Twelfth Night: Or What You Will Essays

  • What you will: Twelfth Night

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Twelfth Night is a play written by William Shakespeare and illustrates themes of love and truth. In Shakespeare’s playwright of “Twelfth Night”, characters imply truths to show their love. Many characters love differently and give subtle hints to show their love. Malvolio &Olivia, Sir Andrew & Olivia, and Viola & Duke Orsino are all characters who imply their love, for their significant other. To be completely mad is never possible when you have the wits to stay out of trouble. In Twelfth Night Malvolio

  • Twelfth Night Essay: Olivia's Denial

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    After first reading Twelfth Night I was puzzled at Olivia's denial of Orsino's hand in marriage and her subsequent desire for Cesario. After considerable thought and research, I intend to propose and support the argument that Olivia is not being simply "coy" towards Orsino, nor does she desire Cesario because he/she is attracted to him/her. She denies Orsino because of her refusal to marry a man of higher rank and desires to marry Cesario because he is a man of lower rank. Olivia wants to give the

  • William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: Feste

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    Trevor Nunn’s (1996) adaptation of Twelfth Night illustrates the complexity of Feste’s character and how important he is to the overall play. Ben Kingsley, the actor, presents Feste as sympathetic and gentle choric figure. It is Feste who allows the audience to see the films respect for the original play, and the existing issues within it. This includes the defencelessness of women, and the attractive, but dangerous, qualities of altering one’s true sexual identity. Interestingly, unlike the original

  • Twelve Nights Of Failure: Would Sir Andrew Succeed in 2014?

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    enduring enthusiasm. But Sir Andrew is a man who is very well acquainted with the people of Illyria and the modern readers of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as an unintelligent, craven and arrogant fool of a knight who would absolutely not find any success if he were to live in 2014. It is very clear to anyone that Sir Andrew Aguecheek was put in Twelfth Night to comically please Shakespeare’s audience. His foolish, yet leech like attitude and personality towards others would not prove this otherwise

  • Literature Response: The Twelfth Night Or What You Will

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    Literature Response “The Twelfth Night” In the play, The Twelfth Night or, What You Will, written by William Shakespeare, Viola disguises herself as a boy in order to stay safe because girls were expected to have a man by their side, but she thinks her brother is dead. Shakespeare would have a boy play Viola who is also disguised of a boy. A boy should play the role of Viola because she needs to be disguised as a man, needs to look like a man, and Orsino needs someone for the job of wooing Olivia

  • Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night or What You Will

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    everything that goes on with the servants. He is always looking to make things perfect, and things that are unorthodox, like Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, have to be rid of. ‘”If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanors, you are welcome to the house. If not, and it would please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell.”’ Even though Malvolio says that Olivia would want them to leave if they carried on being loud and rude, I think that he is just saying that because he wants them

  • Compare And Contrast What You Will Vs Twelfth Night

    795 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heart vs. Head The human race as a whole uses love to guide them through their life. Most people think with their heart and not their mind and that doesn't always tend to work out for them. In the 1602 play Twelfth Night or, What You Will by William Shakespeare this is a problem you see repeated throughout the performance. The characters in this play prove that thinking with your heart isn't always the best option even though it's the one people use more commonly through tough situations. The Duke

  • How does William Shakespeare use gender confusion and the art of disguise in ‘As You Like It’ and ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’?

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    Many of Shakespeare’s plays involve some form of disguise as a plot device and in my opinion the two which use this to the greatest effect are ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘As You Like It’. In addition, of all of Shakespeare’s works these two plays are two of most significant with regards to relying on gender confusion for comic effect. In this essay I will explore both the similarities and differences that can be found within these plays and the significance of their uses. Firstly, it is important to put

  • Love and Deceit in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

    1723 Words  | 4 Pages

    quite an indescribable word, has such an impact upon people as to cause deceit and overall confusion in every relationship. In Will Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night or What You Will, Shakespeare attempts to have a great balance of both cruelty and joy while also containing comical qualities to this romantic play. Throughout Twelfth Night or What You Will, Shakespeare uses puns with characters such as Viola to cross-dress and change their identity. "She attires herself in the disguise of a page, as

  • Comparing Romeo And Juliet And Twelfth Night

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and juliet and twelfth night are about are faith and disaster. The way the story's end might hurt the way you feel about the author. The stories that will be gone going over are how the two stories relate and have differences. The two stories both have plot, theme and symbolism. Forbidden faith is one of the themes that will be talked about. The way the priest thinks the families will not have hatred after the two get married and show off. After their love they think the families will understand

  • Social Inequality In Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    “work[ing] through [the performance] to its own logical end,” (Frye, 1957) which, by distinction, must necessitate Frye’s New World. Twelfth Night strongly employs a similar cyclical structure that defines an insincere conclusion, levered to impose contemporary social hierarchy. By proliferating Aristotle’s, “great chain of being,” the bard shackles his conception of Twelfth Night – and crucially the characters involved- to the very same distribution - dictating a predetermined resolution. Arguably Shakespeare’s

  • As You Like It and Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

    1126 Words  | 3 Pages

    professional scholars and English students and Shakespeare fanatics alike. To most, the subtext is just as important as the writing itself, and this is understandable. Two plays in particular—As You Like It and Twelfth Night—rely significantly on subtext. The audience’s interpretation is based entirely on what is shown to them, including the subtext, and this is on both the playwright’s and the actors’ parts: how it is written, and how it is played. Throughout the ages, implications of homosexual desire

  • Twelfth Night Research Paper

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jennifer Lowe Prof. Culpepper ENGL 1213 February 5, 2016 Commentary-Twelfth Night “In the Name Of Love” In the play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, emotions set the stage as we explore how the many forms of love, that are introduced into this romantic comedy. As we navigate through the play, we start to see the different examples of fondness, the characters of Twelfth Night, have for each other. Orsino and Viola (masked as Cesario) find themselves between infatuation and true love in the

  • The Twelfth Night: A Happy Ending?

    1515 Words  | 4 Pages

    degree of expectation with the genre of comedy that despite whatever difficulties appear within the play, by the end these will be resolved and the play will have a traditional happy-ending with a marriage or a celebration in the final scene. The “Twelfth Night” is no exception to this rule. Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they “have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as

  • She's The Man Play Vs Movie

    590 Words  | 2 Pages

    example to this problem, it is a film based off of the play written by Shakespeare : Twelfth Night. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night play is in fact his most popular comedic piece, though some of the humour is said to go over the heads of younger audiences and can be confusing due to the fact that it is written in shakespearean. “ She’s The Man “ is a modern day movie, filmed in 2006. It follows the plot of Twelfth Night, and even has all of the characters hidden within the movie. Since it was filmed

  • Analysis Of Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare

    1734 Words  | 4 Pages

    Twelfth Night’s Inspiration and Consequenting Inspiration Stranded on the island of Illyria, Shakespeare’s Viola puts her hope in a plan to become the boy Cesario. Viola “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my intent.” (Shakespeare Act I, scene ii, line 53) Disguise, masquerade, opposite of intention; in many ways, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is the authority on concealment. At the turn of the 16th century, the distinguished comedy depicts

  • Two of Shakespeare’s Most Successful Comedies

    833 Words  | 2 Pages

    Much Ado About Nothing and Twelfth Night are two of Shakespeare’s most successful comedies. Some may say that the two poems are like day and night, much different from one another. But it will be proven to you that they are very similar. Shakespeare incorporates many of the strong elements of Much Ado About Nothing into Twelfth Night and vice-versa. The characters also share common traits across both plays. The settings have a slight utopian feeling, as both worlds are based on Italy. Even the plots

  • A Streetcar Named Desire and Twelfth Night: Comparative task

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    has gone through a traumatic period and is struggling with who she is. Malvolio is is a typical brown nose, he will do anything to gain favor of Countess Olivia. However those opposite characters explore the same themes.Through their roles in Twelfth Night and A Streetcar named Desire, Malvolio and Blanche both undergo unrequited love and downfall but because sympathy is created for Blanche both characters have an opposite effect on the audience. Blanche’s downfall in A Streetcar Named Desire is

  • Comparing Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night

    1984 Words  | 4 Pages

    Parallels between Measure for Measure and The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night What is comedy?  Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia says: "A comedy depicts the follies and absurdities of human beings."  Webster's Dictionary defines comedy as: "A drama or narrative with a happy ending."  Shakespeare's play, Measure for Measure, fits both of these descriptions.  Follies and absurdities are present in the play: Lucio slanders the Duke, not realizing that his crude remarks are

  • Similarities Between As You Like It And Twelfth Night

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    Haonan Sun James Lee ENG 121-01 Love and Marriages in As You Like It and Twelfth Night It is well known that Shakespeare’s comedies contain many marriages, some arranged, some spontaneous. During Queen Elizabeth's time, it was considered foolish to marry for love. However, in Shakespeare’s plays, people often marry for love. With a closer look into two of his most famous plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night or What You Will, I found that while marriages are defined and approached differently