Twelfth Night is a significant Christian holiday that marks the Feast of the Epiphany and is celebrated by playing pranks, those that traditionally result in disorientation and disarray- hence the title of the play. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, these two aspects create the love triangle between Duke Orsino, Viola and Olivia while playing a role in the prank on Malvolio. Furthermore, when Olivia mistakes Sebastian for “Cesario”, chaos transpires. Evidently, the presence of confusion and chaos in “Twelfth Night” is vital to the play, especially bearing in mind the traditions connected to its title.
A major factor in Twelfth Night is confusion- especially in the love triangle between the three main characters. It swiftly changes the opinions of everyone and leaves them
…show more content…
in bewilderment about what occurred. Justifying the aforementioned, Olivia questions herself, “How now?/ Even so quickly may one catch the plague?” (1.5.298-299). She admires “Cesario” because she can relate with “him”- yet Olivia names this understanding as perfection and falls in love with the first person who gets her situation even when she is not supposed to. In the final scene, the whole situation comes to light, and ensured chaos presents itself when Viola blatantly states: “After him I love/ More than I love these eyes, more than my life,/ More, by all mores, than e'er I shall love wife./ If I do feign, you witnesses above,/ Punish my life for tainting of my love!” (5.1.130-134). This statement of Viola’s receives confused responses from both Orsino and Olivia, as Viola is thought to be a gentleman and married to Olivia (at least in Olivia’s mind). Therefore, the foundations of the love triangle in Twelfth Night are all these factors of confusion and turmoil. In the traditions of the Twelfth Night holiday, people often dressed in diverse attires and made buffoons of others.
Correspondingly, Malvolio is made to think he is deranged by being bamboozled and confused. Nonetheless, his desperation at proving otherwise is shown when he states: “By this hand, I am. Good fool, some ink, paper, and light, and convey what I will set down to my lady./ It shall advantage thee more than ever the bearing of/ letter did.” (4.2.113-116). Malvolio becomes highly anguished to justify his sanity so he begs the same fool he consistently ridiculed before. Furthermore, in the end, Malvolio is genuinely vexed with the pandemonium ensued by the prank and he straight out accuses Olivia of toying with his emotions. Moreover, he goes on to say: “made the most notorious geck and gull/ that e'er invention played on? Tell me why.” (5.1.340-341). Malvolio still does not understand the whole situation at this point but thinks he has which leads him to become very confused. In all honesty, that is the main reason people play pranks- to laugh at the chaos that ensues. Therefore, the result of this particular one and the role confusion and chaos play in it are not a
surprise. When the craziness of a situation comes to the attention of everyone, chaos becomes evident. First of all, the yearning of Olivia to be with “Cesario” comes to light when she says: “Alas, it is the baseness of thy fear/ that makes thee strangle thy propriety. / Fear not, Cesario. (5.1.143-145)” Olivia is so desperate that she believes that “his” incomprehension is only a ruse to make sure Orsino did not kill him. However, this just creates further chaos between the three. Furthermore, when the Duke realizes the truth, he is justifiably stupefied . At the time, Duke Orsino expresses his anger: “O thou dissembling cub! What wilt thou be/ When time hath sowed a grizzle on thy case?/ Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow/ That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow?/ Farewell, and take her; but direct thy feet/ Where thou and I henceforth may never meet.” (5.1.160-165) The Duke is greatly enraged with “Cesario” after learning about the marriage and the situation soon becomes chaotic, as Orsino did not think “Cesario” could do something like that. Naturally, confusion and chaos go hand in hand in situations of such sort. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, disorientation and ataxia are shown ubiquitously (much like the holiday) from a bizarre love triangle, to a mere prank played on a self-absorbed man, to the pandemonium caused by the bewilderment of love. The presence of confusion and chaos in “Twelfth Night” is vital to the play, especially bearing in mind the traditions connected to its title. Therefore, confusion and chaos are an exceedingly essential theme in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night, written by Shakespeare between the years of 1599 and 1601 (“Shakespeare-Online”), is easily one of his most well-known plays. A year after the assumed date of publication, on February the 2nd of 1602, Twelfth Night was performed for the first time (“William-Shakespeare)”. The location of the production is thought to have taken place in the Middle Temple, which was one of four law schools within London that were known as the Inns of Court (“Shakespeare-Online”). Though some would classify Twelfth Night as generic, it is laced with a sharp sense of humor and controversial concerns that can easily be applied to the issues of present day. Many of these issues, such as marriage, gender identity, sex, homosexuality, and social ambition, are relevant in today’s society, making them easy to relate to. The central theme of the play is romance. The characters all experience love, in one way or another, whether it be unrequited or shared between more than one person. The plot is intricately woven, sometimes confusingly so, between twists and turns throughout the multiple acts, but it never strays too far from the subject of adoration. Despite the hardships, misperception and deceit the characters experience, six individuals are brought together in the name of holy matrimony in three distinct nuptials.
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.
In the play, Olivia has a steward, Malvolio, unpopular with servants, mean, authoritarian, control freak. Malvolio is tricked into believing he is loved by Olivia. Malvolio behaves as if she is in love with him and he is eventually locked up for madness. After reading and reviewing the play, Malvolio’s epiphany moments stood out the most for me. Malvolio, the puritanical, was the head servant in Lady Olivia’s household. Although Malvolio is very efficient, he also very self-righteous, and frowns upon most of the things such as drinking, singing, and fun. He fantasies about marrying his mistress and living higher than his social class.
Andrew is funny, it is not intentional. His faults include a lack of wit, a
Barton, Anne. Introduction to Twelfth Night. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 403-407.
As prescient and insightful as this evaluation may seem after considering the outcome of Twelfth Night’s romantic pairings, it reads as a very shallow perspective rather than any sort of wisdom – to the Duke, love is never permanent, lasting, or constant (just like the nature of the tides, it always changes). Duke Orsino has no concern whatsoever for Olivia’s feelings of grief after the loss of her brother – she is merely an object of his desires at the moment, and as his eventual courtship with Viola proves, he is extremely fickle in his affections. (Even before Viola’s disguise became apparent, Orsino showed some signs of attraction to the male Cesario – this raises a few questions about exactly how far his romantic indecisiveness
In William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” the alleged Puritan Malvolio is the unpopular rigidity, hypocritical and gullible steward made to look a fool by those he has humiliated (Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Fabian and Feste) which appeals to the audience. Malvolio is more the victim of his own psychic propensities than he is Maria’s gull, as his own beliefs appear to engineer his downfall. In Suzann Collins trilogy the “Hunger Games” the down to earth “pure” President Snow obtains those exact qualities of Malvolio. He appears to be on the people’s side but we soon learn that he overwhelms himself with power and takes himself down.
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
From this quote, we can see that Viola becomes the form of her intent which is a man, in order to work for Orsino and in doing so she deceives her ownself. She also deceives everyone else in the play, with the exception of Feste, and as a result causes confusion among and between the characters and mayhem in the... ... middle of paper ... ... e play. Instead Feste takes part of the humor only with revenge on his mind and not to provide humor, and relies only on quick plays on words to supply humor.
The perfect lives that make up the routine of the Illyrian citizens portrays a society in which enjoyment, and personal gain are held in utmost priority. Shakespeares mocks the passivity of the Illyrian lifestyle to explain to the audience that excess of such festivity has negative side effects such as ego and lack of true love. He expresses that the pursuit of expression and truth in itself invokes enjoyment. Sir Aguecheek mirrors the uncertainty of a person through lack of self-confidence and the desire to openly reveal his true self when lamenting “Is it a world to hide virtues in?” (1.3.131). While uncovering aesthetic and emotional mysteries, the Illyrians find that disport restrains them from actual enjoyment and love. The play follows the audience to motivate them towards dissemination of feelings and expression of passion as a “locus of growth and self discovery” (Logan 223) and to obtain true happiness by ridding themselves of excessive, meaningless fun.
"William Shakespeare, William. "Twelfth Night." Norton's Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010.
In Twelfth Night the relationships are anything but romantic. Shakespeare writes from the male point of view which implies an un-easy split between love and physical charm. In Twelfth night the romance is falsely produced by selfish desire. Duke Orsino and Viola stand out from the other relationships. By questioning the relationships between the other couples, Shakespeare highlights the true love between Viola and Orsino and the fake relationship of Malvolio and Olivia which is truly based on Malvolio’s desire of a higher status , despite his status and his personality , Malvolio tries to impress Olivia by dressing up in ridiculous clothes , which does far from his aim , and repulses Olivia.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has been performed hundreds of times and adapted into a number of modern films. The main plot of the play follows Viola, a girl who is rescued from a shipwreck and enters into the service of the Duke Orsino disguised as a man. Rising quickly in his estimation, Viola begins delivering messages of love on his behalf to Olivia, a noble woman who has no interest in Orsino’s advances. Over the course of the play Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly died in the shipwreck, returns. Following Sebastian’s return the twins are mistaken for each other, leading to both misunderstanding and marriage in the final scenes of the play. Alongside the main plot of Twelfth Night is an almost equally prominent subplot involving Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, who falls in love with her and who falls prey to a prank planned by the other members of the household who despise his abhorrence of fun. In the article “The Design of Twelfth Night” by L.G. Salingar, Salingar examines the plot and structure of the play and addresses the significance of the subplot. The purpose of this essay is to examine both evidence from the play and articles from other authors, with a focus on Salingar, who have written on the subject in order to determine the purpose of the subplot. In his article, Salingar comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the subplot is to provide a comic mirror of the main plot while amplifying the main themes of delusion, misrule and festivity. Salingar presents a solid argument, however he has neglected another lesser but significant element of the sub-plot which illustrate...
William Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night has many themes, but appearance vs. reality is the theme that illustrates a different picture from two perspectives, there are many characters behind their masks and disguises. Some are hiding love behind these disguises and some are trying to show their love through a different disguise. They both still being servants are using disguise differently. Malvolio, servant of Olivia, falls in love with the trap (the letter) thinking his lady likes him, and to show his love he uses a different appearance to express it. Viola, servant of Orsino, falls in love with him, but secretly, not wanting to express her love for him, because of her disguise as her barrier for that case. Viola/Ceasario is wearing a disguise and secretly loves Orsino. Malvolio, on the other hand, is also a servant but still changes his appearance to express love for the great lady Olivia. This essay will prove that disguises and appearances are symbolic of the characters named Viola and Malvolio and are differently used for both.
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.