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Cesario And Gender

252 Words2 Pages
In Elizabethan theatre all the characters were played by men, also the female ones, so the fact that two male actors woo each other as women, make the situation comical and allows the author to introduce the question of homosexuality. Despite same sex love was not acceptable in Shakespeare’s time, the male character of Cesario work as a shield to protect the characters in the play and the audience from a direct deal with this taboo topic.
Olivia is in love with Cesario but it seems that she attracted by feminine characteristics: “Oh what a deal of scorn looks beautiful in the contempt and anger of lips!” (3.1.130-131) and she praises these qualities. She assert “Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.” (3.1.137), Olivia would love Cesario
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