tender breeding, And since you called me “master” for so long, here is my hand. You shall from this time be your master’s mistress.(Crowther).” This act of love is a compensation for all that she had done for him. Viola is a loyal woman that pushed all her responsibilities aside just to accommodate Orsino. This is why Orsino would marry her because he knows how loyal she is to him and his word. “Finally given the opportunity to show her suppressed love for Orsino, Viola is able to indulge in the ultimate form of self-sacrificial love that she has embodied all along(Schalkwyk).” This quote by David Schalkwyk presents the idea to why a women would give up so much just to marry the man she loves. Even though Viola was married as a compensation she earned that compensation for her hard work and determination towards

Orsino’s fake love is shown in his lust for Olivia. Orsino demonstrates his infatuation with Olivia when he says, “If music be the food of love play on, give me excess of it, that , surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die…”(Shakespeare 1.1). This statement shows that Orsino doesn’t understand true love but is fascinated with the idea of being in love. Orsini later states that “women are as roses whos fair flower, Being once displayed doth fall that very hours"(Shakespeare II.IV). Orsini is saying that women’s beauty fades over time and how he favors what Olivia offers him now. I along with many experts believe that Shakespeare’s literary works reflected societal structure of his time. During the time this story was written, women were seen as inferior to men. This belief system is shown in Orsini’s distorted view of Olivia. Orsino doesn’t love Olivia, he sees her as an attractive object that can raise his status.

However, instead of respecting her time of mourning and caring about her pain, Orsino twists this tragedy into something that might benefit his courtship: “O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame / To pay this debt of love but to a brother, / How will she love, when the rich golden shaft / Hath killed the flock of all affections else” (1.1.32-35). Orsino’s feelings for Olivia beg the question of whether or not love has to do with the person who is loved or the lover’s imagination: “So full of shapes is fancy / That it alone is high fantastical” (1.1.14–15). Orsino often describes Olivia’s beauty and the effect it has on him, but he never provides persuasive reasons for why he loves her. He declares that he suffers inescapable pain, yet he gives the impression that he enjoys it to an extent, that he cannot, doesn’t know how to be, without it. The authenticity of his love is even further invalidated at the end of the play when he quickly shifts affections from Olivia to Viola.

One interesting character, Viola, spends most of the play cross-dressing, something that was very taboo at the time. Her disguise causes a difficult love triangle between herself, Olivia, and Duke Orsino. While this creates quite a bit of confusion, it also plays a key role in the denouement. Viola’s disguise allowed her to explore the ways in which she would like to be wooed, which resulted in her feelings toward Duke Orsino. It also allows Olivia to end the mourning of her brother and to come out of her shell, resulting in her marriage to Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian: “There, before him and underneath that consecrated roof, plight me the full assurance of your faith, that my most jealous and too doubtful soul may live at peace” (Shakespeare 1240).