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Christianity In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

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Throughout the Elizabethan era, Christianity played a pivotal role in the development of government and support (or lack thereof) of individuals. The Puritans attempted to close theaters, and, according to scholar R. Balfour Daniels “sought to circumscribe life and hold it in with a stern and austere restraint” (Daniels, 41). Additionally, Elizabethan England had three contradictory and competing forms of Christianity. The Anglican Church, also known as Protestantism, was used in government and the official religion of the Queen, and any who criticized it were often killed. Puritans opposed the Protestants, and Catholics, the more traditional sect, was practiced by a significant minority (Raffel, 38-39). The religious and pious figures in Shakespeare’s …show more content…

When Olivia is first entertained by the Fool, she recognizes that “[Malvolio] [is] sick of self-love,” revealing Malvolio’s arrogance (Twelfth Night 1.5, 89-92). This arrogance is linked to his Christian self-righteousness when Maria describes him as “a puritan...an affectioned ass…[that] persuaded of himself,...that it is his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him, (TN 2.3, 145-150). Thus, Maria identifies that Malvolio’s self-love is tied up in his piousness, and that he uses his moral superiority as justification for his high opinion of himself. Malvolio takes this pride and sense of superiority further by desiring to be “Count Malvolio,” and imagining Sir Toby “curts[ying]” to him, indicating not only his desire for prestige and power, but his belief that Sir Toby is physically lower than himself because of his “drunkenness,”(TN 2.5, 34, 60-73). Malvolio thus uses his Puritanism as fuel for his actions and desires, imagining himself to be morally superior to Sir Toby and therefore more entitled to a higher social position. Later on, after Malvolio falls for Maria’s plan and dresses “in yellow stockings” to woo Olivia, Maria notes that “Malvolio is turned heathen,” and that his dress is something “no Christian that means to be saved...can ever believe,” revealing that Malvolio is not as pious as previously noted, and thus suggests a hypocrisy in his sanctimonious attitude (TN 3.3, 67-71). Through the contradictory and laughable behavior of the proud and pious Malvolio, Shakespeare presents a less than admirable religious figure, thus revealing the ways in which piety can be manipulated for more self-serving

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1. The Church of England was already turbulent with the tension between the antiquated Catholics and the emerging Protestants. The Puritans were part of a subset of Protestants, so naturally one would expect them to have resolved their issues with the Church of England throughout Protestant control. While the Puritans certainly favored Protestant rule over the Catholics, with whom they had a diametric set of beliefs, they were never favored by the Protestant rulers in turn. Obviously, the Puritans regarded themselves as worthy of their opinions and of a higher place in government.

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In search of religious freedom a group of devout Christians sailed across the ocean only to come across a new land, radically different from the one they left behind. From the initial journey, to the formation of the colonies, and finally their complicated relationship with “non-believers” Puritans strongly held religious convictions has played a key role in all of this. The Puritans were a group of reformed Protestants seeking to reform the English Church. After the fall of the Roman Catholic Church, a new church was established “The English Anglican Church”. While most Puritans sought to reform the church others wanted nothing to do with it these Puritans would eventually be known as Separatists.

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The Catholics and the Anglicans always have had tension, and when Queen Elizabeth I came to power, she started to execute Roman Catholics. The Church of England became official once more after Queen Mary I’s decision as a Catholic. However, Queen Elizabeth I’s approach was a moderate access to the Anglican belief (Source 7). This approach did not satisfy the Puritans and later caused them to rebel against the Queen. Under Queen Elizabeth I’s rule, the Anglicans had more freedom than before and were not executed for their beliefs.

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The Puritans was a huge deal in the 1600s. It consisted of colonists who were seeking religious tolerance. Puritans were so strict that it was so far fetched from tolerant. One would be punished to not attend church, it was against the law. Men and women were separated through the day long services.

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In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation swept through England and caused people like John Calvin to make up their own religions. Henry VIII made the Anglicanism the official religion of England, and any dissenters, even dissenters who belonged to the Church of England, were persecuted. Puritans were some of these dissenters, and they migrated to the New World seeking religious freedom, a place to live the way they believed was pleasing to God. As the Puritans' lives were shaped by their religion, so too did their religious values and ideas influence the political, social, and economic development of the New England colonies. That their belief that people should obey religious authority and their value of unity shaped the northern colonies'

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According to Five myths about Puritans - The Washington Post, “But the Puritans didn’t leave England to found a society where all religions would be tolerated. After all, they were granted the pejorative moniker “Puritan” in England because of their efforts to purge Catholic influences from the Anglican Church. They sought religious freedom only for themselves.” This emphasizes how Puritans didn’t care for other people’s religion, they just wanted to be able to practice their own. Despite what they went through to get the freedom to practice their religion, they only wanted it for that specific religion.

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(Act 2: scene X). Later on in the play, Christian believes he can express his affections to Roxane without the help of Cyrano; but only proves how much of a fool he is, “… I am not such a fool when all is said!(Act 3: scene IV)… “I hoped for cream, you give me gruel! Say how love possesses you?”(Act 3: scene5). Even though Christian does not value himself, other such as Cyrano and Roxane do.

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They were very adamant and the church influence on the community was over religion. The Puritans soon became the judge, jury and executor of punishment for citizens. People did not have the freedom to practice their religious beliefs as they chose and this led to a dictatorship environment where people were afraid if they did not abide by church regulations. There was punishment that could be enacted upon the community for not totally honoring the church.

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”(Shakespeare 2.5, ll. 143-146). Malvolio sees these four letters and automatically thinks it means his name because each of those letters are in his name. With him believing that this letter is directed at him, he reads it and it is said to be from Olivia and she confessing her love towards Malvolio. Then, he follows the instructions in the letter and completely embarrasses himself just to win over Olivia.

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In his play, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare has his characters participate in the practice of deception and dishonesty of others - after all, the foundation of Shakespeare’s play resides within a lie. One of the major deceptions in the play is executed by the Illyrian countess, Olivia, as she repeatedly claims to need solitude to mourn her brother’s death in order to avoid Duke Orsino and his obsession towards her. This deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole by adding the thematic message, deception and dishonesty is sometimes the better option when it comes to love.     From the beginning of the play, Olivia is introduced as the grieving countess that has recently lost a brother.

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1421 Words | 6 Pages

Religion was in the lives of all citizens within the English kingdom, which affected everything from politics to attitudes and behaviours of people, which can best be displayed throughout the Reformation of 16th Century England, of which, religion played a crucial role in the formation of the identity of England and its citizens. After the death of her half-sister Mary 1 of England, Elizabeth was then crowned as the Queen of England on January 15, 1559. Known as the “Golden Age”, Elizabeth had successfully reconstructed English culture with the use of institutionalized religious tolerance, which can best be described by the Latin term Via Media, which meant “Middle Ground”, and was used in Elizabethan times to help combine both rules of the

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1099 Words | 5 Pages

The historical context of Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is widely debated, with connections being made towards a variety of religious influences. However, due to the plays continuous’ references to the Protestant religion, the play’s message can be traced back to Martin Luther; a disgruntled monk with a desire for change. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the use of Protestant principles and allusions of Martin Luther’s 95 theses directly influences the character development of Hamlet, and reinforces the rebellious Protestantism versus the Catholic corruption paradigm in the play.

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

William Shakespeare’s works, written primarily from the late eighteen hundreds to the very early sixteen hundreds, have long been the subject of academic debates and analysis. Potent with double entendres, metaphors, and social commentary, it is easy to apply queer theory to Shakespeare’s plays, notably Twelfth Night, written in 1601. Though Twelfth Night’s ending pushes its characters into traditional heterosexual romances and binary gender roles to satisfy the genre and placate conservative Elizabethan audiences, the characters in the comedy defy tradition by exploring homosexual love and expression of gender. The most apparent homosexual themes are present in the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian.

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973 Words | 4 Pages

The failure of God’s protection forces the audience to contemplate if religion is a legitimate form of protection or rather fuel for a false reality. Although Shakespeare’s audience would have had a positive view of religion and heaven, it is important to point out that those in the play who placed the greatest amount of trust into the protection of God tragically died in the end. Desdemona believed so greatly in the power of God that she told Othello she could not be with him if “the heavens forbid” (2.1.206). She was deeply in love, but cared more about the approval of heaven than her relationship.

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1262 Words | 6 Pages

Values and beliefs are defining principles of the way in which we view a person, action or relationship. Often, we are encouraged to think again about these values and beliefs, after being exposed to challenging and insightful events, people, or material. William Shakespeare's tragedy, “Hamlet,” written in the Elizabethan era, encourages us to think about our values and beliefs surrounding revenge, love and loyalty. After examination of these concepts, the reader develops new insights into their values and beliefs, and come to fully support the statement that “ the most significant texts encourage us to think again about our values and beliefs.”

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