twelfth night theme

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic is the play's main focus. despite the fact the play offers a happy ending, i which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, shakespare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the charaters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks it victims suddenly. Various charaters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or rather, from the pangs og unrequited love. At one point Orsino depicts loe dolefully as an 'appetie' that he wants to satsify and cannot; at another point he calls his desires “fell and cruel hounds” (I.i.21). Olivia more bluntly describes love as a “plague” from which she suffers terribly (I.v.265). These metaphors contain an element of violence, further painting the love-struck as victims of some random force in the universe. Even the less melodramatic Viola sighs unhappily that “My state is desperate for my master’s love”. This desperation has the potential to result in violence—as in Act V, scene i, when Orsino threatens to kill Cesario because he thinks that -Cesario has forsaken him to become Olivia’s lover.Love is also exclusionary: some people achieve romantic happiness, while others do not. At the end of the play, as the happy lovers rejoice, both Malvolio and Antonio are prevented from having the objects of their desire. Malvolio, who has pursued Olivia, must ultimately face the realization that he is a fool, socially unworthy of his noble mistress. Antonio is in a more difficult situation, as social norms do not allow for the gratification of his apparently sexual attraction to Sebastian. Love, thus, cannot conquer all obstacles, and those whose desires go unfulfilled remain no less in love but feel the sting of its absence all the more severely.

Gender is 1 of the most obvouis and much dissuced topics in the play. it is one of shakespeares so called transvestite comedies, in which a female charater- Voila- disgusies herself as a man. this situation created sexual confusion. the love tirangle between olivia, voila and Orsino. there is a clear homosexual subtext here: Olivia is in love with a woman, even though she thinks she is a man and orsino remarks on her beauty even before her male disguse is removed. this lantent homoertoiscism finds an explict echo in the minor charater antino, who is passionate about antino. 

Yet, even at the play’s close, Shakespeare leaves things somewhat murky, especially in the Orsino-Viola relationship. Orsino’s declaration of love to Viola suggests that he enjoys prolonging the pretense of Viola’s masculinity. Even after he knows that Viola is a woman, Orsino says to her, “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never should’st love woman like to me” (V.i.260–261). Similarly, in his last lines, Orsino declares, “Cesario, come— / For so you shall be while you are a man; / But when in other habits you are seen, / Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen” (V.i.372–375). Even once everything is revealed, Orsino continues to address Viola by her male name. We can thus only wonder whether Orsino is truly in love with Viola, or if he is more enamoured of her male persona

The problem of social ambition works itself out largely through the character of Malvolio, the steward, who seems to be a competent servant, if prudish and dour, but proves to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to rise out of his social class. Maria plays on these ambitions when she forges a letter from Olivia that makes Malvolio believe that Olivia is in love with him and wishes to marry him. Sir Toby and the others find this fantasy hysterically funny, of course—not only because of Malvolio’s unattractive personality but also because Malvolio is not of noble blood. In the class system of Shakespeare’s time, a noblewoman would generally not sully her reputation by marrying a man of lower social status.Yet the atmosphere of the play may render Malvolio’s aspirations less unreasonable than they initially seem. The feast of Twelfth Night, from which the play takes its name, was a time when social hierarchies were turned upside down. That same spirit is alive in Illyria: indeed, Malvolio’s antagonist, Maria, is able to increase her social standing by marrying Sir Toby. This Twelfth Night spirit, then, seems to pass by Malvolio, who doesn’t wholeheartedly embrace the upending of order and decorum but rather wants to blur class lines for himself alone.

love and desire fucntion as powerful drivers of plot becuase they seem to strike suddeny ad unpredictably, and becuase they render charaters helpless to change thier feelings. Olivia is starltled and somewhat dismayed to recongise the desire she feels in repsonse to Ceasrio. Viola ehcoes this senitment when, finding herself trapped in a love triangle with Olvia and Orsino, she says that 'it is too hard a knot for me to unite' when When Malvolio starts to believe that Olivia is in love with him, he reasons that “Tis but fortune, all is fortune” (2.5.). Even though it seems surprising that a high-ranking woman like Olivia would be romantically interested in her own employee, Malvolio believes that Olivia’s love for him is a step toward his true destiny. Likewise, Sebastian doesn’t seek a logical explanation for Olivia’s strange behavior, trusting that their relationship is an “accident and flood of fortune” (4.3.). For most of the characters, with the notable exception of Malvolio, this strategy works well, since by the end of the play, everyone has found a partner they are happy with.

When she first finds herself stranded in Ilyria, Viola decides to “conceal me what I am” (1.2.), entrusting only the Captain with her secret. As a young woman who could be vulnerable to attack or sexual assault, she is also much safer if she is disguised as a man. However, Viola quickly learns the cost of maintaining a disguise. Her intentions and actions are constantly misinterpreted, and she cannot correct these mistakes without betraying her secret. While disguise and deception cause serious difficulties for Viola, and even threaten her life when Orsino falsely believes that Cesario has stolen Olivia away from him, the play also suggests that disguise can serve a positive purpose as well. In a time when women were expected to follow strict rules of social decorum, Viola’s masculine disguise gives her the chance to speak her mind much more freely. This shift is most apparent in the scene where Orsino and the disguised Viola argue about how men and women behave in love. Viola stands up for women, arguing that “In faith, they are as true of heart as we” (2.4.).

In the play, gender and sexuality are portrayed as ambiguous, unstable, and sometimes fluid. When Viola disguises herself as a man, she stipulates that “thou shall present me as an ****** to [the Duke]” (1.2.). In some cultures and historical periods, young men would be castrated in order to enter specific occupations, often as personal servants to high-ranking individuals, or in positions where they would have close contact with women. As a ******, Viola would be viewed as not quite a woman, and not quite a man. Both Orsino and Olivia recognize that Viola defies traditional binary gender conventions. Orsino comments about Cesario that “all is semblative a woman’s part” (1.4.) Interestingly, Viola’s ambivalent gender position seems to only make her more attractive. Other storylines also echo the idea of a fluid form of desire not rooted in gender. Orsino’s relationship with Cesario might simply be a close and affectionate friendship, but it also seems to hint at romantic elements, such as when he refers to Cesario as one “…whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly” (5.1.). However, while the play introduces elements of fluidity and ambiguity, it closes with a firmly heteronormative conclusion.

When Olivia wants to let Cesario know that she loves him, she sends him a ring by way of Malvolio. Later, when she mistakes Sebastian for Cesario, she gives him a precious pearl. In each case, the jewel serves as a token of her love—a physical symbol of her romantic attachment to a man who is really a woman. The gifts are more than symbols, though. “Youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed,” Olivia says at one point, suggesting that the jewels are intended almost as bribes—that she means to buy Cesario’s love if she cannot win it (III.iv.3).

When Sir Toby and Maria pretend that Malvolio is mad, they confine him in a pitch-black chamber. Darkness becomes a symbol of his supposed insanity, as they tell him that the room is filled with light and his inability to see is a sign of his madness. Malvolio reverses the symbolism. “I say this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell; and I say there was never man thus abused” (IV.ii.40–42). In other words, the darkness—meaning madness—is not in the room with him, but outside, with Sir Toby and Feste and Maria, who have unjustly imprisoned him.

Clothes are powerful in Twelfth Night. They can symbolize changes in gender—Viola puts on male clothes to be taken for a male— as well as class distinctions. When Malvolio fantasizes about becoming a nobleman, he imagines the new clothes that he will have. When Feste impersonates Sir Topas, he puts on a nobleman’s garb, even though Malvolio, whom he is fooling, cannot see him, suggesting that clothes have a power that transcends their physical function.

The style of Twelfth Night is festive, mischievous, and witty. The title of the play refers to the twelfth night after Christmas, which is the night before Epiphany. Epiphany is a religious celebration marking the time the three Magi brought gifts to the infant Jesus. Traditionally, Twelfth Night is a day of celebrations, frivolity, song and music, and an overall topsy-turvy spirit. The style of the play Twelfth Night taps into the holiday’s playful irreverence. The play’s festive elements find clearest expression through the characters of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who stay up late drinking, dancing, and instigating mischief. “I delight in masques and revels sometimes altogether” says Sir Andrew (I.iii.). Sir Toby frequently echoes this party sentiment: “…Let us therefore eat and drink. Marian, I say! A stoup of wine!” (II.ii.). Similarly, the ample use of music in the play further channels the celebratory mood of Epiphany, such as Sir Toby and Andrew’s fun and improvised “catches,” and the songs that Feste performs throughout.

Meanwhile, the frequent use of puns and double entendre (deployed mostly by Feste) give the play its distinctly witty feel. “A sentence is but a chev’ril glove to a good wit,” Feste says to Viola (III.i), meaning that a clever imagination can twist language inside-out like a glove, manipulating sense at will. Feste often skillfully uses verbal puns to reveal the hidden traits of other characters. When he brazenly calls Lady Olivia a “fool,” and insists that she (not him) be taken away, he reasons that since her brother is now in a better place, as she herself believes, then she is foolish to grieve as intensely as she does: “The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother’s soul in heaven” (I.v.). Feste’s pun questions the true meaning of a word like “fool.” Is Feste a fool simply because of his profession as a jester and clown, or is Olivia a fool for her indulgent attachment to an irrational melancholy? In general, the use of puns serves to cut through characters’ delusions about themselves and reveal their true motivations.

The use of prose and verse reflects the mischievous upturning of social identities and hierarchies in Twelfth Night. For most of the play, prose and verse signal differences of privilege among the characters. Aristocratic characters tend to speak in verse when either addressing one another or when engaged in introspection, while servants tend to speak in prose. The first two scenes of Act I are perfect examples of this rule. The noble-born Orsino and Viola speak in verse (which end in rhyming couplets) while Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew speak in prose. However, once Viola has disguised herself as Cesario, she speaks both verse and prose. For example, when she goes to see Lady Olivia in Act I scene v, she speaks prose while Olivia’s servant, Maria, is in the room. Once Maria exits, Cesario switches to verse to praise Olivia’s beauty. Lady Olivia is initially reluctant to reciprocate with verse, still seeing Cesario as a lowly servant, but she eventually capitulates, effectively expressing romantic interest. Anomalies in the interchange of prose and verse complement the mischievous style of Twelfth Night.

The overall point of view of Twelfth Night is dramatic, but it follows certain characters more than others, encouraging the audience to sympathize with their particular perspective and sensibility. In Twelfth Night, the most privileged characters are Viola and Feste. Viola and Feste possess the greatest insight into themselves and other characters. The play is partial to these two perspectives because they form the sensible and sober anchors of an otherwise raucous free-for-all. We get the least insight into Malvolio’s point of view, so we enjoy the jokes and pranks the other characters play on him. Malvolio is separated from the others both by his Puritanism and his disapproval of the songs, drinking, and frivolity the others value. If Malvolio is the play’s outsider, Viola and Feste are the insiders of the play, providing a consistent point of reference while also instilling a dose of sanity into the madness of Twelfth Night’s universe.

In many ways, Viola is uniquely placed within the play. Until the final act, she is the only character who shares the dramatic irony of Cesario’s double identity with the audience. At several points Viola speaks directly to the audience, such as when she reveals her secret desire to marry the Duke: “Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” (I.iv.). Furthermore, Viola has the advantage of witnessing the inner workings of both Orsino’s and Olivia’s courts. Because of her cunning, she comes across as one of the more intelligent figures in the play. And the consistency of her motivations makes her one of the most stable and willful; unlike Olivia and Orsino, Viola knows what she wants and doesn’t deviate from her goal. The fact that she begins the play believing she just lost her beloved twin brother makes her sympathetic to the audience, and makes us want to see her joined with another character. Accordingly, the audience is biased toward Viola’s point of view. She serves as a reliable touchstone, and is closely aligned with what we, as audience members, already know and see.

Feste is also specially situated within Twelfth Night. Much like Viola, Feste is privy to the workings of both courts, and is also portrayed as shrewd and discreetly knowing. As Viola admits to herself: “This fellow’s wise enough to play the fool, and to do that well craves a kind of wit” (III.i.). Although he might not be aware of Viola’s disguise, Feste has cutting insight into other characters. He calls Olivia a fool for her self-indulgent melancholy; suggests that Orsino’s moody and erratic mind resembles an opal changing colors; and is not afraid to point out Sir Toby’s excessive drinking. He also has the last say: his pensive song at the end functions as a kind of ultimate judgment, shaping the way the audience will interpret and remember the events of the play. Feste both participates in Twelfth Night and also offers commentary with an objective distance. Feste serves as a stand-in for the consciousness of the audience: he is essentially thinking what we are thinking, and through his witty commentary gives us a vicarious representation within the play itself.