Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
20th century gender roles in literature
Shakespeares view of love
20th century gender roles in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: 20th century gender roles in literature
Viola: Main character, Viola disguises as her twin brother Sebastian so she can cover for him whilst he is London playing music, she also does it so that she can playing on his schools soccer team (Illyria). Viola becomes Duke Orsino’s roommate and falls in love with him but cannot go out with him as Duke is under the impression that she is a guy. Duke doesn’t really like Sebastian but a plan to show how much of a ‘man’ he is by having ‘hot chicks’ come and flirt with him causes Duke and his friends to revaluate their previous decision. Towards the end of the movie Duke finds out and becomes furious with what Viola has done. At the end of the movie Duke shows up to Violas debutant ball as her partner and they begin to date. Viola is from Cornwell. …show more content…
Malcolm is constantly telling everyone the rules and whenever some does something that is not ‘correct’ Malcolm is there to put a stop to it. Malcolm talks to his spider Malvolio a lot about his love for Olivia and expresses his hatred towards Sebastian (AKA Viola) as Olivia becomes interested in him not Malcolm. Malcolm’s spider goes missing and he hands out missing posters in the hope of finding it. Malcolm does some digging it Sebastian and realises that it is actually Viola and goes to the soccer match between Cornwell and Illyria to show everyone that Sebastian is actually a girl. Unfortunately for him the real Sebastian has replaced Viola and Malcolm becomes embarrassed as his plan failed and …show more content…
Toby likes Eunice but Eunice is a nerd and feels embarrassed if he was to go out with her.
Sir Toby and Sir Andrew Aguecheek: Members of Olivia’s household. Sir Andrew loves Olivia and is trying to get her to court with him.
Maria: Olivia’s friend who is a bit on the outside but constantly follows Olivia around.
Maria: A member of Olivia’s household who is referred to as the ‘witty and pretty waiting-gentlewomen’ who devises the practical joke to play on Malvolio.
Paul Antonio: The hairdresser who helps Viola come up with her disguise to wear to Illyria. Paul also helps Viola get in with Duke and his friends by organising the scene when Kia and Yvonne go and flirt with Sebastian.
Antonio: The person who helped Sebastian survive the shipwreck and come to Illyria. Antonio is an enemy of Dukes and gets arrested and dragged of after Cesario denies knowing him (Antonio thought Cesario was Sebastian).
Justin who was Violas boyfriend when she attended Cornwall is not Twelfth Night.
Monique is Sebastian’s ex is not in Twefth
During the weeks leading up to matrimony, Olivia fell madly in love with Cesario, who though looks and sounds just like Sebastian, is truly Viola dressed as a man. Sebastian does not realize this as he meets Olivia for the first time. He is amazed that a woman of her statue and beauty would feel so strong for him and he wastes no time.... ... middle of paper ...
...ce Viola is believed to be a male for most of the play, it may be more convincing to the audience if she is being played by a male. If I wished for my stage adaptation of the play to be less realistic and more entertaining, I would cast the play with a mixture of cross-gender characters.
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.
Viola and Beatrice both take on men's roles, Viola that of a manservant and Beatrice that of the perpetual bachelor and the clown: "I was born to speak all mirth and no matter," she says to Don Pedro [II.i.343-4]. They appear to be actors and manipulators, much more so than their female predecessors, who are mostly reactive and manipulated, such as Hermia, Helena, Titania, and Gertrude. None of these women seemed in charge of her own destiny, but tricked by the schemes of men and later scorned or humiliated as a result of male machinations. Viola and Beatrice, although they both seem fiercely independent and comfortable in a man's world, reveal themselves to have only the trappings of manhood, and not its full capacity for action. They are undone by unrequited love, made desperately unhappy by their inability to woo the man of their choosing. In the end, it is only coincidence and the plotting of other characters that bring the true nature of their affections into the open and thus force the plays to their respective matrimonial conclusions.
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.
Le Morte d’Arthur has several different themes working within in for Hollywood to choose from. An easy one for moviemakers is the glorification of the hero. In Malory’s work it appears that he is glorifying Arthur but really his work is being very critical. Arthur is an interesting man, and Malory constructs his character to stand out. But he also gives Arthur flaws that inevitably bring about his demise.
Twelfth Night revolves heavily around the shipwreck plot device to split apart the siblings Viola and Sebastian, leading to the development of a bizarre love-triangle and a case of mistaken identity. Besides the rather literal importance of the sea as the driving force for the play’s plot, water appears to resonate as a recurring theme throughout many scenes; specifically, it becomes a living representation for the emotional status of various characters, and woven within the ebb and flow of the tides, qualities such as fate, grief, death (imagined or real), and reflection churn amongst the brackish waters of the play’s symbolic ocean. Of course, because Twelfth Night fails to meet definition of a tragedy outright, these elements will not lead
In William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night” the alleged Puritan Malvolio is the unpopular rigidity, hypocritical and gullible steward made to look a fool by those he has humiliated (Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, Fabian and Feste) which appeals to the audience. Malvolio is more the victim of his own psychic propensities than he is Maria’s gull, as his own beliefs appear to engineer his downfall. In Suzann Collins trilogy the “Hunger Games” the down to earth “pure” President Snow obtains those exact qualities of Malvolio. He appears to be on the people’s side but we soon learn that he overwhelms himself with power and takes himself down.
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.
Orsino sends Cesario expresses his affection for Olivia, which Cesario/Viola is not thrilled about. with.
For any young female, this would be a devastating situation to be thrown into, and viola was no exception. Apart from having to deal with the loss of her brother, she also had to find a way to survive in illyria. Perhaps this is where the resilience in viola's nature is first shown instead of breaking down and mourning bitterly the death of her loved one, she immediately devises a plan to disguise herself as a male and serve duke orsino.
Twelfth Night consists of a large number of love triangles, however many characters are too indulged in love that they are blind to the untrue, and the weakness of their relationship, they are deceived by themselves and many people around them ( ex. Malvolio is tricked by Sir Andrew, Feste ,Sir Toby and Maria),but there are certain incidents where the love is true and two characters feel very strongly about one another. In the play, Viola and Orsino have the most significant relationship. The way they interact with each other causes the complexity on which the play is all about, their relationship turns from strangers to friends then lovers .In the First Act Viola is not honest with Orsino because she disguises herself as a male servant named Cesario in order to get closer to the duke. Orsino. Orsino quickly trusts Cesario and sends him to Olivia to declare Orsinos Love for her, the girl he most dearly loves. This quick bond is the fast example of their relationship. At the beginning of the play, Viola thinks her brother (Sebastian) is dead (after they’re deadly boat crash, where they get separated) when actually he is alive and thinks she is dead, Viola always seems to have a part missing from her which shows her bond with Sebastian is strong, and a part of her but in a brotherly/sisterly way rather than a proper relationship like viola and orsino, At the end of the play they meet and both fall in love , Viola with Orsino and Sebastian with Olivia.
Viola/Ceasario's disguise hides most of her past: the shipwreck, her lost brother, and the fact that she is a woman. Her identity now as a man, is to move on in life and get a job. Her love for Orsino is hidden with her original identity, as though she works for him as his servant. She is a very strong character in the play. "I prithee (and I’ll pay thee bounteously)/ Conceal me what I am, and be my aid/ For such disguise as haply shall become/ The form of my intent. I’ll serve this duke." (1.2.52-55). After the shipwreck and the loss of her brother, Viola decides to move on using a disguise as her shield. Viola’s secret love for Orsino is different than the way Olivia loves Ceasario. Olivia is in lo...
Seeing as Malvolio the puritan is a killjoy figure, Feste, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria constantly mock and terrorise him. And as they don’t take a liking to him, Malvolio goes through situations where he is ridiculed because of who he is, the status he has (being a steward in Olivia’s household), the background he is from and the fact that he is a person of ill will, suggested by his name (Italian for I wish you bad).
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...