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Gender Roles In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

538 Words3 Pages

I think a person’s gender shouldn't matter too much in the role they play in their day to day life. Gender roles have been around forever. They have gotten a lot better, but women and men are still labeled to certain things and jobs. The traditional way of life would be for the man to do all of the hard work and have a job. On the other hand, the woman should stay at home so she can watch the kids and have time for cleaning and cooking. The man was always supposed to be in charge and the woman just go along with it. These gender roles used to be pretty strict and there was no other way to life, but we have come along way. Today, we even have a woman running for president. Overall, I think a person’s gender shouldn’t affect they go about their day to day life, but unfortunately, even though it has gotten better, people are still labeled and have expectations because of it. For example, in the play, Orsino was expected to be very manly and to be the duke of Illyria. He needed to be in charge and take control since he was the man and in charge. Since he was so in love with Lady Olivia, he needed to make the first move and he should be the one to do all of the work. Orsino showed that he needed to be manly and needs to be in control because of his gender. In act two scene four, he was talking about how the man should be …show more content…

I think he resembled the typical male character very well being very full of himself. He was a prankster and always trying to cause trouble. His gender roles showed him being above everyone and being very carefree. He made a complete fool of himself because he was so in love with Lady Olivia. In act two scene five when Maria forged a letter confessing love to Malvolio from Olivia he was willing to go above and beyond for the woman he loved by dressing strangely with yellow tights and acting insane. It showed how far he would go for the woman he liked being very bold and taking charge like the gender roles of a

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