One could argue that the love Maria is shown to feel for Sir Toby could cause her sudden rebellion, but her actions as a mother figure and how she is continuously being separated from Sir Toby and Sir Andrew even when Maria is added into scenes she was not originally present for conflict with this statement because Maria is put into a serving position that could explain her actions instead of love. After walking around with Malvolio, Maria has to go outside to collect a drunk Sir Toby, and when they re-enter the home, they are meet by Sir Andrew. Sir Toby quickly moves up the stairs to be with Sir Andrew while Maria stays on the landing looking up at the two. This disconnects the three who will later plot together against Malvolio. Maria is…
There are many examples of trickery that come from the text in Twelfth Night. One example of trickery in Twelfth Night was shown by Voila when she disguises herself to be her twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly thought to have died in a shipwreck early in the play. Viola disguises herself as her brother because she wants to take a job at Duke Orsino’s Court. This is an example of trickery because she disguises herself to trick others into thinking that she is a man. Another example of trickery in Twelfth Night is in Act 2 Scene 5 In Olivia’s garden, when Maria, Sir toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian, one of Maria’s servants plan to play a joke on Malvolio. Maria has written a fake letter to trick Malvolio into thinking that Olivia is in love with him. Maria leaves the letter in the garden and the three men and Maria hide. When Malvolio enters the garden he spots the letter and reads it. Maria had sealed the letter with Olivia’s sealing ring to make it look more authentic. Malvolio mistakes Maria’s handwriting for Olivia’s and believes the letter is real. Mavolio then goes to Olivia and does all the things the letter says that she likes, but the letter states things that Olivia thinks are weird. Olivia thinks that Malvolio is insane and orders him to be locked…
In Twelfth Night, Malvolio duped himself into believing that Olivia is in love with himself. When received a love letter meant as a prank, he makes the letter suit himself. In this antic, they lock Malvolio away claiming he is possessed and sends a priest, who is really the clown. Even though Malvolio would not be able to see who is talking to him, the clown puts on a robe to camouflage as a priest. “ I’ll put it on, and I will dissemble myself in’t,” he claims knowing that it will help convince himself what he is acting to be (55). In the film, Jerry gets stuck in the life of a woman. When he is proposed to, he agrees originally, caught up in his own lie. He even gets excited and easily gets along with the other girls in the band, fooling himself of his true…
For hundreds of years people from all over the world have seen the works of William Shakespeare performed by thousands of actors. Twelfth Night or What you Will is but one of the many comedies written by William Shakespeare that have been produced in many formats, from theater, television and even several feature films. So many different productions of the same works have opened the door to directors adding their own twist to the original script to make it their own. One play can be performed countless different ways, from very conservative or to unconventional depending on the director’s interpretation and intentions. So all writings are open for creative interpretation thus being for this paper I am going to focus on the directorial staging of this play and how the staging and direction brought the focus of the subplot of Antonio and Sebastian into a homoerotic relationship opposed to other renditions of Twelfth Night that were homosocial. Directors have creatively reconstructed these plays pulling from the era, the popular ideology of the community and political correctness at the times the different styles and interpretations so that Shakespeare can be adapted to the current times.…
While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.…
When we first see Malvolio he is right by Olivia’s side. He does everything that she asks of him. At first it seems that Malvolio is her lowly servant. However, when we read his role in the “Persons of the Play” we see that he is the steward of Olivia, which is someone who is in charge of the person’s finances. So right away we see the personality of Malvolio coming through with his low self-esteem and acting like a lowly servant, when in reality he is in a decent middle-class position. Later in the play we see that he is very interested in Olivia, not particularly because of her good looks, but more for the wealth that she holds. This pursuit of love for all the wrong reasons is one of the reasons Malvolio is set up to be made a fool of at the end.…
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night’s subtitle, “What You Will”, entices the thought that you can make the play what you’d like it to be. The audience isn’t the only group that gets to change the shape of the play however. Through disguises and false identities, the characters in the play are able to alter the play in an attempt to fulfill their needs. Viola does this successfully by using her disguise as a servant to get close and personal with Orsino, who she would not have been close to normally. Sir Andrew’s guise on the other hand, doesn’t work as well as he’d hoped. His attempts to cloak his true joking, fun-loving personality with a mask of machismo. His disguise ends up turning Olivia off, instead of on. For both these characters, their attempts to change who they are, and make the play what they will, work to reconstruct the plot of the play.…
The comedies Twelfth Night and Some Like It Hot both use deception through appearance as a comedic device. Through this theme of deceit the film Some Like It Hot directed by Billy Wilder is shown to be a natural descendant to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In both works deception through appearance is shown multiple ways in both the main stories and the subplots.…
Romantic love, one’s unconditional love, consists of a great portion of the play as it forms a part of the love triangle and is a key element when all issues concerning identity are resolved. First experienced by Viola, she, disguised as a eunuch, starts to fall in love with the Duke Orsino. When sent by the Duke to seek Olivia’s love, Viola makes it clear to the audience saying, “Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” (I, iv, 42) . Later on, she becomes aware of the existence of a love triangle. Viola’s situation, already complex, worsens and she states, “My state is desperate for my master’s love” (II, ii, 36). When questioned about her love interest by the Duke, Viola answers someone “Of your complexion” (II, iv, 26) and “About your years, my lord” (II, iv, 28), subtly hinting her love. Troubled by her position in the love triangle, Viola decides to ask the Duke himself, who refuses to accept that Olivia does not share his love, what to do. She seeks helpful answers when she says,…
Toby and Maria set up a ruse for Malvolio in the letter. However, it is Malvolio’s self-deception that allows the small prank to work. In the letter Maria (managing to deceive Malvolio into believing her handwriting is in fact Olivia’s) never outright named Malvolio as the man about whom she is writing. It is Malvolio’s own self pride and overinflated ego that allows him to convince himself that the letter must be about him. The audience is very aware of this, as he reads the letter much of the joke is centred on the fact that he is given a tiny crumb of a clue. Everyone except Malvolio understands that a match with Olivia is impossible, not only because Malvolio is her steward, but also because he is neither "generous, guiltless [nor] of free disposition". Orsino is also another character who is self-deluded. Duke Orsino’s has deceived himself into believing that he is in love with the countess Olivia…
Andy Fickman has updated Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night through many different ways, such as Viola in Twelfth Night as a woman trying to pretend to be a male to work for Duke Orsino.Fickman’s film shows that it has updated Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The characters of both the film and play demonstrates that many things in society have…
Creating much dysfunction within the play, Viola’s manly disguise as Cesario creates confusion between Olivia, whom is in love with Viola’s disguise, along with Orsino, who is unable to explain his infatuation with Cesario. When we are first introduced to Olivia, she refuses to be courted by the Duke Orsino or Sir Andrew Aguecheek, claiming to…
As Joseph came upon the scene of Mr. Reese restraining Olivia, he saw what he perceived as an imminent threat to his sisters' safety. Olivia is one of Joseph's oldest friends. She shares with Joseph a similar background of a broken family. She is currently living with us, sharing meals, chores, etc. as one of us. We are her NaNa and PaPa, just as we are to Joseph and his sisters.…
Most of the characters get too little. Like Malvolio, he doesn’t get Olivia, everyone thinks he is mad and he decides that he will never get married. "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.” (5.1.384). Malvolio is really upset about how they tricked him and made a fool out of him, he expresses his anger in an unusual way, comparing what he said to the genre. This is unfair towards him and he feels the need of revenge. He also…
Shakespeare was a man that established his name in history books as a great writer. One of Shakespeare’s many sparks of innovative genius which laminated these pages was his use of masks. Masks are used throughout Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as a character would choose to wear their selected mask to fit in to the particular situation. Shakespeare uses this imagery of a mask in many of the characters in his play, but mostly in two: Viola and Feste. These masks are used throughout the play, but are eventually discarded at the end for the finale.…