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Gender In Twelfth Night

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The 1600s is a period of great distinctions amongst gender, class, and intelligence. William Shakespeare wrote in a time where his language is baffling to much of the current culture. To ease the pain of struggling to comprehend his works, translations of his works are available, as well as movies portraying his plays in this era. Matters regarding gender are both depicted in Shakespeare’s creations and are now relevant in society. From homosexual’s acceptance to women’s roles, Shakespeare’s works still apply to the present day. Women’s once obtained the responsibilities to her husband and family, not to her own self. However, this has drastically changed in the past century, allowing women to have more say and do in her own life. Women and homosexuals have rights and are affecting the contemporary world to …show more content…

The play, Twelfth Night, opens with a shipwrecked Viola landing in Illyria, and is employed in Duke Orsino’s service, disguised as her twin brother. Her occupation is wooing the Countess Olivia in favor of Duke Orsino; however, Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, who falls in love with the Duke but cannot express her true feelings. The love triangle evolves and continues to become more complicated when Viola’s thought-to-be dead twin brother Sebastian rolls into town. Traveling with him is Antonio who saved Sebastian in the shipwreck and has fallen deeply in love with him. While Sebastian is traversing Illyria, he runs into Olivia who assumes he is the disguised Viola and kisses him and continues to wed him. This play is full of homosexual references and actions that include Viola disguising herself as a boy and falling in love with Orsino while she is still a man. Countess Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola because of ‘his’ few feminine features, and, it is a girl falling in love with a girl. Viola stated to

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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.

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In Twelfth Night, Viola dresses as the opposite gender and adopts the name Cesario to be employed by Duke Orsino (4,8). Viola purposely deceives those around her, meaning to convince them of her false identity. The Lady Olivia, to whom Orsino sends Cesario to deliver his message of love, also displays this intentional deception. She wears a veil to portray to those around her that she is in deep mourning for her brother, though the reality is not as severe (2, 37). Through similar methods, Joe and Jerry disguise themselves as Josephine and Daphne in Some Like It Hot to fill an occupation.

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The lines 271-279 of Act 1, Scene 5 are spoken by Viola disguised as 'Cesario ' to the Countess Olivia after being sent by Orsino to "woo" Olivia on his behalf. The dialog is exceedingly significant to the overall plot as it establishes Olivia 's love for 'Cesario ' and an inkling to Cesario 's loyalty and love for Orsino. Viola 's description of what she would do if she loved Olivia as Orsino does attracts Olivia attention and affection. Viola 's lines to Olivia of making "a willow cabin" (1.5.271) at the gate and writing songs of "contemned love" (1.5.273) to sing them "in the dead of night" (1.5.274) conveys an agonizingly desperate love that should be pitied.

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William shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing scrutinizes the use of language, stylistic techniques and conventions to represent 16th century Italy. Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ uses examples such as gender representations, class struggle and courtship and marriage to represent times back in 16th century Italy. Shakespeare exposes the unfairness of gender in 16th century Italy by having the characters use witty repartee and by creating contrived situations. Gender representation in 16th century Elizabethan time differentiated from how it was interpreted in Much Ado About Nothing. The treatment of women living in 16th century Italy was barbaric.

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Viola must disguise herself as a man in the former and Jerry and Joe disguise themselves as women in the latter. These false appearances are known to the audience however, they deceive the other characters within

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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!

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“And though she be but little, she is fierce” -William Shakespeare. In today’s day and age, one of the greatest topics of debate is gender roles. It is evident everywhere, from cyberspace to the streets of home, from online petitions to marches across the country such as the Women’s March. Shakespeare lived in the Elizabethan Era of England, where Queen Elizabeth I, the virgin queen ruled.

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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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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

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In today’s world, gender expectations and roles of men and women are a highly debated topic. However, the reconsidering of these expectations is not a new phenomenon. Set in Verona, Italy, the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare explores the reversal and fluidity of characteristics usually assigned to a specific gender. In this play, two young people fall in love and end up tragically taking their lives as a result of their forbidden love. Shakespeare suggests that men are not necessarily masculine, women are not necessarily feminine, and that when people are forced by society to act the way their gender is “supposed” to, problems will arise.

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Both Viola (as Cesario) and Sebastian, as Orsino aptly puts it, have the same physical appearance, the same “voice”, and even dress in the “same habits” (5.1.226-227) (Shakespeare). In addition, both seem to be seamlessly substituted for the other by the characters around them—a seamlessness which may, indeed, be an illusion (a “natural perspective”, so to say), since these occurrences of ‘mistaken identities’ turn out to result in real danger for Viola/Sebastian, and a break in the relationship between Sebastian and Antonio. It is the substitution of Cesario by Sebastian, however, that calls into question the distinction between these two “persons”. Olivia seeks to marry Cesario, but is mistaken, and therefore ends up in a betrothal to Sebastian. Despite the fact that she, for most of the play, appears to care for no man other than Cesario, Olivia seems to easily transfer those feelings to Sebastian even after it is revealed that Olivia’s betrothed is not Cesario, as if the relationship between her and Sebastian is in continuity with her and Cesario’s interactions.

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In “Twelfth Night” Viola seeks refuge in a mistaken identity “O that I served that lady, and might not be deliver’d to the world” (I.ii. 42-43). Trying to find a way to hide herself and have others mistake her as a young man. Seeking shelter in her mistaken identity Viola shows another perspective of a misinterpreted identity that is evident throughout the plot of “Twelfth Night”. Despite the fact that Viola can conceal herself beneath her ‘Cesario’ front, she is unable to profess her deep love for Orsino, the duke.

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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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Today, men and women have equal rights, but that does not mean life has always been simple for both genders. When Shakespeare writes A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there are roles, behaviors, and expectations for the dominant men and submissive women. This literature portrays the major changes in the lives of both sexes throughout the years, which shows the advances women gain with time. The gender issue of men being dominant and women being submissive used in the drama, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shows the differences in the roles, behaviors, and expectations appropriate for each gender and is an example of an outdated stereotype.

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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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