““I am not what I am” (Cesario, 3.1.148., Twelfth Night).” One of the important themes in William’s Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, is ‘identity.’ Throughout the play, the use of the topic evolves the storyline of the romantic comedy. Nevertheless, how is this essential matter employed in the piece? The subject uses disguises, indistinct gender roles and is shown through symbolism and imagery, all through Twelfth Night. Moreover, it suggests that males played female roles—a male actor would play a female character (Viola) who disguises as a male (Cesario). Furthermore, the idea brings out the comical essence of the piece. The motif shows that one’s physical features, and how a person presents, possesses an important part of
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.
Figuring out oneself and his or her identity is an obstacle that more than likely every person faces in life. There is much confusion someone can have regarding sexuality, beliefs, and even something as simple as personality. Even in the 1600s, people were unsure about their personal makeup and how they genuinely wanted to display themselves; ambiguity is not a new complication. Many of the characters in Shakespeare’s Othello are confused as to who they really are as individuals and the genuine attributes they exhibit, for the subjects of misconception, insecurity, and gender play significant roles in supporting the theme of identity in the play. The state of confusion is very prevalent throughout the play, seeing that almost no one seems
Society cannot describe or expound upon the significance of the identity of gender of oneself because the question has no finite and/or absolute answer due to the ever-changing variables in common ideology and thinking. The variables just mentioned are in correspondence to the time and amount of influence outside opinions have on oneself and his/her opinion about the matter. The fact remains that the subjective views of one’s personal beliefs equates to nothing in the presence of contravening, biased thinking of the society. People often tend to follow. It is the nature of our species to follow, for general acceptance among peers is the true catalyst of all decisions. In modern society, many new perspectives have been introduced such as gay and lesbian relations, or the belief in one’s gender to be opposite of their physical appearance. “In examining how female eroticism begins to assume discursive shape and currency on the early modern stage, I argue here that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night offers an overlooked opportunity to witness the dynamics by which a language of female-female desire emerges from the materials of conventional heteroerotic discourses already in circulation,” (Ake 375). The truth lies solely with the person who ponders the question. This is what many literary works attempt to convey, yet few stand prevalent. Shakespeare creates the lucid, romantic comedy Twelfth Night in order to convey the lack of certitude in gender identity of the self, while
That the disguise is dropped in most renaissance plays as part of reassuring a con-ventional audience or as part of the enactment of a process of gender individuation (Greenblatt 92) does not invalidate the insistent metaphor which is the ground of the re-presentation; nor does this kind of claim account for other uses to which poets put the motif during this period.
In the book “Gender Trouble” (1990), feminist theorist Judith Butler explains “gender is not only a social construct, but also a kind of performance such as a show we put on, a costume or disguise we wear” (Butler). In other words, gender is a performance, an act, and costumes, not the main aspect of essential identity. By understanding this theory of gender as an act, performance, we can see how gender has greatly impacted the outcome of the play in William Shakespeare’s Othello. From a careful analysis of the story, tragedy in Othello is result of violating expected gender roles, gender performance by Desdemona and Othello, and the result of Iago’s inability to tolerate these violations.
In our adaptation of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, The Catch a Catfish miniseries we used the same plot and theme of deception and identity fraud we saw in the play. How we adapted this was having Omar showing his love towards Liv but it does not go as he has planned so he decides to get one of his friends Violet to pose as a her twin brother who is off at college to woo Liv to get back at her for dumping him. After Violet transforms into her brother for the prank and things start getting intense between the two we have Toby, Olivia’s cousin looking into the situation and begins to think something is weird about the whole scenario so he decides to call Catfish the show to figure out whether his cousin is getting pranked or not. After several
Identity is a very key, important thematic issue in William Shakespeare's tragic drama, Othello. Identity, or what may be better explained as a character's public perception, is highly valued in the Elizabethan Age in which Othello is set. There is a varying range between the characters in the extent that how they are perceived in public is not how they behave in private or how they really are, thus creating more than one identity per character. A character's identity is the overall essence of that character, however, in plays such as Shakespeare's there must always be an element of tragic flaw to the play thus creating conflict. In Othello, conflict ultimately arises through the plotting and scheming of one central, manipulative
through his vanity is easily fooled into thinking it is he who she loves although
Our group proposed, presented, and directing the stage performance for the Twelfth Night. In the beginning of the semester I had no clue of what to expect from this course, and reading the syllabus made Shakespeare’s Plays seem complex. I am somewhat familiar with William Shakespeare’s plays stemming from a Shakespeare course that I had taken at Harold Washington (City College of Chicago). My professor (Hader) informed the class that if we were looking to go on to a four-year university as an English major that we will have to take another course, and it will be taught from a different perspective or angle—quite frightening. As a person who had not connected or have read anything that the playwright had ever written, I was afraid that I
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.
Obstacles are found in many situations, especially true love when disguise is involved. The mistaken identity of one has a powerful effect on the rest of the characters in Shakespeare’s twelfth night as it creates problems for true love. Aside from Shakespeare’s others, the play focuses on mistaken identity/disguise and unrequited love. Disguise truly is an obstacle for true love to prevail in twelfth night. The obstacle of disguise that occurs in the play will be analyzed by exploring situations, character’s thoughts, and the result of poor decisions made.
The ideas of identity are explored in Othello. Both William Shakespeare’s original play and the cinematic adaptation by Oliver Parker explore ideas of otherness and the patriarchy. William Shakespeare represents multiple ideas in his play Othello. Oliver Parker further resonates Shakespeare's ideas, using different cinematic techniques. Patriarchy has always been associated with a rigid concept of manipulation and control. Both William Shakespeare and Oliver Parker show how that idea, when entwined with fears and misunderstandings of otherness can lead to catastrophic incidents.
In William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” (1599), he has numerous characters that disguise themselves in order to add a profound, and sometimes comical meaning to his pastoral play. Furthermore, Shakespeare also imposes the idea of using disguises as crossing-dressing which can lead to the questioning of a character’s gender, sexuality, and identity. Nonetheless, these aspects of gender and identity repeatedly overlap. He constructs alternating relationships between disguise and performance through depictions of how the characters interact with each other through dialogue, what is seen as female or masculine back then, and what they forcibly portray themselves in his seemingly absurd play. Ultimately, Shakespeare uses disguises and performances
In Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” Shakespeare explains how people go through disguises to impress other people, to be in a higher class, or be seen as better than everyone else. Although people always try to impress other people, their disguises causes identity and gender difficulties.
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.