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The role of mistaken identity in twelfth night
Shakespeare linguistic techniques
Twelfth night literary analysis
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A book is simply a compilation of related words which the author, a linguistic craftsman, expertly places and strings together with specific intent; a web of lies is nothing but a bundle of words which the trickster weaves to obstruct the mental senses of the deceived. And yet, the inversion or even the slight variation of those same words allows for the reversal of black and white, and lies can subsequently become truth. Further, this language alteration allows the masks and disguises assembled by words to transform into means for self-discovery, as opposed to their original aim to conceal the wearer from others and, inadvertently, the self alike. After all, as the Feste says, “A sentence is but a chev’ril glove to a good wit. How quickly the wrong side may be turned outward” (Shakespeare 3.1.10-11).
When readers flip the fabric of Twelfth Night over, they discover its alternate side, an illusory world which causes audience members to question the rigidity of truth itself and the very meaning of identity. Shakespeare spins this world into a flawed reality and, through its many falsehoods, illustrates the ethereal and ever-changing quality of a quest for the self which love’s confusion both taints and enhances. The discrepancy between the audience’s knowledge and the characters’ awareness serves to further establish and increase the gap between illusion and truth, while language merges with love to create mass confusion. But amid the chaos, the characters somehow manage to mature, learning to define themselves after attaining the ability to love selflessly.
Shakespeare manipulates word orientation and infuses his language with meaning until each sentence holds a proper place and purpose in the story’s evolution. When coupled wit...
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...n easily alter the entire meaning of a phrase and therefore cause truth to morph into deception. When Shakespeare, the master of language himself, fiddles with words and employs dramatic irony so that the fine line between reality and illusion not only blurs but disappears, the product is a play riddled with confusion, mistaken identity, and comedy. The confusion reaches its peak when love adds its own intoxicating flavor to each of the character’s journeys, serving as both the catalyst for the journey’s commencement in the first place and a perplexing enigma to unravel along the way. Through this journey, the characters develop and gain the ability to look outside themselves through loving another, until they can finally discard the masks shielding them from the world and define their true identity. Only then can reality completely and permanently replace illusion.
The characters in Twelfth Night each play an important and specific role, especially when it comes to interfering or setting fate for romantic interests. Not all characters get a happy ending, and a particular character’s husband turned out to be someone much different than who she believed to be marrying. Through dishonesty, confusion, and chicanery, each character had a helping hand in dishing out each other’s fate, but nonetheless, the relationships that resulted in a law binding marriage beat destiny and overcame every hardship standing in the way of love and happiness.
These differences in character, though seemingly small, lead the audience to draw two very different conclusions about the characters’ situations and why they are placed in them. The analyzation of the characters changes from Shakespeare’s written play to Hoffman’s rendering of A Midsummer Night’s
This paper aims to endorse physicalism over dualism by means of Smart’s concept of identity theory. Smart’s article Sensations and the Brain provides a strong argument for identity theory and accounts for many of it primary objections. Here I plan to first discuss the main arguments for physicalism over dualism, then more specific arguments for identity theory, and finish with further criticisms of identity theory.
To build a house, we need a strong base. With a strong base, we would be able to have a better foundation for the house, so it depended on us to choose what kind of base we want to use to build our house. Just like a house, an identity for an individual, is about making a decision, and that decision will shape their identity. A couple years ago, it never crossed in my mind, that one day I would live someplace away from home, family, and friends. I thought I had everything in life, and it made me never grateful with what I had. But then, I made a decision to move to United States, and since I moved to United States, I became a responsible and a grateful person.
In stark contrast to the dark and tragic "Othello," is one of Shakespeare’s lightest and funniest comedies, "Twelfth Night." The theme of love is presented in a highly comical manner. Shakespeare, however, once again proves himself a master by interweaving serious elements into humorous situations. "Twelfth Night" consists of many love triangles, however many of the characters who are tangled up in the web of love are blind to see that their emotions and feelings toward other characters are untrue. They are being deceived by themselves and/or the others around them.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
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.
Identity is a state of mind in which someone recognizes/identifies their character traits that leads to finding out who they are and what they do and not that of someone else. In other words it's basically who you are and what you define yourself as being. The theme of identity is often expressed in books/novels or basically any other piece of literature so that the reader can intrigue themselves and relate to the characters and their emotions. It's useful in helping readers understand that a person's state of mind is full of arduous thoughts about who they are and what they want to be. People can try to modify their identity as much as they want but that can never change. The theme of identity is a very strenuous topic to understand but yet very interesting if understood. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez and Farewell to Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki are two remarkable books that depict the identity theme. They both have to deal with people that have an identity that they've tried to alter in order to become more at ease in the society they belong to. The families in these books are from a certain country from which they're forced to immigrate into the United States due to certain circumstances. This causes young people in the family trauma and they must try to sometimes change in order to maintain a comfortable life. Both authors: Alvarez and Houston have written their novels Is such an exemplifying matter that identity can be clearly depicted within characters as a way in adjusting to their new lives.
Finally, this compound of overwhelmingly convincing humanity and psychological contradiction is the greatest of Shakespeare’s legacies to the men of his own quality. No ‘part’ in the whole repertory of dramatic literature is so certain of success with almost any audience, and is yet open to such a remarkable variety of interpretation. There are as many Hamlets as there are actors who play him; and Bernhardt has proved that even a woman can score a success. (101)
There are millions of words across the globe that are used to describe people and uncover their identity, but what is identity? How can you begin to describe something that varies so greatly from one human being to another? Can you create a universal meaning for a word describing human concepts that people often fail to define for themselves? Of course there isn't one definition to define such a word. It is an intricate aspect of human nature, and it has a definition just as complex.
Shakespeare thus leaves his audience to fabricate their own perception with serving only minor stage directions. They are then left with Hamlet’s lingering words, actions, and the reactions to predisposed whether Hamlet’s madness is actually feigned or legitimate. Nevertheless, The evidence does not actually define Shakespeare’s character, Hamlet. To relate, modern audiences must do their research to become accustomed to the way of thinking done by people of the Renaissance. All in all, Hamlet’s true soundness is left up to the people of today’s
Shakespeare’s presentation of the human desire for connectedness is established through the embodiment of romantic love in the play, remindin...
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...
In Shakespeare’s Othello, one’s perception of reality directly influences an individual’s actions in a negative way. This notion overwhelms people to such an extent that their actions, beliefs, and behaviour are hindered by it. Shakespeare demonstrates that human emotions require a person to mask their reality. As such, one’s belief is altered by their perception of truth, which leads to self destruction.
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.