Twelfth Night Essay

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, the strongest woman character, Olivia, presents traits of mastery throughout the play. The play begins in Illyria where a female named Viola undergoes a shipwreck, thinking her brother Sebastian is astray. The captain who found her tells about a Duke named Orsino who is in love with a woman named Olivia. Viola then decides to dress as a man and titles herself as “Cesario”, now beginning to work for Duke Orsino but swiftly finds herself falling in love with him. Duke Orsino has Cesario send love letters to Olivia, who eventually falls in love with Cesario instead of him. Next is Malvolio, Olivia’s servant, who is having tricks played on him by Sir Toby, Sir Andrea, and Maria. Next Sebastian,

Olivia is in conversation with Viola/Cesario if you will, wanting her to hurry and get to the point of her visit. Olivia states “I heard you were saucy at my gates, and allowed/your approach rather to wonder at you than to hear you. /If you not be mad, be gone. If you have reason, be brief. /’Tis not the time of moon with me to make one in so/skipping a dialogue” (1.5.187-190). Olivia is telling Viola, who once more is veiled as Cesario, that she knows he was being impolite while standing outside her gateway. She goes on to say because Viola was being rude, that it was the only reason as to why she has allowed her entry. Olivia confuses that she is rather more inquisitive of what Viola wants since she has showed up. Although she is engrossed as to why Viola is there in the first place, she does not heed much of what is to be said. Olivia implies that if Viola is perhaps deranged then she ought to just depart right away, but if she is in the precise condition of intellect then she should hurry and get immediately to what it is she has to