Critical Evaluation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

1458 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Types of humour in twelfth night

Critical Evaluation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

The play I read is called “Twelfth Night”, and was written by William

Shakespeare. William Shakespeare is known for his brilliant

playwriting skills, “Twelfth Night” is no exception. “Twelfth Night”

was branded as a comedy when it was written in the 1600s, I am writing

this essay to see if “Twelfth Night” can still be classed as a comedy

in the twenty-first century, or if the humour is too old fashioned for

modern tastes.

The main theme of the play is mistaken identities. The three main

characters are Orsino, a Duke, Olivia, a countess, and Viola, a woman

who dresses as a man so she can be a servant to Orsino. During the

play Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian turns up and everyone thinks he

is Viola, as she is dressing as a man. Viola is in love with Orsino

but Orsino is in love with Olivia and Olivia is in love with Viola,

this creates a love triangle. Also in the play there are servants and

two knights who produce a lot of humour.

In conjunction to the love triangle there are three additional plot

lines in the play, they involve Malvolio, a servant, finding a love

letter, a duel between Viola and Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Olivia

proposing to Sebastian, as she thinks he is Viola. I will discuss

these to see if they have any humour among them.

Malvolio is a servant who thinks he is more superior than he actually

is. Before he finds the love letter he is day-dreaming about himself

being married to Olivia.

Malvolio says “There is example for’t: the lady of Strachy married the

yeomen of the wardrobe -.”

This would be funny because Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and

Fabien, a friend of theirs, are hiding in the bushes listening and

watching Malvolio. While he is day-dreaming he comes across the love

letter. This is a joke as it was written by Maria, a maid, Sir Toby

and Sir Andrew to get revenge on Malvolio as he is so big headed.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of The White Apron

    1067 Words  | 3 Pages

    After spending more than half of the play looking down on her employee, the madam decides that she wants to switch places with her maid as part of a game. It is rather ironic how much the play follows the story line of the princes and the pauper. Where two women of different social standing switches places with each other, in order to experiences how their other side lives. It is arguable comedic that the women are able to assume their roles without much effort. The madam really acts the role of the maid, she acts how she believes the stereotypical maid should be, she sits behind her employer and begins to pay more attention to her son. Whereas the maid, clearly states to her employer that it’s not her job to pay attention because she is a “lady”. She puts her the tanning lotion, sunglasses and begins to

    Read More

  • Gender Identity And Alternative Sexualities In Twelfth Night, By William Shakespeare

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, gender identity and alternative sexualities are highlighted through the depiction of different characters and personalities. In the play, Viola disguises herself as a man thereby raising a merry-go-around of relationships that are actually based on a lie rather than actual fact. Viola attracts the attention of Olivia since she thinks that Viola is a man but even more fascinating is the fact that Orsino is attracted to Viola although he thinks that she is a man. In another twist Viola is attracted to Orsino and has fell in love with him although their love cannot exist since Orsino thinks that Viola is a man.

    Read More

  • The House of Bernarda Alba

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    The play "The House Of Bernarda Alba" gives an interesting portrayal of a middle class home consisting entirely of women. The plot is set in a small town, middle class house in a society dominated by men. It is believed to be set somewhere in Spain in the 1930s. The play was written in a time when the suppression of woman was still strong. The mother, the head of the household, does everything she believes is necessary to keep her house within a good social standing in the town. The mother had become the master of the house after her husband died, which makes her work harder to keep a good reputation for her house of women. Looking deeper into the story one might find two sides to the dilemmas that cover the house. There are protagonists, principle characters in a story, and antagonists, characters that act adversaries or opponents to the principle characters. In this play one of the maids, Poncia, is forced to be in the middle of much of the drama consuming this house. She, Poncia, can be looked at as both a protagonist and antagonist. One might say that she fits into a back up role; helping support the main characters' roles, in the cast of characters.

    Read More

  • The Foolishness in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    His attempts to flirt with Maria by showing how clever he is fail when Sir

    Read More

  • Othello - Compared To Twelfth Night

    765 Words  | 2 Pages

    "She loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, and I loved her that she did pity them" (Othello, I.iii 166-167). William Shakespeare’s tragedy "Othello," is pervaded by a dominant theme, one of love. Othello, the Moor of Venice falls madly in love with a woman named Desdemona. They marry and are very happy together. Othello and Desdemona face many trials during the course of their nine-month marriage. The most notable one occurs when Barbanzio, Desdemona’s father accuses Othello of getting his daughter with witchcraft. During a court hearing, Desdemona confesses her love for Othello and Barbanzio is forced to let her go.

    Read More

  • The Fool as a Playwright in Twelfth Night

    2845 Words  | 6 Pages

    Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life situations, which is similar to the way a playwright such as Shakespeare interacts with his audience. Furthermore, more so than the other characters in the play he accomplishes this in a highly performative way, involving song and clever wordplay that must be decoded, and is thus particularly reflective of the mechanisms at the command of the playwright. Feste is a representation of the medieval fool figure, who is empowered by his low status and able to speak the truth of the kingdom. A playwright speaks the truth by using actors and fictional characters, who are in a parallel low status in comparison to the audience, as they lack the dimensionality of real people. Thus, the role Feste plays in the lives of the characters in the play resembles the role the play itself plays in the lives of the audience watching the performance. This essay will explore this comparison first by analyzing similarities between the way in which Feste interacts with other characters and the way the playwright interact with the audience, and then focus on the similarities between the aims and content of these interactions.

    Read More

  • Essay On Sexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1751 Words  | 4 Pages

    Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of the most popular comedies from Shakespeare. It is believed was written by 1601-1602. In the play, he creates a pair of twins that one is a female named Viola and another is male named Sebastine that separated in a shipwreck that develop the whole story. Today, I will emphasize on Viola as main line. The story developed by a “white lie” that main character Viola dressed up as a man to be a servant named Cesario aside Duke Orsino. Many stories occurred between these two characters in three identities.

    Read More

  • True Love in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1979 Words  | 4 Pages

    Viola, alone in a strange land, disguises herself as a man in order to gain access to Duke Orsino's palace. She plays the role of Orsino's servant, Cesario, to be near him for she knows that he is the man who can help her in Illyria. On first hearing Orsino's name, Viola says: "Orsino! I have heard my father name him: He was a bachelor then." This reaction suggests that Viola already respects Orsino as a ruler before she begins to love him.

    Read More

  • Views on Love in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    2440 Words  | 5 Pages

    to 'feed' his love, and wouldn’t if it was real. "O, it came o'er my

    Read More

  • The Pain and Suffering of "Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Deception in Act One of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    Viola, as Cesario, manages to win the favour of Orsino He truly believes that she is a he. Orsino, still convinced of my majesty, believes that he can win the love of a woman, via a proxy. By having Viola merely read the words he has prepared, he thinks that Olivia will fall immediately in love with him. But while Orsino had his head in the clouds about his love, Viola is attempting to conceal from him, her love for him.

    Read More

  • Parallelism In Margaret Atwood's Pulp Fiction

    1986 Words  | 4 Pages

    Oryx, who makes subtle impressions in the novel, is a character who comes off as a soft, innocent girl who has had a hard childhood, but also very mysterious. Mia Wallace, who is Marsellus Wallace's wife, also leaves subtle impression on the viewers and comes off as very mysterious and very seductive. While she is not a major character she is vital to the plot to show the direct link between her relationships with both Vincent and

    Read More

  • Festivity in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

    1372 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Disguises and Mistaken Identity in Twelfth Night

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout Twelfth Night, disguise and mistaken identity works as a catalyst for confusion and disorder which consistently contributes towards the dramatic comic genre of the play. Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola, who disguises herself as a man in order to serve Orsino, the Duke. By dressing his protagonist in male garments, Shakespeare creates ongoing sexual confusion with characters, which include Olivia, Viola and Orsino, who create a ‘love triangle’ between them. Implicitly, there is homoerotic subtext here: Olivia is in love with a woman, despite believing her to be a man, and Orsino often comments on Cesario’s beauty, which implies that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is removed. However, even subsequent to the revealing of Viola’s true identity, Orsino’s declares his love to Viola implying that he enjoys lengthening the pretence of Vio...

    Read More

  • Function of Disguise in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Viola disguises herself as Cesario, a male eunuch, and goes to work for the Duke Orsino. Unaware that Cesario is not what he seems, the Duke Orsino becomes very friendly with Cesario after just three of having known each other. Unsuccessful in his pursuit of Olivia, Orsino sends Cesario to gain her affection for him because he thinks she will be taken in by Cesario's youth. Viola, dressed as Cesario, falls in love with the duke Orsino but ... ... middle of paper ... ...was but a toy, For the rain it raineth every day' There are other songs sung by Feste which reveal a darker side to the plot such as songs with lines: 'Come away, come away death, And in sad cypress let me be laid'.

    Read More

More about Critical Evaluation of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Open Document