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Literary analysis of twelfth night
Critical overview of the play twelfth night by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Literary analysis of twelfth night
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In the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare constructs his views on multiple universal truths, strengthening his ideas with the implementation of literary devices. Thus, the author incorporates humor and irony to emphasize the reversal of the natural order in the play where the lower class is portrayed as the most intelligent, the upper class is plagued with fallacies, and characters seeking love outside of their class in order to attack Elizabethan society of its rigid hierarchy and social standings. Throughout the extent of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare extorts the subversion of the natural order with the implementation of humor and irony, manifesting how the lowest characters in standing are the greatest in intelligence, while attacking Elizabethan …show more content…
society for correlating brilliance to social rank. In Olivia’s manor, the Clown attempts to exhibit how Olivia is the true fool out of the two. As the conversation continues, Olivia explains to Feste, a clown, that her ceaseless mourning was for her recently deceased brother, who she perceives to be in heaven; however, Feste contradicts her ideology as mourning “for [her] brother’s soul being in heaven” (Page 49 Lines 65-67) is an irrational action. Feste, a man perceived to be ignorant detests the beliefs of a high ranking, intelligent mistress, presenting dramatic irony that develops Feste’s articulate and brilliant nature which was previously obstructed by prevailing views of clowns in Elizabethan England and the mixing of intelligence with social standings. In addition, Shakespeare’s attack on the upper class’ distaste for those subservient to them elicits the notion that although greater than them in many ways, the wealthy men and women in Elizabethan England still constrain the ability for lower class peoples to increase in social status. Furthermore, when singing a song to the Duke, Feste expands Shakespeare's’ ideology of subordinate characters in societal class possessing the greatest intellect as he comments on the inconsistency of Orsino’s love and how he “would have men of such constancy put to sea” (Page. 82 Line 75). Shakespeare’s dramatic irony exhibited in Feste's ability to comprehend the folly of the Duke’s love while he is oblivious to this evokes the sense of the clown outclassing the Duke in wisdom. Moreover, The author criticizes the nobles of Elizabethan society for ignoring the wit aroused by lower class individual such as clowns ensuring that the social structure maintains its integrity. Finally, when traveling to Olivia's house, Viola encounters the clown inaugurating a conversation that discusses multiple topics. In turn, Viola and Feste begin to hurl articulate jokes back and forth at each other where Viola explains how Feste “mayst say the king lies by a beggar, if a beggar dwell near him; or, the church stand by thy tabor, if thy tabor stand by the church” (Page. 99 Lines 8-10). The absurdity in their discussion conveys a sense of witty humor that only the characters with the lowest social standing, Viola and Feste, can compete with one another in the realm of Twelfth Night. Thus, the manifestation of the reversed natural order in this scene detests the views of high ranking official in Elizabethan society who believe only those at the top are competent enough to participate in these types of discourses. Ultimately, Shakespeare’s characterization of the intelligence of lower class individuals with the incorporation of humor and irony depicts the subversion of the natural order, destroying the attributing of intelligence to social class. In the play, Shakespeare evinces the subversion of the natural order with the employment of humor and irony to exhibit the fallacies upperclass men and women were plagued by in society while deconstructing the facade of perfection held by them. After Cesario speaks to Feste outside of Olivia’s manor, she comments in an aside on how the job of a clown “is a practice as full of labour as a wise man’s art; for folly that he wisely shows is fit, But wise men, folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit”(Page 100-101 Lines 58-60). Violas dramatic irony of the clown overcoming philosophies and other intellectual nobles in levels of brilliance denounces the idealistic image high class men and women hold upon themselves as a clown, a subservient being detests their superficial ability to devastate lower class peoples in competitions of wit. Moreover, Shakespeare develops this ideology when Sir Andrew is told by Toby to “accost” or speak to Maria first, resulting in Andrew greeting Maria by the name “accost” as he “desire[s] better acquaintance” (Page 39 Line 50). The humor emitted from Sir Andrew's inability to contemplate the name of Maria depicts the folly upperclass men in Elizabethan society contain in their intellect. Thus, Shakespeare attacks the ideology of society to view nobles as a pure image of brilliance and character, when in reality, as seen in Sir Andrew’s Character, nobles are susceptible to folly just like the lower class. In addition, the reversal of the natural order is built upon through the deception of Sebastian having similar looks to Cesario on Andrew and Sir toby as he forces Sebastian to “hold, sir, or i’ll throw your dagger o’er the house” (Page. 136 Line 25-26). The chaotic presence of this seen constructs a humorous tone through the deception of Sir Toby and Andrew, in turn portraying the fallacies upperclass men are tainted by in intellect and common sense. Shakespeare’s depiction of the lack of competence upperclassmen contain places them on a level similar to subordinate individuals, sculpting the notion that nobles are still imperfect humans and fall into the folly of image and gender fluidity. Thus, the authors application of irony and humor devastates the image of perfection society hold nobles to, in turn manifesting the fallacies upperclassmen are plagued by and the reversal of the natural order. Over the course of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare depicts the reversal of the natural order with the incorporation of humor and irony through the desire to marry out of one's social class in order to manifest how the stagnant social hierarchy may attempt to, but does not obstinate true love.
When Olivia begins to feel intimacy towards Cesario, she explains how he “might do much” such as compelling her to fall in love with him, making her wonder “what [Cesario’s] parentage” (Page. 55 Lines 263-264) is in order to see if she can marry him. Shakespeare's’ dramatic irony viewed when Olivia ponders the class of Cesario, manifests the love she has for him and her hopes to have the ability to marry him, a direct subversion of the natural order. Thus, the author’s portrayal of Olivia’s undying love for Cesario and her want to marry him, even at the cost of her rank detests how the rigid social hierarchy does not attempt to constrain her true love.. Moreover, the universal truth of the subversion of the natural order is developed when Fabian confesses to Olivia and Malvolio the scheme of how “Maria writ the letter at Sir Toby's great importance” and “in recompense whereof he hath married her” (Page 162 Lines 343-344). The dramatic irony in Toby’s actions of marrying Maria, a women lower than him in class, as a cause of one honorable deed depicts the folly in the fixed social hierarchy as it does not limit the boundaries of love as manifested in Maria and Toby. Finally, Shakespeare develops the notion that social order is flipped in Twelfth Night when the Duke asks Viola to marry him; The inconsistency of his love shifts from Olivia to Viola as he explains how Viola will be “Orsino’s mistress and his fancy queen” (Page 162 Lines 376-377). The verbal irony in this scene of how Orsino refers to Cesario, still dressed as a man as his queen, elicits that even while she was a servant, Orsino still felt some adoration and affection towards her. In addition Orsino breaks the limits of
the natural order as he marries a woman far below his social standing, manifesting Shakespeare’s ideology that the static social order does confine his inconstant love. Therefore, Shakespeare’s employment of irony and humor illustrates how love in Elizabethan England is not confined by the social hierarchy, that men and women should have the ability to marry out of their class, exhibiting the subversion of natural order in Twelfth Night. Overall, Shakespeare’s proficient implementation of irony and humor enables him to depict how the upper class is tainted with fallacies, the lower class is portrayed as the most intelligent, and how characters seek love outside of their social class in order to manifest the subversion of the natural order. Shakespeare's ultimate goal was to call for a change to be brought to society of Elizabethan times, so that in the future, greater social equality and mobility exists, enabling humanity to express its innate individualistic and free mentality.
William, Shakespeare Twelfth Night. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume B. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006. 1079-1139.
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, gender, homosexuality, and social ambition, are relevant in today’s society, making them easy to relate to.
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.
William, Shakespeare Twelfth Night. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume B. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006. 1079-1139.
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.
Shakespeare distinguished social classes by contrasting poetic meter between characters in A Midsummer’s Night Dream. The working class, Athenian Nobles and the fantasy world collided together to create chaos. As Shakespeare broke down the tradition of social classes, he created chaos and the motif of disorder in his play. Ultimately, the sense of order is rooted in tradition and when tradition is torn away society has nothing left to fall back on.
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
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.
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night Or, What You Will. New York, New York: New American Library, 1998. Print.
"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 dramatic and poetic techniques and his use of hyperbole are used to describe the characters emotions and weaknesses. The use of dramatic irony is used to create personal conflict. This is done throughout the play to describe the characters concerns and their situations.
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...