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Gender In Twelfth Night

1056 Words5 Pages

Another couple that challenges the significance of gender in romantic love, and portrays a revolutionary perspective, is Olivia and Viola, disguised as Cesario. Although it is Cesario who Olivia fawns over, it is more than Cesario’s physical features that she admires. In Act 1, Scene 5, Olivia praises Cesario’s finesse, exclaiming, “Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit / Do give thee five-fold blazon” (274-275). Olivia’s attraction to Cesario is influenced in part by his physical appearance, however her captivation is principally rooted to his personality. Olivia falls for Cesario’s personal characteristics, established through his words, actions and spirit, referring to them as “perfections” (1.5.278), while in reality, they …show more content…

From their journeys together, Antonio develops romantic feelings towards Sebastian, evident in the language he uses while talking to him. His love is clearly defined, as Antonio declares, “My desire, / More sharp than filed steel did spur me forth” (3.3.4-5) and “My willing love, / The rather by these arguments of fear, Set forth in your pursuit” (3.3.11-13). The use of the words “desire,” along with plainly stating “My willing love” while referring to his devotion towards Sebastian, makes it evident that Antonio’s fondness exceeds that of platonic love. The portrayal of Antonio, who represents homoerotic love in the play, showcases both Twelfth Night’s conservative and radical views regarding homosexuality. Overall, the play outwardly seems to depict Antonio’s love for Sebastian in a conservative light, seeing that the pair do not end up being together at the end of the play. Furthermore, Antonio’s love for Sebastian puts him in various compromising situations, portraying the notion that homoerotic love is inherently wrong. When Viola, disguised as Cesario, is challenged to duel Sir Andrew, Antonio mistakes her for Sebastian and volunteers to take her place, risking his life, saying, “that for his love dares yet do more / Than you have heard him brag to you he will” (3.4.284-285). It is indisputable that Antonio volunteers himself to fight for Sebastian in direct relation to Antonio’s love for him. Antonio sacrifices not only being exposed to the authorities, but also his life for love, which is aptly rewarded by Antonio’s arrest. Antonio’s arrest, lead to by the affection he harbors for Sebastian, depict that loving someone of the same sex is sinful, and therefore Antonio was punished. As Antonio is being dragged away, he scorns his love for Sebastian, crying, “But oh, how vile an idol proves this god!” (3.4.332) Antonio’s

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Antonio begged God to forgive Andrew (Antonio’s brother) “Your brother has sinned with the whores, and so I condemn him to hell for eternity!”(Pg.173). Antonio’s demeanor portrayed confusion and fear of why he is the chosen one to save his brothers when he is hopeful for their saving of him. “Oh, I cried, forgive me Lord! I have sinned, I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, and deed.

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During the first of many church scenes within the novel, Antonio describes that, as a child, “[he] loved none as dearly as the Virgin…God was not always forgiving. He made laws to follow and if you broke them you were punished. The Virgin always forgave” (44). In other words, Antonio views the Virgin Mary with even greater admiration than that of God, due to the greater appeal of her compassionate nature in comparison to God’s harsher disciplinary role in the Catholic faith. In this statement, Antonio expresses resentment and fear of God in this role, adopting the somewhat blasphemous stance of bestowing greater love and affection upon the Virgin than upon the creator due to her forgiving values.

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For example, when Sir Toby comes back from being beaten up by Sebastian because of the duel that he had with Cesario, he accuses Cesario of beating him up, which did not happen, but neither Viola or Sebastian knew the other was alive, therefore not able to communicate that. This puts a strain on Cesario’s relationship with characters like Orsino and Olivia, because as Orsino finds out that she’s been dueling beating people up, but at the same time also managed to marry Olivia, he dismisses Viola to get ready to kill him This also shows Viola’s effect on the plot, because here she is the one causing the confusion amidst the them because of her disguise as Cesario, for example “He has broke my head across and given Sir Toby a bloody coxcomb too,” Sir Andrew is now accusing Cesario of being Sebastian, therefore causing the confusion to escalate and in the end forcing her hand in revealing that she’s a woman (5.1.,

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

The question of why Olivia, after dramatically declaring her affections for Cesario, would so quickly jump to Sebastian after finding Viola’s true identity, is likely answered by the societal norms of the Elizabethan era. Cesario and Viola are two halves of one whole; by loving Cesario, Olivia loves Viola too. Upon meeting “him,” Olivia says “Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit/ Do give thee five-fold blazon” (1.5.297-298). She is attracted not just to Cesario’s mannerisms, but to Viola’s beauty, which shines through her male bravado. The “actions and spirit” which Olivia refers to are Viola’s ability to converse with Olivia woman-to-woman, unbeknownst to the countess.

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1987 Words | 8 Pages

In the Elizabethan era women were not allowed to act, thus the character of Viola was essentially a boy, playing a woman, playing a man. Viola first confuses gender roles when she becomes Orsino’s page and transfers her lack of independence as a woman to a male role. María del Rosario Arias Doblas states in her article, Gender Ambiguity and Desire in Twelfth Night, “Dependency is a shared characteristic between the heroine - Viola - and the male personification - Cesario - so the woman preserves her ‘chaste’ self by transposing female dependency into male dependency: page instead of wife or daughter (page 284).” At first glance, Viola’s transfer of her feminine qualities seems sufficient since she is a woman playing a man, however, that in reality it is a boy is convincingly conveying these traits to members of the aristocracy in Illyria, specifically a male member offers more incite. Male members of the aristocracy are the epitome of class in this time period and symbols of perfection to an extent; thus Viola’s ability to fool nobility undermines the values regarding women in the Elizabethan society because a woman is not seen capable as her male counterparts Throughout the play the audience is aware of Viola’s multifaceted character yet Shakespeare makes sure that his viewers pay more attention to the fact that Cesario is actually a woman.

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Homosexuality Twelfth Night

706 Words | 3 Pages

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809 Words | 4 Pages

“Loving can hurt sometimes,” Ed Sheeran said, and this is no lie when it comes to Twelfth Night. Love is often an inevitable struggle in a plot, but in this Shakespearean play, a complete love triangle dominates as the main conflict. It cause happiness, excitement, deception, or even insanity, we still can’t seem to figure out if the benefits outweigh the consequences. Throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare demonstrates love as a cause of suffering, a ‘knot that cannot be untied’ with Olivia’s love, Viola’s disguise, and Malvolio’s fake letter. Lady Olivia’s initial suffering contributes to the cause of this complex knot.

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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.

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929 Words | 4 Pages

As he states that all lovers are, “Unstaid and skittish in all motions else / Save in the constant image of the creature / That is beloved.” (2.4, 20-22). This demonstrates Orsino’s misunderstanding of the concept of love, as it seems that true love means fickle and erratic according to his definition. Furthermore, in disguise as Cesario, Viola also unintentionally exposes the passionate nature beneath the courtly manner and mourning veil of the “virtuous maid” (1.2, 32), as she causes Olivia to fall in desperate love with Cesario.

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