Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare

The uncertainty of identity and disguising of characters throughout Twelfth Night presents a theme with a lot of confusion but also great comedic implications. Mistaken identity is shown when twins Viola and Sebastian are misidentified for one another, enhancing the comic confusion amongst the characters. This is more apparent in Act 5 Scene 1; however Shakespeare contributes to this comedy through disguise to develop a sense of dramatic irony in a homoerotic subtext where Olivia falls in love with a woman, Viola falls in love with Orsino while confined as a male and Orsino shows attraction towards Cesario. Disguise is also presented at more minor sections of the play through Feste and Malvolio.
Shakespeare presents to the audience the heart ache that Viola suffers over the Duke due to her masquerade as Cesario. Viola has to comply with her role as a male character and not make her longing obvious by hypothetically telling Orsino she loves
Orsino is presented as a naïve character which is exposed through his hyperbolic lusts for Olivia in front of a woman who loves him unconditionally which enables the audience to find his ignorance comical. Additionally Orsino often remarks on Cesario’s beauty especially his “Diana’s lip…not more smooth and rubious” through Shakespeare’s blazon description suggesting that he is attracted to his feminine look, but the awkwardness behind the attraction towards a seemingly male character is comedic and further highlights the dramatic irony. This also suggests that Orsino is in awe of Viola before her true identity is revealed which is supported as after the reveal he immediately wants her to be his “master’s mistress”. This creates dramatic comedy because Orsino is seen as delusional and desperate for loving a woman he has only just discovered is an actual woman. These