Twelfth Night Gender Roles

Shakespeare’s plays are laced with underlying social issues and controversial subjects such as class, love, gender roles, etc. It serves as no surprise that his play, Twelfth Night focuses on both class and gender issues, specifically their fluidity. During the seventeenth century, women were severely oppressed and continually subjected to traditional gender roles. The renaissance also brought about a renewal of faith, which served as a cultural guideline during this era. This phenomenon is also reflected in the valued characteristics attributed to women. In the Christian bible, the most revered woman is the mother of God, Mary, whom symbolizes chastity and faithfulness whilst arguably the most hated woman in the bible is Eve. Furthermore,

In the Elizabethan era women were not allowed to act, thus the character of Viola was essentially a boy, playing a woman, playing a man. Viola first confuses gender roles when she becomes Orsino’s page and transfers her lack of independence as a woman to a male role. María del Rosario Arias Doblas states in her article, Gender Ambiguity and Desire in Twelfth Night, “Dependency is a shared characteristic between the heroine - Viola - and the male personification - Cesario - so the woman preserves her ‘chaste’ self by transposing female dependency into male dependency: page instead of wife or daughter (page 284).” At first glance, Viola’s transfer of her feminine qualities seems sufficient since she is a woman playing a man, however, that in reality it is a boy is convincingly conveying these traits to members of the aristocracy in Illyria, specifically a male member offers more incite. Male members of the aristocracy are the epitome of class in this time period and symbols of perfection to an extent; thus Viola’s ability to fool nobility undermines the values regarding women in the Elizabethan society because a woman is not seen capable as her male counterparts Throughout the play the audience is aware of Viola’s multifaceted character yet Shakespeare makes sure that his viewers pay more attention to the fact that Cesario is actually a woman. For example, Malvolio describes Cesario as, “‘Tis with him in standing water, between boy and man. He is very well favored and speaks very shrewishly. One would think his mother’s milk were scarce out of him (Twelfth Night page 1200 line 151-154).” The dramatic irony in Malvolio’s statement is what helps further confuse the assumption that gender is determined by sex. To the viewer it is obvious why Cesario would present as “less than a man”, however, when we look closer, this is a boy successfully playing the part of