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Viola Twelfth Night

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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.” Viola is traveling on a boat that is currently near illyria, she has never been to Illyria nor did she recognize it. Viola fears for …show more content…

The news provided Olivia some hope, causing her to crack a smile, a smile covered in the fear that her brother was fighting for her life and probably would drown at sea. Olivia now given small hope paid the captain gold for his information. Olivia begins looking around the sland. It is a sandy beach and cliffs lay around them. She asked if the captain had seen or been to this island before, he had. He was born less than 3 hours away from the island in which they were abandond on.Olivia intrigued asked who was the ruler of his home place. The captain informed her it was a noble duke named Orsino. Olivia recalled hearing about Orsino from her father, she recalled hearing her dad refer to Orsino as a bachelor. The captain said he still was a bachelor as of the month before. However rumors were as rampant as ever that Orsino was going to start courting the beautiful Ophelia. A respected women young in …show more content…

With the loss of her brother Ophelia stated that she didn't want to be courted anymore as she was done with men, their very presence. Viola admired Olivia for this action and wished she could work for Olivia, because Viola didn't know the person she was yet. She knew she wanted to be pleasant, courtesus, calm tempered, etc. But there were so many other character traits in which she hadn't embraced yet. The captain stated to Olivia that working under Ophelia would be a hard pressed duty because not even the Orsino's messengers were allowed to glance at her. Viola contrapts a plan. She says captain you seem like a nice man but looks can be conviecing, wat she means by this is that looks are deceptive your face, hair, etc, doesn't determine you character. She ask the captain for his help saying she will pay him, if he doesn't give out her identity, help her with disguses, introduce eunuech to Orsino. She follows by saying that she can sing so Orsino will be pleased with her services. The captain agrees, and promises to not tell anyone of Viola's true identity. We are introduced to Sir Toby Belch, Olivia's cousin. We quickly infer that he is drinks a lot of alchohol, stays out late into the night, is fairly stubborn and rowdy by

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1166 Words | 5 Pages

In the Twelfth Night written by William Shakespeare, it demonstrates Viola using her head to make the decision to dress up as a boy and become a part of the Duke Orsino’s court. She states, “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of my Intent”

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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

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1162 Words | 5 Pages

The significance of this aside is to establish a slightly more in-depth depiction of Viola 's grief for the loss of her brother through her statement of "I my brother know yet living in my glass." (3.4.399-401) depicting how she sees her brother when she looks in the mirror. This aside is additionally significant due to how it depicts Viola 's hope that her brother could still be alive after the shipwreck. It is further used to address that Viola is considering that Sebastian could possibly be alive with her statement of "if it prove, tempest are kind, and salt water waves fresh in love." (3.4.403-404).

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585 Words | 3 Pages

“‘He woulda killed us,’ I say again. ‘He was terrified!’ Viola cries, her voice breaking. ‘Even I could see how scared he was.’ ‘He went for his spear,’ I say, lifting my head.”

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344 Words | 2 Pages

The figurative language of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” effectively conveys the extent of Duke Orsino’s love for Olivia. Orsino is under the impression that his love does not compare to that of a woman for a man. Apparently, no woman is strong enough to “bide the beating of so strong a passion” or has a heart that is big enough “to hold so much” as he (II.4.104-106). Orsino feels as if the intensity and extent of his love are greater than any kind that women are capable of sustaining and uses metaphor to communicate this difference. Supposedly, a woman’s love “may be called appetite, no motion of the liver, but the palate” (II.4.107-108).

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926 Words | 4 Pages

Ophelia’s whole life revolves around demands from the men she loves. She is expected to satisfy their wishes, but they never stop to think about her

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1112 Words | 5 Pages

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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798 Words | 4 Pages

Shakespeare filed confusion with gender throughout the entirety of the play. In the same way, he precedented social class to be viewed correspondingly. Viola was in love with Orsino, surely, but not because of his social stature. She loved him for who he was and did not wish to be with him purely to change her social class. Viola was originally born into a high-class family but decided to pose as a servant despite “what my estate is” (1.2.43-46).

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713 Words | 3 Pages

For a woman to show interests in current affairs, express opinions, write literature was unladylike. Viola, fending for herself, in distant land, disguises herself as a boy named Cesario. Cross-dressing, in Elizabethan society, was seen as highly immoral. Viola 's male disguise “allows her to escape the confinement of a single perspective and a single voice by momentarily unfixing sexual stereotypes (184)”(Melchoir). Furthermore, Viola’s situation in Twelfth Night is not typical of an Elizabethan woman because she proves herself to be capable and intelligent.

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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.

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814 Words | 4 Pages

If royal advice was to be put in this relationship, it would have been to keep everything on the down low, as there was enough controversy occurring in the kingdom as it is. A typical woman in that time period would have willingly obeyed to these claims, especially in circumstances concerning love. Ophelia, however, didn’t immediately respond in that manner. Ophelia tells her

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1209 Words | 5 Pages

The first instance which supports the notion that a lapse of communication is responsible for the unsuccessful nature of heterosexual relationships is the case of Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia’s relationship. Both start the play preoccupied with their own concerns, Orsino is worried about finding love, specifically with Olivia, meanwhile she is busy mourning the death of her brother by refusing to marry anyone for seven years. However, it is Orsino’s obsession with seeking love and how he goes about pursuing Olivia that best exemplifies the problematic nature of a male and female’s relationship. Orsino opened the play by saying of love, “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die” (1.1.1-3), essentially saying that he so badly craves the feeling being in love gives him, that he would like in so great a quantity that it would end his life.

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1296 Words | 6 Pages

Orsino depicts the similarities between Sebastian and Viola and claims, “One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons! A natural perspective, that is and is not”(5.1.208-209). This shatters the glass entirely by

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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.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

In the play Twelfth Night, through the depiction of Orsino’s and Viola’s desires for romantic love, Shakespeare portrays how adjustable and self-delusional human romantic attraction can be, especially when blinded by wants and needs. Viola, who puts on the appearance of a man, makes everybody think she is a male. Her disguise becomes a sexual confusion throughout the play for several characters, creating an odd love triangle where Viola loves Duke Orsino, who loves Oliva, which then on the other hand loves Viola, in disguise as Cesario. On the other hand, Malvolio dreams of marrying his beloved Olivia, and gaining authority over his superiors, like Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses disguise in the play to show several confusions and internal conflicts between the characters, proving how malleable and deluded some human attractions can be.

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