Preview

Twelfth Night Analysis

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1301 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Twelfth Night Analysis
NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY COLLEGE
Department of Literature and Languages

NAMES: KANANA HARRISON

NUC #: 20103674

COURSE: ENGLISH 121

LECTURER: MR TEMBO

ASSIGNMENT: Discuss the role and effect of disguise and mistaken identity in Twelfth Night. How does Shakespeare use these to advance his plot?

DUE DATE: 17 JUNE 2011

Before explicating how Shakespeare utilised disguise and mistaken identity in Twelfth Night to develop his plot, it is important to understand the meaning of Twelfth Night. In the eastern most part of Canada is a province called Newfoundland and Labrador, a long forgotten English tradition- mummering has been renewed. This tradition occurs in the course of the 12 days of Christmas, normally on the night of 5 January, the eve of Epiphany which is normally referred to as the Old Twelfth, or Twelfth Night. Grownups either disguise themselves with masks or dress up in clothes of the opposite gender. Afterwards, the tradition is characterised by visitations to friends in the neighbourhood where short songs and dance are staged out, all the time ensuring that they are not recognised. They are rewarded with cakes and wine among other things. (Encarta 2009).
Shakespeare in this renowned romantic comedy cultivates the aspect that both male and female sexes are arbitrary. In an art of mastery, he portrayed Viola, the protagonist as a transvestite. Viola, after a shipwreck off the coast of Irwin lost her twin brother. In an apparent pursuit to search for him, she disguised herself as a male, adopting the name Cesario to heighten irony, develop theme and enhance a comic innuendo as cited below: Shakespeare,

creates a plot that revolves around mistaken identity and deception. Mistaken identity, along with disguises, rules the play and affects the lives of several of the characters. Shakespeare 's techniques involve mistaken identity to bring humor, mystery, and complication to the play. Many



Bibliography: Restad, Penne. "Christmas." Microsoft® Encarta® 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft Corporation, 2008. http://www.oppapers.com/ (accessed 7 June 2011) http://www.nosweatshakespeare.com/ (accessed 7 June 2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night (accessed 7 June 2011) http://mural.uv.es/juver/mistaken.html (accessed 7 June 2011) http://www.twelfthnightsite.co.uk/ (accessed 7 June 2011) 5

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    This can be seen in the moment where she enters the room in an ungrateful manner and the the way she was eating which was not the expectation of a female. Furthermore, since the main audience that are targeted in the movie are teenagers, the main idea was to show the problem of gender expectation. The idea of gender expectation is also depicted in twelfth night, but the movie intends to show radical exploration on how teenage genders are stereotyped based on sports and not on the female's ability skills. One way that the Movie is modernized of the play can be seen in the clothes because the students wore clothes and the use of technology that are considered modern. In depth, The last point to show how the movie is modernized can be seen in the last scene of the movie where Sebastian showed his penis to prove he was a boy and also when Viola does the same when she showed her breast. The idea of nudity and the showing of private areas of a gender is endured in today's American society or culture because nudity was not acceptable in shakespeare…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    1. The reason as to why Viola becomes a “man” is due to the fact that during that period of time, money was an issue for woman as they did not receive as well jobs. She becomes a man so that she can make a living in a beautiful place such as the kingdom of Illyria.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    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.…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is no escape from the horrors that were all around me. Dead bodies floated silently around while the living ones were face to face with death itself fighting until the very end. Others just lost hope and gave up. “How foolish to believe we are more powerful than the sea or the sky” (pg.341). Everything seemed so hopeless but there was something in me that didn’t give up, I wanted to see my dear Halinka so badly and cradle her in my arms, reassuring her that everything will be alright. But the truth is that I myself also need reassuring, but one thing I knew for sure was that I knew that the knight would be a savior.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Shakespeare's uniquely constructed comedy, Twelfth Night, there are several paradoxes within the characters. Misinterpretations as well as false presentation of reality are both common occurrences within the characters. Nearly the entire cast of characters use or fall victim to some form of deceit. Both Andrew and Viola present themselves as people they are not, and Orsino and Malvolio are fooled themselves about who they are and where they want and can be. Also, on a historical note, both Olivia and Feste the clown step (by default or self-attainment) out of the socially imposed stereotypes of their biologically born person. The reasons for Shakespeare's contradictions of characters are unknown; however, it can be hypothesized, knowing the man and his style that he was poking fun at elements of the society, in which he resided, as well as the ridiculousness of higher class citizens and the ritual absurdity of the lives they lived.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    twelfth night

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    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.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    * Bottoms own disguise of self importance and (eek) arrogance. leads to disorder within speech, when his attempts to use fine language are marred by his incorrect pronunciations, so forth. equally, he attempts to use such language when describing such menial matters (talking of lion - sucking dove, wonderful imagery to language, allows audience to both be captivated and to find…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the Renaissance-era romantic comedy, "Twelfth Night", William Shakespeare presents to us an entertaining play riddled with humorous plots and, in some instances, comical and witty exchanges between the characters in the play. In a novel peppered with subtle notions of deceit and illusion, it is fascinating how some of the most revealing truths about the characters actually lie beneath the innocent banters. Under the influence of illusion and deception, the figures in the play are often lost in their own reverie, failing to realise the bare naked truths behind the events that have played out. An insightful judge of characters, Feste is both impudent and witty at the same time, neither mincing his words nor masking his emotions. It is perhaps due to his pragmatic nature that he is able to be so perceptive and astute in his judgment of the characters. His remark of Orsino's mind as one which is very opal only serves to prove the above-mentioned claim. Over the following paragraphs, I will endeavor to uncover the truth behind Feste's statement.…

    • 949 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Shakespeare’s day, this holiday was celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down—much like the upside-down, chaotic world of Illyria in the play. Shakespeare entered this artistic phase (dark comedies). “Twelve Night” reveals the beginning of this dissatisfaction. “Twelve Night” was performed at the Inns of Court. (Norton 370) There was no indication that Shakespeare wrote “Twelve Night,” or any of his plays for special court reasons. “Twelve Night” is based on barnabe riches story of Apollonius and silla (1581) but none of these settings has any considerable realism of local color. Hazlitt described the setting of Shakespeare’s comedy as being of a pastoral and poetical cast. Producers were driven to a decision by the necessity of scenery and costume of Venice, which ruled the Adriatic isles. (Mowat, 11)…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night, a play written by William Shakespeare, is a comedy which presents the theme of emotions in a respective approach. The emotions portrayed vary from different kinds including love, lust, hatred and jealousy. Twelfth Night can easily be compared to poems from the literary heritage. Sister Maude and He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven are two perfect examples that both differ and correspond to Shakespeare’s phenomenon.…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 402 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Twelfth Night Essay

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Characters and events are important factors in plays as their interactions throughout the plot develop the central ideas or themes that the author wishes to communicate to the audience. Some common themes are investigations into common human experiences that may involve complex moral issues or questions the integrity of relationships. A play which uses characters and events to explore such important themes is Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. The dominant themes Shakespeare introduces in Twelfth Night are love and deception. Love and deception are critical in that they embody the values for humans in today's society since love comforts humans and bring them together while deception is the betrayal of truth and honesty which causes separation and anguish. Shakespeare uses these themes in order to demonstrate a rich variety of relationships.…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Twelfth Night is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany. It was originally a Catholic holiday but, prior to Shakespeare 's play, had become a day of revelry. Servants often dressed up as their masters. The masquerading that is a frequent part of an Epiphany celebration is of course captured in Viola 's plan to disguise herself as a man. Almost all the in the play are either taken in by another characters disguise or a deception regarding their own identity. The confusions that unravel in amongst it give the audience an urge to want to read on. I think Shakespeare presented these to show that things really are not always what they seem to be, plus to show the consequences of deception. Hence, nearly every character at some points conceals reality behind some type of deception, leading to various consequences. Furthermore, the deception and confusion presented throughout this story makes each character develop an identity with either showing cleverness or madness, while it also makes each character realize the principles towards obtaining love and…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Through desperate characters, Shakespeare creates a theme by masking and mistaking their identities. The scandalous characters’ action leads to evil results in Much Ado About Nothing. Though Don Pedro, Claudio, and Margaret, Shakespeare demonstrates that masking and mistaken identity leads to iniquitous results.…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Insanity In Twelfth Night

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare constantly alludes to the contrast between darkness and light by the use of secrets, mistaken identities and the contrast between sanity and insanity. With this motif Shakespeare shows us that if we act on first impressions without the true knowledge of the entity of the situation or character, then the misinformed motives will surely be in vain; and our efforts futile.…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays