Male Identity And Sexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

In Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night the great bard uses humor and mistaken identity not only to poke fun at romantic stories of “perfect love” and the foolish behavior of the aristocrats, but also to reveal man’s anxieties surrounding courtship, gender performance, and love as a whole. The portion of the play I have chosen to analyze are lines 188-256 in Act 5 scene one when Sebastian enters the stage and discovers Viola alive. The siblings give information about themselves to determine each other’s identity before Viola finally reveals herself to be female, allowing the farce to come to an end and the characters to return to their normal roles. Viola then declares her love for Orsino and he accepts her affections. While this scene is certainly

Many of the expectations surrounding male identity, especially at Shakespeare’s time, had to do with a man’s ability to control and impress women. Further, women at the time were expected to be affectionate and subservient to men, and the majority of their youth was focused on finding a husband. Shakespeare upsets these norms in Twelfth Night through hints of homosexuality, although these are more subtle than the motifs of gender roles and gender performance. The most explicit hints of homosexuality come from Sebastian’s friend and savior Antonio, who shows enough affection for the young man to be suspicious. Although Antonio’s sexuality remains ambiguous his affection also seems stronger than friendship. For example, Antonio is willing to escort Sebastian through the city even though he could be killed if he was caught, and gives Sebastian all his money in order to buy souvenirs. When he is caught and pleads to Cesario to help him, believing it is Sebastian, he appears to be more upset with the betrayal than his potential death, saying “’His life I gave him, and did thereto add/ my love, without retention or restraint/ all his in dedication. For his sake/ did I expose myself—pure for his love—‘” (5.1.66-69). Though Antonio’s sexuality is the most ambiguous in the play, there are undeniable hints of homosexuality in the main characters as well. Although Olivia denies the courtship of many men, she is instantly attracted to Cesario based on his looks and compliments his more womanly features when she says “’O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful/ in the contempt and anger of his lip!’” (3.1.126-127). This suggests that she is not attracted to the male body, but the female form. Viola rejects the woman’s advances and is attracted to Orsino; however, she falls in love with him as she is playing a masculine role, complicating her sexuality as well. Throughout the play Viola hints at her love for