Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

People tend to judge others based on many aspects. Sometimes they may try to force people to act upon certain rules that define their place in society. They often try to meet expectations that society has made for them based on gender and social status. William Shakespeare reinforces these ideas in his play Twelfth Night, which introduces many meaningful messages about situations that still occur in society today. He clearly develops important themes worthy of analysis. A few of these strong themes are about stereotypes and society’s expectations and rules, which he proves to be irrelevant most of the time. Many situations in the play falsify commonly held stereotypes about gender and social status by showing how they are sometimes invalid. He also shows how these stereotypes can affect the way people behave towards and judge others.

Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night is a critical Elizabethan-era work that explores attraction and sexuality within the relationship between Viola (as Cesario) and Duke Orsino. Her role is one of steadfast love towards Orsino; she willingly courts Olivia on his behalf as Cesario, burying her feelings for him because she cares that he is happy. There is a rigid dichotomy between Viola and Orsino’s passion; where Viola is steady, Orsino is inconsistent. Feste states directly to Orsino that his “mind is a very opal” (2.4.71) which implies he is constantly changing what he wants and is more in love with the idea of love rather than Olivia. Duke Orsino’s evolution from a typical Petrarchan lover to passionate love, through trials of gender confusion

Shakespeare, the favorite dramatist of all time fascinates himself with the usage of the language of Elizabethan poetic drama. His plays were lived to a full appreciation and pleasure. One of his most common plays full of comedies, twelfth night published in 1623, was written with a well hatched plot where the analysis on love is brought in both comic and tragic situation. The reader will note the three very different story lines within these paragraphs. The following prognostications will outline the final act.

The main plot of the play involves twins of the opposite sex who are separated during a tragic shipwreck, each believing the other to be dead. The female, Viola, disguises herself as male and serves in the love-sick Duke Orsino's Court, where 'Tis said no woman may approach his court.' Orsino then uses Viola - who, in male dress is known as Cesario - to attempt to woo Countess Olivia for himself, whereupon the Countess falls in love with Viola and Viola with Orsino. This love triangle is brought to a conclusion when Sebastian, the male twin, stumbles upon the Countess' grounds and, mistaken for Viola in man's guise, is promptly married to Olivia. The twins are therefore united when Viola reveals her true identity. Thus the main plot revolves around misperception and deception, and the main plot is paralleled by the sub-plot.

I am one that had rather go with sir priest than sir knight. I care not who knows so much of my mettle.” (3.4. 248-50). Viola-Cesario demonstrates that she is a compassionate person because she tries to rectify the situation peacefully rather than with violence. The fact that Viola-Cesario is actually a girl who is in disguise as a man and is surrendering from a duel in unusual in the play. This is because men are generally known to be aggressive and fearless to relinquish from a duel, but Viola-Cesario portrays an exceptional amount of courage to stand up for herself instead of fighting. Also, in Act 5, Scene 1, Sebastian attacks Sir Andrew and Sir Toby aggressively. They believe Sebastian to be Viola-Cesario as they think that he is peaceful and unwilling to fight, but they are unfortunately wrong: “The Count’s gentleman, one Cesario. We took him for a coward, but he’s the very devil incardinate.” (5.1. 174-750). Sebastian portrays that he is an aggressive person because he fiercely attacks Sir Andrew and Sir Toby like the devil and leaves them in critical condition. Sir Andrew says that Sebastian is the “very devil incardinate” because he attacks them without mercy which resembles the appearance of the devil. Viola-Cesario and Sebastian’s actions show the reader that one persona is nonviolent while other is ruthless,

Sociology teaches that society has naturally produces standards, that people are preferred to follow. Gender, arguably is basis from which all following norms branch from. Pierre Bourdieu writes in his boot “Masculine Domination”, “The social world constructs the body as a sexually defined reality and is the depository of sexual defining principles of vision and division” (Pierre 11). These divisions produce gender roles that are based on the patriarchy. Traditionally, gender roles states that men are the leaders in society and the family, while women play submissive role in raising children and caring for the immediate needs for the family. However, William Shakespeare’s Olivia, in the Twelfth Night, and Oscar Wilde’s Gwendolen, in the comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest narrative seemingly contradict orthodox gender norms. Olivia and Gwendolen both live in a social construct based on male dominance. Yet both of them upends this norm and play dominant role in both of their relationships.

In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the main story told is of the battle between silliness (Feste, Maria, romance, pranks, and drama) and seriousness (Malvolio, dourness, rules, and stresses of life). One facet of this is gender – the main protagonist Viola presents as male for most of the play. Shakespeare, whether intentionally or not, has shown prime examples of projected identity based on sex, gender roles, and the power associated with each sex. These messages were revolutionary at the time, and only in recent decades are people really beginning to examine them, but Shakespeare has been known to slip messages into his works that were far ahead of his time. Shakespeare uses Viola’s identity as a character in relation to gender roles and gender itself, and Olivia’s relationship with her.

In “Twelfth Night” a number of relationships exist and develop between the various characters. Unbeknownst to most of these characters, at least until the final scene of the play, there are a few people among them who are not as they appear. Viola, a woman shipwrecked in a foreign land without a protector, disguises herself as a man, and begins calling herself Cesario. This disguise fools everyone she meets in Illyria. In fact, it fools one woman, Lady Olivia, so well that she eventually falls in love with Cesario. Some might argue that she actually loves Viola, however this is not the case. Olivia is in love with her perception of the man Cesario. She does not love the reality of the woman Viola. When it is revealed that Viola is a woman, Olivia directs her affection towards Sebastian, who fulfills her desire to be with a man. To further explain why Olivia loves Cesario and not Viola, consider the letter Maria wrote for Malvolio. Maria tricks Malvolio into thinking that Olivia loves him. Analogously, Viola tricks Olivia into thinking she loves Cesario. Obviously, Malvolio does not think that Maria loves him, even though she is the author of the letter, and likewise, Olivia does not think that she loves Viola, even though Viola is the one pretending to be Cesario.

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare is skeptical of love which is evident when you analyze the characters of Orsino and Malvolio. Orsino experiences the constant rejection of Olivia’s love while Malvolio on the other hand is blind to the fact that he is narcissistic. Viola’s character has the most genuine love within the cast of Twelfth Night since she is willing to put her own love for Orsino aside to try and woo Olivia into loving Orsino. Shakespeare uses numerous kinds of love throughout the play which include self-love, false love, and unrequited love which helps us differentiate between what both men and woman desire from love.

Before the birth of William Shakespeare as a playwright, no craftsman could skillfully create a world composed of contradictions so shocking, yet profoundly insightful to the human condition. Shakespeare accomplishes the impossible by bringing many contradictory elements into his play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy on the verge of tragedy. In this play, many of his characters allude to the moon through the use of repetitive metaphors. Shakespeare specifically compares the moon to time as a means to juxtapose various elements of his play: eagerness and reluctance, chastity and fertility, as well as tragedy and comedy.

“Lord, what fools these mortals be (Shakespeare, 1546)!” In the beginning of this play, Hermia refuses her fathers demands to marry Demetrius because she loves Lysander. Her disobedience enrages her father so he presents Theseus with his dilemma, which does not work as well as he had hoped (Gianakaris). Hermia is presented with two alternative options, but neither suits her well. She runs off into the woods with Lysander to get married and from this, a chain of events arises. To make matters even more complicated, Puck is sent out to get the juice of a flower that, when poured in eyelids while asleep, makes people fall in love with the first creature they see. Situations arise from this love juice, and the plot thickens. In this play, Shakespeare creates a social commentary through the use of the themes of love, magic, dreams, and art and culture.

After attending Texas Theatre and Dance’s full play production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, I am decently surprised to realize that the ‘Romantic Comedy’ genre can be timeless when done properly. This play, written in year 1601, still manages to translate the hardships of infatuation, loss, and gender identity surprisingly well to a modern audience. In this production, the tragedies of the main characters turn into an awkward love triangle in which no one is who they seem. Although the play Twelfth Night appears to be all about love and the characters endeavors to gain each other’s affection, it is clear that none of the characters are truly in love.

Offering a unique experience, Actors from the London Stage are able to immerse the audience in a delightful presentation that is enhanced with five actors developing multiple personalities as they play multiple parts in each performance. Exactly this has been done in their performance at the UTSA Recital Hall, in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, by William Shakespeare.

‘And the impressure her Lucrece, with which she uses to seal: tis my lady.’ This scene is truly absurd: imagine an old man reading a rare love letter in great enthusiasm and gusto while unaware that three heads were sticking out of a bush listening in and laughing. The audience know that the letter is fake, this makes it extremely amusing when Malvolio puts the pieces together from the letter and believes that Lady Olivia loves him. ‘M.O.A.I. This simulation is not as the former, and yet, to crush this a little.

Maria and the conspirators decide to mislead Malvolio into thinking that Olivia is in love with him. Maria decides to lead him on by writing a letter, but means to be from Olivia. This love letter is meant to instruct Malvolio to do actions that Olivia despises. Maria is able to mislead Malvolio because she has the same print and seal as Olivia. Shakespeare is able to trick the characters and create many portrayals of them.