The play Twelfth Night, or What You Will by William Shakespeare is a 1601 comedy that has proven to be the source of experimentation in gender casting in the early twenty-first century due to its portrayal of gender in love and identity. The play centrally revolves around the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola. However, Olivia and Orsino both believe Viola is a boy named Cesario. Ironically, only male actors were on the stage in Shakespeare’s time. This means that Olivia, Viola, and other female characters were played by young boys who still had voices at higher pitches than older males.
The 2002 and 2003 Globe productions of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night according to James Bulman’s article, “Bearding the Queen: Male Cross-Dressing at the New Globe,” used a cast completely composed of grown men. This casting choice added an extra layer of irony behind the love triangle of the play, causing the comedy to become an even more comical experience for the audience. For example, Olivia is in love with Viola because she thinks Viola is a man. However, in the production described by Bulman, Olivia and Viola are both obviously played by men. Even when gender confusion is straightened out at the end of the play, the audience still sees members of the same sex marrying each other due to the all-male cast. Trevor Nunn’s 1996 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night used a traditional cast of females playing female characters and males playing male characters. Although the film maintained comical elements with a cast of both genders, it removed suggestive elements from Shakespeare’s original play. For example, Shakespeare wrote Antonio telling Sebastian, “I could not stay behind you. My desire,/More sharp than fil...
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...ce Viola is believed to be a male for most of the play, it may be more convincing to the audience if she is being played by a male. If I wished for my stage adaptation of the play to be less realistic and more entertaining, I would cast the play with a mixture of cross-gender characters.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a comedy that has been interpreted in different ways, enabling one to receive multiple experiences of the same story. Due to the content and themes of the play, it can be creatively challenging to producers and their casting strategies. Instead of being a hindrance, I find the ability for one to experiment exciting as people try to discover strategies that best represent entertainment for the audience, as well as the best ways to interpret Shakespeare’s work.
Gender in Twelfth Night
Ashlinn Guidry
English 2310.250
March 30, 2014
The characters in the comedy are not realistic, and those that could have been were transformed throughout the course of events depicted. The most trouble with the play, however, seems to come from the representation of the female characters, particularly in comparison with the males. It seems almost that the female characters are written off, rather than merely written out. The male characters of the play are given higher roles, and their characters are followed more faithfully, further proving its chauvinistic composition. The title of the play even suggests a sexist nature in its possible Elizabethan reference to the female genitalia. The play seems to reflect the common thought of its era concerning the social stat...
Laura Jastrem’s essay “Romance and Gender Positions in Twelfth Night” focuses on the attraction that Olivia formed for another woman, Viola, who masquerades as Cesario throughout the play. The audience is aware of the fraud male persona that Viola has mislead the others to believe. Given that the play was written in 1601, there are diverse critical responses regarding the concept of love between two people of the same sex based on their time period. Jastrem’s critique was composed in 1999, when same sex marriage was still a notion that was not heavily accepted by the vast majority. Being 2016, with same sex marriage now legalized, it is clear that perspectives will differ concerning this view. Jastrem’s sexist critique focuses on the lesbian attraction between Olivia and Viola but fails to mention
The Manipulation of Gender Roles in Shakespeare’s Othello. Of Shakespeare’s great tragedies, the story of the rise and fall of the Moor of Venice arguably elicits the most intensely personal and emotional responses from its English-speaking audiences over the centuries. Treating the subject of personal human relationships, the tragedy, which should have been a love story, speaks to both reading and viewing audiences by exploring the archetypal dramatic values of love and betrayal. The final source of the tragic action in Shakespeare’s
William Shakespeare is well known for being a poet, playwright, and actor. Shakespeare's work appears to be very sexist in gender roles. He uses gender roles in his 'Romeo & Juliet' play. Juliet being the main and most important female role in this play; is supposed to be noble and respectful, but instead she goes against her father’s wishes and acts more educated than she really is. Romeo being the main male role in this play is supposed to be focused and noble, but instead he is passionate in love and isn't very wise with decisions but in comparison to Paris, who is very masculine, focused and noble shows a real renaissance male. This paper will demonstrate how Shakespeare uses gender role reversement ; by having feminism and masculinity, arrangement of marriages, and compare and contrast of different characters to prove the model of genders in Elizabethan England.
Gender roles are one of the most controversial topics in the history of humanity. Some people approve of them, while others disagree with them. Gender roles are defined as “the behavior learned by a person as appropriate to their gender, determined by the prevailing cultural norms”. There are times throughout history where gender roles were very unfair. However, some individuals still defied them in both open and discreet ways. One of these individuals was the famous literary figure, William Shakespeare. Although Shakespeare may have defied gender roles in some of his other literary works, the scope of this essay will be limited to his stellar play, Macbeth. In Macbeth, Shakespeare mostly uses three characters to defy gender roles: The Three
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, eds. "Twelfth Night, or What You Will". William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1998.
The movie She's the Man shows much of the general idea of the original Shakespearean book, the twelfth night. It also, illustrates the change in feminine roles in the community and society at large, the main theme of the movie being feminism. In Shakespearean era and time, the important, recognizable and powerful positions in the society were taken by men and therefore Viola in the twelfth night disguises herself as a eunuch in order to get close to the Olivia, the countess and the
The use of original practices, the costumes and male characters used to play the role of female characters are due to the different gender identity attributes and sexuality concerns from the play. Although the producer insists that the use of male characters to play female roles was mainly to show case the original set-up and forms of acting it can also be attributed to the producer wishing to raise different sexualities from the audience. The different actors who play the roles of females while they are male characters have been used by the producer to raise different sexualities since the heterosexual people in the audience view of the audience since gender as asserted by Bulman is performative rather than
Dobson, Michael. “Twelfth Night” in The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
The portrayal of gender roles in William Shakespeare’s play Othello, demonstrates the inferior treatment of women and the certain stereotypes of men placed on them by society. Both the male and female characters in the play have these certain gender expectations placed on them. In a society dominated by men, it is understood that the women are to be seen rather than heard. The women are referred to and treated much like property. If indeed they do speak up, they are quickly silenced. One woman’s attempt to be the perfect wife is what ultimately led to her demise. The expectations of men are equally stereotypical. Men are to be leaders and to be in control and dominant especially over the women. The male characters compete for position and use the female characters in the play as leverage to manipulate each other. Shakespeare provides insight in understanding the outcomes of the men and women who are faced with the pressures of trying to live up to society’s expectations, not only in the workplace, but also in the home. The pressure creates jealousy issues amongst the men and they become blind to the voice of reason and are overtaken by jealous rage, leads to the death of many of the characters.
Barton, Anne. Introduction to Twelfth Night. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 403-407.
The Impact of Gender on Shakespeare’s Othello. 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.
Mistaken identity and disguise are important aspects of comedy in Twelfth Night that stand at the forefront of the play’s comedy. Not only are mistaken identities and disguise evident within the main plot of the play but also in various other situations. Sexual confusion amongst characters, subversion of gender roles and farcical elements through stagecraft all effectively contribute to the dramatic comedy genre. However, it can be suggested that certain elements of Twelfth Night are not interpreted to be purely comedic; Shakespeare has incorporated serious and controversial subjects such as the idea of genuine love, the patriarchy of the time and the cruel gulling of Malvolio. Therefore, disguise and mistaken identity are not solely for the purpose of comedy and it could be inferred that it even borders on the genre of tragedy.
Love however, is the source of much confusion and complication in another of Shakespeare’s comedies, Twelfth Night. Men and women were seen as very different from each other at the time the play was written, they were therefore also treated in very different ways. Because of this Viola conceals her identity and adopts the role of a man, in order to better her safety whilst being alone on the island, and to get a job at Count Orsino’s court. In the play Shakespeare uses the gender confusion he has created from obscuring characters identities to explore the limits of female power and control within courtship, and their dominance within society. Violas frustration surrounding her inability to express her feelings to the Count because she is a woman is an example of the limiting rules of courtship which were upheld at the time. (Aside) ‘yet, a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.’ Here she is already expressing her anxiety and emotion at being a woman, and having to keep her emotions hidden from those around her. She longs to be able to express her love as a man could, and in her disguise as Cesario she finds an opportunity to vent her feelings for the Count, but concealed as his words and towards Olivia. Viola is unaware of how her words may sound to Olivia because she is aware of their gender boundaries however Olivia isn’t and soon falls for Cesario. Because Olivia is a Lady and head of the household, and especially how she lacks a father figure, she has a lot more freedom in courtship. Duisinberre comments on this saying, ‘...Viola and Beatrice are women set free from their fathers, and their voice is that of the adult world.’ This is seen when Olivia immediately takes the dominant role in her and Cesarios relat...