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Twelfth Night And Gender Roles In The Elizabethan Era

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Throughout William Shakespeare’s time during the Elizabethan Era in the late 1500s, societal standards and gender roles were not like how they are in most of the world today. Women in the Elizabethan Era were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. The Church enforced this, quoting from the bible to ensure that this principle was widely followed. Women were to obey not only their parents but any other male relatives of their family. Disobedience was seen as a crime against their religion. Marriages were arranged for them in order to increase the wealth and social ranking of the family and continue the family bloodline. Women were seen as a typical housewife without the ability to express themselves freely. Women were not allowed to …show more content…

Viola is the primary character used to display Shakespear’s defiance of the Elizabethan gender roles and societal norms. After hearing about her brother Sebastian’s assumed death and her father’s death at her arrival in Illyria, she is left all alone. The captain explains how Lady Olivia is going through something similar to her. He claims that Olivia is going through mourning claiming that she will never leave her room for seven years and creates a huge deal out of it. However, she soon overcomes this and decides that she wants to preserve her brother’s identity by adopting his masculine persona, and becomes Cesario. With her new persona, she decides to work under Duke Orsino, the ruler of Illyria, as a servant of Lady …show more content…

However, Olivia constantly rejects him, yet Orsino still sends messengers to deliver his love confession for her. Here, Olivia seems to have forgotten about her mourning for her dead brother. Olivia recognizes this when she states “I do I know what and fear to find”. This means that she knows that what she is doing is unusual and admits that she is falling for Cesario. She talks about fate and talks about how she is willing to accept whatever for coming events occur. She says that fate brought Cesario to her and will let fate decide what happens later in the plot. The irony in this affection for “Cesario” is that Olivia does not realize that he is actually Viola. To some, this can mean that she is technically gay, which heavily went against religion and societal conformity in the Elizabethan

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By doing so Olivia believes Viola to be the young man named Cesario, and falls in love with him. This then causes even more confusion as Viola, a.ka. Cesario, finds herself in love with Orsino, yet Orsino is in love with Olivia who believes to be in love with a man named Cesario.

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Sebastian arrives at a place near Olivia’s house. There, Feste confronts him. Thinking that he’s Cesario, he tries to take Sebastian into Olivia’s household, which creates a bit of confusion between the two since Sebastian is startled by Feste’s claims that he knows him. Earlier in the play, Sir Andrew Aguecheek who has developed a grudge against Cesario, starts a fight against Sebastian, mistaking him for Cesario, to prove that he is the best suited to be Olivia’s lover. This, however, was a grave mistake.

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Furthermore, in the movie, Viola was talking to her brother Sebastian about his band and her soccer and he said, “You know the percentage of bands that make it to the big time, probably the same as female soccer players” (Fickman, Andy, 2006). Instead of lifting his sister up after learning about her soccer team being cut, he negatively talked about females and their success in sports. This is degrading because he is shutting down Viola and her dreams. To continue, in the play The Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino speaks to Viola, who he believes to be Cesario, and says, “There is no woman’s

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In Act 1, Valentine goes to visit Viola, but is denied entrance. However he recieves word that Olivia will not show her face to anyone for the preceeding 7 years, in memory of her brother who passed away. Duke Orsino doesn't let this stop him, if anything it urges him on like a challenge, he say “Oh, if she loves her brother this much, think how she'll love me when I finally win her over and make her forget all her other attachments! Her mind and heart will be ruled by one man alone-me!” This statement clearly states Orsino's cockiness and self pride, also shows how he sees Olivia has “meat” or “ a game.”

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“And though she be but little, she is fierce” -William Shakespeare. In today’s day and age, one of the greatest topics of debate is gender roles. It is evident everywhere, from cyberspace to the streets of home, from online petitions to marches across the country such as the Women’s March. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era of England, where Queen Elizabeth I, the virgin queen ruled.

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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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There were very high standards for women during the Elizabethan Era. Elizabethans thought that a woman’s outer appearance was merely a reflection of her inner condition (Papp and Kirkland). Women were valued for their beauty and qualities such as being submissive, passive, modest, humble, temperate, and kind (Zuber). A good woman was also obedient, modest, and had virtue and chastity (Papp and Kirkland). John Knox, a Scottish protestant leader said, “Women in her greatest perfection was made to serve and obey man” (Alchin).

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Although Olivia’s love for Viola is so strong and Olivia is infatuated, but Viola cannot accept her since she is a woman

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In the story it shows a love triangle between Orsino, Cesario (Viola), and Olivia. Cesario falls in love with Orsino, Viola is in love with Cesario, and Orsino is still in love with Olivia. The characters in the story all show happiness and joy throughout because it’s a story that ends in love unlike Romeo and Juliet where it ends in a tragedy. As said in Twelfth Night, “Its central plot concerns a love triangle between the Illyrian nobleman Orsino, his beloved but unattainable Olivia, and the shipwrecked Viola.” (Lee

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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

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By disguising herself as a man, Viola feels secure to challenge anything that comes her way. She also feels respected since society, in the shakespearean era, was dominated by men. In the text, Viola’s plan is aimed in a different direction than the

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Shakespeare takes it to a point where the Duke threatens to kill Cesario, aka Viola, for “betraying” him to become Olivia’s lover. Shakespeare uses this exaggeration as a lesson, showing just how powerful love can be. Shakespeare had diversity showing the underlying theme of his

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It is even possible that her vow to retreat from society fueled her lack of interest in the duke who pursues her called Orsino. Olivia and Viola both have lost a brother, although Viola fortunately eventually finds her brother. Still, due to the fact both characters believe their brothers to be dead for the majority of the play, their attitudes are affected by this. Olivia in particular attempts to keep a good opinion of

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Cesario’s response clearly identifies his cleverness, skill and how he is a natural poet. Olivia is so drawn in because Cesario’s type of poetry is new and spontaneous in comparison to Orsino’s cliched poetry (once again referring to the idea that Orsino is misguided in love). Here Shakespeare has used comic relief in this scene as Orsino himself would never live in a makeshift hut as he is ‘above’ that. Once Cesario leaves Olivia wants to know how one “so quickly may catch the plague?” This metaphor contains an element of violence, further painting the idea that it physically hurts Olivia to love and in an extreme case it may make her want to die.

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Shakespeare uses Viola (Cesario) as an example of a mechanism that can throw internal conflicts into temporary chaos. Viola willingly faces whatever comes in her way. Her love for Duke Orsino seems too constant and true, unlike the other characters in the play. The temporary chaos of the play is when Viola falls in love with Orsino, who falls in love with Olivia, who on the other hand falls in love with Viola’s disguise, Cesario. This love triangle is very complicated as none of them realize that Cesario is a woman, making this an internal conflict for Viola, as she cannot ‘truly’ love whom she wants.

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