ipl-logo

Deception In Twelfth Night And Some Like It Hot

424 Words2 Pages

Deception characterizes the comedies Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and
Some Like It Hot, bringing humor to life through physical and mental delusion. The film Some Like It Hot follows two Chicago musicians during the Prohibition era who, after witnessing a mafia crime, disguise themselves as women and join a Florida-bound female band to escape the wrath of mob leader Spats Colombo. Its predecessor, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, recounts the arrival of Viola on the shores of Illyria following a shipwreck that leads her to believe her brother has died, as she disguises herself as a man to work for the local Duke Orsino. Both works are replete with trickery that fuels unforeseen attractions. Through the use of the theme of deception through appearance, the film Some Like It Hot is a natural descendant of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. …show more content…

In Twelfth Night, Viola dresses as the opposite gender and adopts the name Cesario to be employed by Duke Orsino (4,8). Viola purposely deceives those around her, meaning to convince them of her false identity. The Lady Olivia, to whom Orsino sends Cesario to deliver his message of love, also displays this intentional deception. She wears a veil to portray to those around her that she is in deep mourning for her brother, though the reality is not as severe (2, 37). Through similar methods, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as Josephine and Daphne in Some Like It Hot to fill an occupation. However, while travelling to Florida with the female band, both men fall in love with their fellow musician, Sugar. In a scheme to win her over, they use their ability as “fellow gals” to uncover what Sugar wants in a potential lover. Joe goes as far as to disguise himself again as the wealthy “Shell Junior”, exhibiting all the qualities he’s learned appeal to Sugar in an attempt to intentionally trick her into falling in love with

Show More
Related
624 Words | 3 Pages

Viola reveals that she was acting as Sabastian while he was away because her soccer team got cut, and she was showing how that girls can be better at soccer than boys. So she revealed that she was a girl by lifting up her shirt and Sabastian revealed that he was a boy by pulling his pants down. But Sabastian did not even know that his sister was acting as him for the whole two weeks while he was away playing in a band. The principle was shocked when Sabastian pulled his pants down and viola lifted her shirt up.

Read More
1166 Words | 5 Pages

In the Twelfth Night written by William Shakespeare, it demonstrates Viola using her head to make the decision to dress up as a boy and become a part of the Duke Orsino’s court. She states, “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my Intent”

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

Lastly the movie in the play both reacted very weirdly to viola coming out they didn't freak out like was expected in both Twelfth night and She's the Man. The movie and the play are pretty much based off the same thing love, but the movie started off with soccer, where the play was just mainly about love and the shipwreck. Most parts in the movie and play have the same concept. There is a difference between the way they spoke back then versus how they speak right now. The play was written in more Shakespearean text like it was when the play was written and the movie has more modern language more like how people speak now.

Read More
508 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More
1806 Words | 8 Pages

Viola’s aspirations are not to go against the social order as she is not a real servant but the play allows her to transgress and glide through the class mobility. She epitomizes social fluidity, transgressing the boundaries of specific roles in society. However her flexibility is asserted on her higher social status with which she begins the play. This once again proves that although the boundaries can be broken, only the elite bourgeoisie can truly permeate them completely. Malvolio remains ‘mad’ for admitting his love while Viola moves upwards to gain marriage.

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

The Taming of the Shrew is a romantic comedy. If comedic devices were not there The Taming of the Shrew would be just a normal romance. Comedic devices do work to develop the plot in The Taming of the Shrew. The are several comedic devices in this story: unexpected plot twists, witty language, disguises or costumes, young love with a struggle, and unity and harmony. These all contribute different comedic aspects to the plot and push the plot forward.

Read More
477 Words | 2 Pages

Highlighting Practical Female Problems in Society Some Like It Hot, directed by Billy Wilder, does an effective job at teaching lessons about gender and appreciation of the opposite gender by highlighting the fact that men sexualize women in society and by disproving preconceived notions about the female sex. Since Some Like It Hot aired 1959, some may think the movie is irrelevant; However, common gender issues Wilder touched on are still relevant today and need to be touched on to help eliminate gender stereotypes. Some Like It

Read More
1336 Words | 6 Pages

According to Judith Butler gender is a result of repeating the same actions, which then makes gender a performance and thus gender performativity. Performativity is not an singular act, it is a repetition of one or several norms (Butler). Having different actions that one performs more than once creates the gender one becomes, which can say that gender is thus a performance and not in someone’s being. In “Some Like It Hot” the two men act as women, however they are not yet completely acting as the gender of a woman. Since at the beginning they are flirting with the other women, which was not a normal action in a heteronormative society.

Read More
1112 Words | 5 Pages

Viola, Cesario, Olivia, and Duke Orsino together form a comedy with consistently homoerotic undertones that explores the fluidity of gender. Though queer theory is rarely explicit in works such as Shakespeare, it is critical to analyze older texts to gain a clearer picture of queer identity before modern

Read More
713 Words | 3 Pages

Men were seen as masculine and powerful. Shakespeare heavily illustrates the sixteenth century stereotypical gender roles throughout his play, Twelfth Night. During Shakespearean times, women were prohibited from performing on stage, instead, men played their roles. In Twelfth Night, the imitation of the opposite gender originates from necessity and fear. Viola dressed as a man named Cesario to protect herself when she arrives upon foreign land.

Read More
984 Words | 4 Pages

Vanity, one of Twelfth Night 's major concerns, is displayed throughout the play by characters who are plagued with emotional conditions which prevent them from loving others. The lives of Illyria 's Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia, for example, remain circumscribed by vanity and narcissism. Similarly, Olivia 's steward, Malvolio, remains encumbered by vanity and narcissism, while Olivia 's Uncle Toby shows himself to be selfish, and his drinking partner, Sir Andrew, stands as a caricature of vanity. In contrast, Viola, an outsider shipwrecked upon Illyria 's shore, suffers solely from grief for her sea-drowned twin brother. In further contrast, Olivia 's lady-in-waiting, Maria, displays none of these characteristics, but instead operates as the play

Read More
958 Words | 4 Pages

Despite popular opinion, love at first sight does not exist. The idea of “love” is widely misinterpreted as a mere attraction between two individuals. However, many do not understand that love goes much further than this, and what follows is a common misconception between love and lust. Shakespeare in his 17th century play Twelfth Night delves deeper into this idea of love. He presents the character Duke Orsino who appear to be infatuated and love-sick for the Countess Olivia, a woman with which he knows little about.

Read More
1209 Words | 5 Pages

Shakespeare’s renowned play Twelfth Night centers around love, both in platonic and romantic instances. Characters display elements of self, brotherly, amorous, and friendly love towards one another; however, of the relationships portrayed, the strongest ones are those between men. In contrast, relationships between men and women lack depth and sincerity due to the lapse of communication between the opposing genders. Men are able to express their feelings to one another more freely, which gives their bonds strength that heterosexual relationships fail to display.

Read More
1851 Words | 8 Pages

Thus, there are ways that Viola and Olivia both reserve information about themselves while also remaining authentic to an extent. Aside from mere personality, though, Olivia as well as Viola can be distinguished from other characters in Twelfth Night not just by their genders, but also by their attempts at isolating themselves from society. Olivia, according to Valentine, vows “till seven years’ heat,/ Shall not behold her face at ample view” (1.1.25-26). This is due to her brother’s death.

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

In the play Twelfth Night, through the depiction of Orsino’s and Viola’s desires for romantic love, Shakespeare portrays how adjustable and self-delusional human romantic attraction can be, especially when blinded by wants and needs. Viola, who puts on the appearance of a man, makes everybody think she is a male. Her disguise becomes a sexual confusion throughout the play for several characters, creating an odd love triangle where Viola loves Duke Orsino, who loves Oliva, which then on the other hand loves Viola, in disguise as Cesario. On the other hand, Malvolio dreams of marrying his beloved Olivia, and gaining authority over his superiors, like Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses disguise in the play to show several confusions and internal conflicts between the characters, proving how malleable and deluded some human attractions can be.

Read More

More about Deception In Twelfth Night And Some Like It Hot

Related Topics

Open Document