Disguise And Self Delusion In Twelfth Night

165 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Nature of shakespeare comedies

Disguise and self delusion are important elements of the comedy Twelfth night, Or what you will: that stand at the forefront of the plays. The use of disguise and self delusion throughout Shakespeare's comedy proves that the town of Illyria is dysfunctional. As a result of the disorientation and anarchy caused by these elements, the members of Illyria are unable to fulfill their obligations. Olivia neglecting of her responsibilities as a citizen of the town Illyria and the corrupt Leaders contribute to dysfunction created. Shakespeare has used the comedy to integrate serious issues into the plays including the ideas of genuine love, the uncertainty of gender and the corrupt leaders in the town of Illyria. Disguise and self delusion are catalysts

Show More
Related

  • The Concealment of Ones True Inner Nature in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    It has always been in human nature to hide feelings from others, but there is a point where the idea of having a healthy exterior becomes more important that what is actually happening internally. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the motif of a seemingly healthy exterior concealing inward sickness establishes the idea of characters and of the nation of Denmark as being corrupt through foreshadowing and irony.

    Read More

  • Outer Identity Doesn’t Always Match Inner Perception in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    People are not always who they appear to be. Whether it’s that fierce tattooed muscle man or that sweet elderly lady smiling from a few seats away, what is perceived is not always what is true. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night portrays many a character whose identities do not align with their inner character. Olivia’s polite ladylike demeanour, Sir Toby’s guise of nobility, and Feste’s job as a fool all demonstrate how social identities don’t always align with inner character. Olivia’s public status shows her as a caring and high-class lady, a persona that contrasts to her inner self as a bold and tenacious woman.

    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

  • Disguise in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure and Twelfth Night

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, eds. "Twelfth Night, or What You Will". William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1998.

    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

  • Function of Disguise in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

    988 Words  | 2 Pages

    Malvolio also promises revenge on those who played the trick on him and his last words symbolise parts of the darker side of Illyria: ' I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you' Disguise is the main plot in Twelfth Night and without it the storyline would not have been possible as disguise was needed in order to create the Orsino, Viola, Olivia love triangle. This is the main event in the play which is created by disguise. Disguise is also used to bring in humour and confusion to the plot without which Twelfth Night would not be the notorious and famous play as we know it today.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Identities: A Midsummer Night's Dream

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.

    Read More

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

    397 Words  | 1 Pages

    The theme of deception runs very strong in Act One. Almost all the characters seem to either be deceiving someone, or being deceived themselves.

    Read More

  • Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    970 Words  | 2 Pages

    After Olivia has her very first conversation with Cesario (Viola), where he tries to woo her for Duke Orsino, she immediately falls in love with him. After Cesario leaves her palace, Olivia says to herself ‘Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit do give thee fivefold blazon. Not too fast; soft, soft. Unless the master were the man. How now? Even so quickly may one catch the plague?’ Here Olivia states that Cesario’s external features are what attract her to him. Her metaphor contains a s...

    Read More

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

    1326 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, Or, What You Will. Ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2009. Print.

    Read More

  • Twelfth Night Essay: Appearance vs. Reality

    899 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • More than Friends William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night Or, What You Will. New York, New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • The Purpose of the Sub-plot in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

    2034 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    965 Words  | 2 Pages

    ‘Twelfth Night’ or ‘What You Will’ by Shakespeare is seen as a comedy for various reasons. However, on many occasions, this play is almost categorised as a tragedy because of the different situations that the killjoy figure has to endure, through the use of mockery. Because of this, critics find that there is a very thin line between the categorisation of the novel and therefore see ‘Twelfth Night’ as both comedy and tragedy despite the fact that the audience and Shakespeare call this play a comedy. Furthermore, Mel Brooks says ‘Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall down an open sewer and die’. Therefore, this just shows how close the genres of comedy and tragedy really are as they can both lead to similar consequences like those Malvolio faced when he was mocked excessively by Shakespeare throughout all five acts of ‘Twelfth Night’. However, this mockery also shows many social messages as Malvolio was mocked for being a puritan which implies that Elizabethans were against their doings.

    Read More

  • Disguises and Mistaken Identity in Twelfth Night

    1368 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Disguise And Self Delusion In Twelfth Night

Open Document