ipl-logo

Twelfth Night Gender Roles Essay

1383 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender roles twelfth night

British Literature: Romance and where Gender Roles Stand When a person is born they either have a male or female sexual organ, determining whether that person would be a female or male, but somehow this makes a huge difference where that person stands in the world. In the present time couples actual have a chance to decide whether their child would be a girl or a boy with the help medical technology, but in the 16th and 17th century this was not a possibility; the gender of a child was based off of fate and fate alone. Authors, poets, and philosophers have commented about this topic from stories like Viola from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night about her dual identity to John Milton’s Paradise Lost about Eve. Men usually have the leading part in …show more content…

In the Twelfth Night, Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked and end up ashore on different parts of Illyria. Having assume that her brother might be gone, Viola disguises herself as a male named to Cesario to successfully get into the kingdom. With the help of the captain of the ship that rescued her Viola was to be employed by Duke Orsino as Cesario. As Viola continues working for Duke Orsino she starts to fall for him, but then she is at two ends, deciding whether she should be loyal to the Duke or let her feelings overcome her. This critical point is further intensified by Orsino’s love for Countess Olivia, in which Cesario acts as a messenger between the both of them. Viola’s Cesario disguise is a well-made representation of what kind of expectations are held towards men of that era. While Viola endures problems of trying to be a woman in man’s position she also gains time with Orsino, in the perspective of Cesario, Viola starts to fully understand how men picture romance. “For boy, however we do praise ourselves, / Our fancies are more giddy / More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, / Than women’s are.” (Shakespeare Act 2, scene 4) As Viola stayed with Duke Orsino as his servant Cesario, she shows him how to comprehend women and later ends as Viola being Orsino’s

Show More
Related
531 Words | 3 Pages

So, when Viola finds out her brother, Sebastian, is sneaking off to London for a music tour, she decides to pretend to be him and try out for the mens soccer team. Unfortunately, she falls in love with her roommate, Duke.

Read More
623 Words | 3 Pages

Viola liking duke Orsino but duke Orsino liked liked Olivia and Olivia liked Sebastian. Nobody seemed to like the right person until the

Read More
1504 Words | 7 Pages

Deep in the earth of Massachusetts lies the graves of many innocent women, all of whom lost their lives for unjust accusations of demonic witchcraft used to harm the future of their people -- the children. The lives of the lost women remain lurking in the minds of even today’s people, all forever questioning the extreme untrust neighbors held against one another and its influence on their perceived leaders. Arthur Miller elaborates upon the unjust power hierarchy of these times in his play, The Crucible, specifically depicting the influence that gender roles cast upon the Salem court and community. In the once noble town of Salem, the livelihood of its people surrounded a particular gender hierarchy, forcing women to constantly have less

Read More
1806 Words | 8 Pages

Viola’s aspirations are not to go against the social order as she is not a real servant but the play allows her to transgress and glide through the class mobility. She epitomizes social fluidity, transgressing the boundaries of specific roles in society. However her flexibility is asserted on her higher social status with which she begins the play. This once again proves that although the boundaries can be broken, only the elite bourgeoisie can truly permeate them completely. Malvolio remains ‘mad’ for admitting his love while Viola moves upwards to gain marriage.

Read More
1287 Words | 6 Pages

Extracurricular Reading II Much Ado About Nothing analyzes how traditional gender roles shape behavior and actions in society. Many of the characters in the play, such as Benedick and Beatrice, actively attempt to defy the expectations placed upon them by virtue of their sex, while others nearly perfectly match the stereotypes- Hero and Claudio being prime examples. Benedick and Beatrice represent defiance of the norm- Beatrice repeatedly claims that she will avoid marriage at all costs, and Benedick doesn’t seem any more likely to place himself in a position to be cuckolded.

Read More
542 Words | 3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s ‘Othello’, women are portrayed as either pure angelic beings and jewels, or as whores who are impure. They are objectified and shown as something to be used. The only women in this play are Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca compared to the main 6 male characters, not to mention the minor characters, who are also all male. Their depicted purpose is to belong to a man; Desdemona, Emilia and Bianca’s lives revolve around being wives to Othello, Iago and Cassio. This fits into the idea of a perfect Elizabethan woman, who’s lives are subject to their husband’s rule across all aspects, to be disposed of as men wish.

Read More
174 Words | 1 Pages

One of the characters that rocks the boat from the onset is Viola, the story’s heroine. The survivor of a ship-wreck that separates her from Sebastian, her twin brother, Viola must dress as a man in order to insure her safety in the foreign land of Illyria. She takes the name "Cesario," and becomes a page in the court of Duke Orsino. The Duke is in love with a wealthy woman named Olivia, and sends “Cesario” to woo her for him; Unfortunately, Viola has fallen in love with the Duke. Viola assures him, “I'll do my best To woo your lady” but aside she says, “Yet a barful strife!

Read More
600 Words | 3 Pages

Today, in the 21st century, most women are fairly respected and have the freedom to make their own choices; but when reading Romeo and Juliet, from the Shakespearean age, I have learned that women were viewed very differently. Using clues provided by this book, it is clear that whether women were housewives, royalty, nurses, or children, they didn’t have equal rights to men. Men were very masculine; they ordered their wives around and expected women to obey. Whereas women were very obedient and unfortunately were often taken advantage of. In this paper, will be examining the stereotypical role of a woman in the Shakespearean age.

Read More
1112 Words | 5 Pages

Viola, Cesario, Olivia, and Duke Orsino together form a comedy with consistently homoerotic undertones that explores the fluidity of gender. Though queer theory is rarely explicit in works such as Shakespeare, it is critical to analyze older texts to gain a clearer picture of queer identity before modern

Read More
1406 Words | 6 Pages

She wins a position at the court of young Duke Orsino (Liam Brennan), who is desperately in love with the Lady Olivia (Mark Rylance). The Duke sends his new page to stand before Olivia 's gate and press his case. But there are complications: Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Olivia falls in love

Read More
795 Words | 4 Pages

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

Read More
809 Words | 4 Pages

Before this quote, Olivia married Sebastian, thinking he was ‘Cesario’ due to their similar appearance. When it is revealed that the two twins were in Illyria, they realized that they were both alive even though they both thought the other died in a shipwreck. So, in the quote, Sebastian explained the misunderstanding and it was revealed that ‘Cesario’ was actually Viola. The realization of the twins further complicated the situation and the ‘knot’ of lovers. Viola 's disguise impacted the story in very important ways, entangling the knot of suffering lovers by causing Olivia to fall in love with her, hiding her own love for Orsino, and causing many misunderstandings with Sebastian.

Read More
1851 Words | 8 Pages

In Twelfth Night, Viola and Olivia are the central characters to the play’s plot. Each are young women that take approaches to dealing with the people around them, which are mainly men. There is much trickery that goes on in Twelfth Night, but the ending is for the most part happy. Viola marries Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, but the events leading up to this are more or less chaotic. Ultimately, I argue that while Olivia uses her higher social status in order to maintain control of herself and others, Viola resorts to trickery in order to bring about her desires.

Read More
1482 Words | 6 Pages

When they were not accepted by society like men were. Also not all people understand an argument immediately. The author starts by explaining her fictional story and introducing her argument. She starts off by saying“It would have been impossible,completly and entirely, for any woman to have written the plays of shakespeare in the age of shakespeare. Let me imagine, since facts are so hard to come by, what would have happened had shakespeare had a wonderfully gifted sister, called Judith, let us say”.(Woolf)

Read More
1043 Words | 5 Pages

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.

Read More

More about Twelfth Night Gender Roles Essay

Related Topics

Open Document