William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Essay examples

In the Twelfth Night film directed by Trevor Nunn, there are differences between the sequencing of the scenes, lines of characters, and character stage directions/movements compared to the original text. Directors use film adaptations to enhance the writer’s intended meaning hidden in the original text, however, Trevor Nunn altered the meaning of a Shakespearean comedy. Shakespearean comedies are characterized as entertaining plays centered around a person of power, who delivers a statement of harsh judgment and must make amends, and the comedies usually end in marriage. In Twelfth Night, Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, passes harsh judgment towards Lady Olivia by telling his servant, Cesario, to “be clamorous and leap all civil bounds/

Much of the first half of the Twelfth Night is about disguised identities and general misconceptions about who is actually who. The play opens on a note of melancholy and death, Orsino grieving because Olivia refuses to love him and Viola and Olivia mourning the deaths of their brothers. It is following a shipwreck that Viola disguises herself as a male, ensuring that confusion will be part of the plot. The idea of masquerading as a member of the opposite sex is a familiar device and the “complications, artificial as they may appear, are an essential part of the play’s complete development.” (Travers 308) It is interesting to note that unlike other comedies such as “The Tempest”, Shakespeare does not create an older generation who prevent the young lovers from being together; instead it is the perplexity about gender and that keeps them apart. Sebastian, Viola’s identical twin, is the solution to all of the problems, though his appearance does add to it for a short while. Viola, dressed as Cesario, is mistaken for Sebastian by Antonio, and is asked for the money that he gave to Sebastian. However, this type of confusion adds to the comic nature of the plot as the audience is aware of the concealed identities. Order eventually comes from the chaos, disguises are shed and identities are revealed. The appearance of Sebastian ensures that the marriage will be possible for the main characters; Viola is free to marry Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, although she

   Shakespeare enjoyed writing passionate plays about young lovers, but, after a while, the formula became exhausted and the Bard was forced to dig deeper, creatively speaking. Twelfth Night is an example of a Shakespearean love tale with a slight twist to keep things interesting. This play was the “Tootsie” of its time. Twelfth Night takes the audience on a gender-bending journey, while maintaining all the elements of true love throughout. At one point, Olivia wears a disguise in order to take on the traditionally male role of wooing her romantic interest, Cesario, who is also disguised. Although Olivia flirts with Cesario and tells him that his “scorn” only reveals his hidden love, she is

William Shakespeare frequently created women who deviated from the social standards of his time, which was, throughout the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. All throughout this era, women were understood to be silent and obedient and were believed to be unfit of doing more than taking care of the house and raising children. However, Shakespeare often rejected these aspects and invented feminine characters that challenged the norms of this point in time. Two of the most individualistic women in Shakespeare’s plays are Lady Macbeth from Macbeth, and Olivia from Twelfth Night. Shakespeare confers upon both characters perceptibly masculine traits. Both Lady Macbeth and Olivia present nuanced description of the hostility in gender roles in the face of cultural and societal norms during the Renaissance era, due to their prominent masculine traits.

She is a countess in Illyria. Olivia is courted by Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. She tells them both that she is mourning her brother’s death and will not marry for seven years. However, when Cesario arrives, she falls in love with Cesario. Sebastian-

Since the beginning of the play, Viola (Cesario), who is disguised as a male, has been showing how much she loves Orsino. For example, when Orsino told her that convince Olivia to marry him, Viola says, “Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife.” (I.iv.42). In the same way, Antonio has been showing how he cares about Sebastian by helping him around Illyria. For instance, he jumped in the sword battle against Sir Aguecheek, thinking that he was saving Sebastian from him even though he knew there would be consequences if Orsino’s men found him in Illyria.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth The story of Macbeth on a purely literary level could be appreciated as a fantastically dark story teeming with evil and uncertainty and the blind ambition of a blood thirsty warrior. However one would have to merely scratch the surface to discover that it is bursting with periodical references to political and social foundations of Shakespear's and James I era. Shakespeare's blend of the subliminal political and social references compliment other ever present themes also woven into the plot resulting in a rich tapestry of intrigue that elevates the play from being just a totally fictitious story but also a historical document that reflect the fears and beliefs of

The play, The Twelfth Night, played at the Orlando Shakespeare is an enthusiastic comedy. The play was assimilated as if it would had taken place in the 17th century. The three female roles were portrayed by men, as woman we not allowed to take part in the music and arts during this time. Further, artificial candles lit the room as utilized in this period. The play is about these two twins, Viola and Sebastian, who got separated in a shipwreck. Viola thinking her brother drowned in the shipwreck dresses herself as a man with the name of Cesario. She ends up working in the service of Duke Orsino who is in love with the most beautiful maiden of Illyria, Countess Olivia. The duke has continuously court Olivia with no prevail. Duke Orsino not giving

The main focus of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy The Twelfth Night is, fittingly, love. Despite the fact that the play ends in happiness, and marriage, the characters are not always this happy throughout the entire play. Love seems to be a curse in this play rather than a blessing, and it may seem that love causes more problems than it solves most of the time. All of the characters in Twelfth Night are affected by love in some way, and most of the time it is not the “right” love. For example, the main plot of the play is the love triangle between Olivia, Violet, and Duke Orsino. This love triangle causes mass chaos and confusion for the characters, mainly because of the misunderstandings. At the start of the play, Orsino is in love with Olivia, who is mourning her brother, and has no interest in the duke. In turn, Viola, who is in disguise as eunuch named Cesario is in love with Orsino. To round out the triangle, Olivia is in love with Viola, who she believes is really Cesario. The misunderstandings love causes for Orsino, Olivia, and Viola may even cause more suffering than happiness, despite the fact that the play ends in marriages.

Ah… (sigh) what an interesting day(smirk). It was quite an interesting afternoon for Benvolio and I was discussing about our friend Romeo’s whereabouts, love life, and that Cat Prince… what was his name again?... ah yes Tybalt. As you see that Romeo has been stabbed by cupid’s arrow again, that fool being stabbed once wasn’t good enough for him and vowed to guard himself from the stupid angel pranks yet Romeo had get punctured by that arrow again. I have no idea why would a girl even love Romeo for he’s skinny, weak, much of a coward. Compared to that girl he fell in love with, Laura a kitchen girl, Cleopatra the gypsy, Helen from Troy, and dear Thysbe, are far better than Romeo’s lover. I still don’t understand Romeo… Furthermore, he is now

Women can easily fall in love as they are gullible and over-trusting, whereas men are mindless and foolish. In Twelfth Night, the characters who prove this are Olivia and Sir Andrew. Olivia has fallen in love with the fake man “Cesario”, and Sir Andrew is deliberately trying to woo Olivia through foolish and pathetic ways. Twelfth Night demonstrates that women are weak and are able to fall in love easily, due to their gullibility when it comes to love. This was shown as Olivia was able to fall in love with fake man “Cesario”, who was truly Viola in disguise. Although the Duke Orsino has real feelings for Olivia, she refuses to love him back as her love is only for “Cesario”. Shakespeare conveys this message through Viola’s soliloquy, and is

In the play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, Viola is disguised as Cesario, but remains strong in her feelings for love towards Orsino. For example, after Orsino confides to Cesario about his love for Olivia, he tells her to go “address thy gait unto [Olivia](1.4.16)” despite the fact that “whoe’er [she woos], [herself] would be his wife (1.4.46).” Viola has to go set up the grieving Olivia with Orsini, the one she secretly loves and wants to marry. She obeys the wishes of Orsino, silently dying to be with him while watching him swoon for another girl. Viola has a strong will and self control to stand by and watch the one she loves love another and set them up together.

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night can easily be interpreted as a romance play. Given that the majority of the characters in the play in some way or another fall in love, but there are many twists that come with these romantic relationships. Some of the characters fall in love with the same character, others fall in love with a character that loves another, who actually loves another causing a chaotic love triangle. Within every romance a character is tragically hurt, turning the romance play into more of a tragedy. Throughout the play the characters throw around a rigid construction of the term “love,” that of a desire and not an actual feeling. Therefore, again turning the play away from a romance play, but now turning it towards a mocked romance play. The aspect that is manipulated causing all the misinterpretation is the representation of the term love, which is implicated by using multiple characters different scenarios of their love. The main characters reside in somewhat of a love triangle, Olivia, Viola, and Orsino. Love is often aligned with lust, stability, and class. None of which defines love as a sense of true selflessness. In the representation of love the reader interprets no selfless actions done to express their love to one another. Love is shown more as an obsession implied on the thought of love with respect to many alternative motives, which also show a lack of love being understood by the characters. In result, of the various representation of love

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare 's most popular, lightest, entertainment and its staging continues to delight audiences all over the world which narrated the history of Viola, a young woman of aristocratic birth. Viola thought that her brother was dead, so she decided to make her own way in the world, and in the kingdom of Illyria she decided to disguise herself as a young man, calling herself “Cesario”. She becomes a page to Duke Orsino who is a nobleman lovesick for the Lady Olivia. Viola “Cesario” ends up falling in love with him even as Olivia. The women Orsino is courting, falls in love with Cesario. Viola have a dilemma; she cannot tell Orsino that she loves him, and she cannot tell Ollivia why she cannot lover her that make a miserable love triangle scene where Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario. In the Twelfth Night, the principal characters are confused by one character, Viola because she is in love with a man being a man, and a lady is in love with her being a woman. This is a confusing situation that is the central conflict in the play. It is a conflict of love, attraction, and gender roles between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola.

     Shakespeare's Twelfth Night examines patterns of love and courtship through a twisting of gender roles. In Act 3, scene 1, Olivia displays the confusion created for both characters and audience as she takes on the traditionally male role of wooer in an attempt to win the disguised Viola, or Cesario. Olivia praises Cesario's beauty and then addresses him with the belief that his "scorn" (3.1.134) only reveals his hidden love. However, Olivia's mistaken interpretation of Cesario's manner is only the surface problem presented by her speech. The reality of Cesario's gender, the active role Olivia takes in pursuing him/her, and the duality of word meanings in this passage threaten to turn the