Identity In Twelfth Night

One 's actions and experiences shape their identity, and in turn, one 's identity shapes their actions. The play the Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, was first performed in the early 1600’s as a comedy of a young girl by the name of Viola pretending to be a male and changing her identity in order to get closer to the man she had fallen in love for. The book Speak, written by Laurie Halse Anderson, was first published in 1999 following freshman Melinda Sordino’s identity change throughout the novel after a traumatic experience at a popular high school party that left her depressed. Both play and book represent a common theme of how identity shapes one 's actions and outlooks on different situations. In the Twelfth Night and Speak both main characters are put into situations they had no say in and while attempting to gain back control they forge a new identity which gives them a new perspective on the world. In the Twelfth Night, Shakespeare begins the play with Viola and her twin brother Sebastian experiencing a devastating shipwreck leaving Viola on the shores of Illyria and her brother lost at sea. Being forced into this situation of being abandoned and alone on the island of Illyria, Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino and sets out to become a

Both play and book relay the idea of one’s outlook on life being changed in a matter of situations one is put in and how one might try to regain control of their situation. The Twelfth Night follows Viola’s identity change from a female to male after her brother gets lost at sea and how she represents the figure of a man in order to be closer with the duke she has fallen in love for. Laurie Halse Anderson writes the book Speak to show young readers what a traumatic event such as sexual assault can do to one’s self esteem and outlook. Viola and Melinda are both put into scenarios that they have no say, but while trying to take back control they both form new identities that have sundered into two new outlooks on