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Twelfth Night Deception Essay

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The theme of deception is a highly notable theme in both ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘The Rivals’. There are a number of different deceptions used in both plays. The characters in ‘Twelfth Night’ constantly disguise themselves or play parts in order to trick and deceive those around them. One of the most notable deceits within ‘Twelfth Night’ is Viola disguising herself as page boy Cesario and Maria and Sir Toby playing their trick on Malvolio. The premise of conflict between the characters in ‘The Rivals stems from the beginning due to numerous deceits. One of the most prominent deceits within ‘The Rivals’ is Captain Jack Absolute disguised as Ensign Beverley in order to win the affection of Lydia Languish. Another notable deceit comes from the cunning …show more content…

Captain Absolute deceives Lydia; however his deception has no malicious intention as he does it for the sake of his love and affection for Lydia. However, while he is enthralled with Lydia, it may also be that he values money too much to allow her to lose her fortune. Jack truly does love Lydia, but as Lydia has fallen for his disguise Beverly he continues to deceive her in order to ensure she is happy as she is. It is shows that he meant no malicious intent when the truth is revealed at the end of the play. ‘I can only say, that it could not have been intentional’, The first person pronoun ‘I’ creates a personal and meaningful feeling within Absolutes words, it also reinforces the idea that Absolute was just looking out for Lydia. Much like Malvolio in twelfth night, Mrs Malaprop believes that she stands a chance with Sir Lucius O’Trigger due to Lucy deceiving everyone with the letters. Similar to Sir Andrew in twelfth night, Bob Acres deceives himself into believing that he stands a chance of receiving the love of Lydia with is enthralled with Beverly. Related to this, like Orsino, Lydia is simply in love with the idea of love due to her readings of romance novels that Lucy helps her hide from her

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