Gender Roles In Twelfth Night

One’s sex is commonly understood to be based on a person’s anatomical reproductive organs. A baby girl is expected to grow up to be a woman who acts, dresses, and talks in a manner which is considered feminine. Likewise, a baby boy is expected to grow up to be a man who acts, dresses, and talks in a masculine way. Although it may seem natural that certain expectations and standards apply to men because they have male bodies, and certain standards and expectations apply to women because they have female bodies, they are in fact social and historical creations. The gender roles can be applied during the Elizabethan time, as seen through Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, as well as the 1900s in Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion, and unfortunately

Viola is saddened at the loss of her brother, but realizes that she is in a dangerous “estate”. That is to mention her vulnerability as a female in the foreign land of Illyria, without the protection of a male figure. Viola devises a plan to disguise herself as a man under the name Cesario and seeks employment under Duke Orsino. Viola makes herself useful to Orsino and is soon made his page. Viola’s cleverness provide Duke Orsino with good advice, and she becomes his confidant. Despite her own developing feelings for him, Viola remains loyal to Orsino 's interests and attempts to fulfill her duties as his attendant. Although Viola was born a noblewoman and her societal role was to be told what to do by an authoritative male figure, she successfully break the barriers that Elizabethan society had forced upon her sex. Viola disregards the proper roles society has placed on the female sex; therefore, she crossdresses, and removes all restraints, and becomes a liberated individual. Viola finds such liberation by dressing as a man, as well as showing characteristics of a man in her actions. The uncertainty of Viola/Cesario 's sexual identity, however, show that masculinity and femininity are just aspects of a role. Viola is able to portray herself as Cesario because the societal qualities of a man are learned and are not anatomical physical traits. When Cesario and Sir Andrew