Twelfth Night Identity Essay
Write about the significance of disguise and mistaken identity in Twelfth Night
Shakespeare’s use of disguise and mistaken identity is significant to the plot of Twelfth Night as it is the thread that runs through the entire fabric of the play; and is instrumental in providing confusion, misunderstanding, and ultimately – love. Almost all of the characters in this play either carry out some sort of identity deception, or are deceived by someone else doing much the same thing.
Primarily we have the play’s protagonist, Viola, who resorts to gender deception in order to get a job in what is essentially a male dominated society. It is noteworthy to mention that in Shakespeare’s time, female roles were played by males, and the idea of a male playing a female who disguises herself as a male is doubly ironic, creating an even greater comic element, and in effect would have been hilarious to the theatre goer. We also have Malvolio, who dresses in what is effectively a disguise to impress Olivia, and Feste who acts like a fool when he …show more content…
clearly is not, and disguises himself as a pastor in order to trick Malvolio. In addition, although not disguising himself in a physical sense, Sir Toby Belch hides his true nature in order to befriend the very affluent Sir Andrew Aguecheek who has “three thousand ducats a year”. We could even say that Olivia also disguises herself to some extent, hiding behind her mourning veil in order to avoid Orsino’s advances. All of these characters combine to contribute a number of amusing yet sometimes poignant moments in the play.
The dramatic backdrop of a shipwreck, and the apparent death of Viola’s twin, Sebastian, sets the scene for Act I scene 1 perfectly, introducing a grief-stricken Viola who is lost without her brother. “And what shall I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium”. She is alone in the world and has no choice but to enlist the Captain’s help in disguising herself “conceal me what I am” in order to gain employment with Duke Orsino. Shakespeare has presented Viola as a resourceful and determined young woman who in spite of her sorrow has come up with an ingenious plan. We have respect for her, but also empathise with her, even though she is in effect being deceitful. Let us not forget that in Viola’s case, her disguise is not being used for personal gain or in order to cause harm.
Viola’s disguise as ‘Cesario’ proves very effective and Orsino has accepted her without question “he hath known you but three days, and already you are no stranger”. Unfortunately for Viola, things become rather complicated when she falls in love with Orsino, and is subsequently tasked by him to woo Olivia. She realises that her disguise has now become a trap from which she cannot escape without revealing her true identity. This situation serves to build tension, poor Viola must do as Orsino asks however much it hurts, “whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife”. Events become complicated further when Olivia, herself in mourning for her own brother, falls in love with ‘Cesario’. We are now presented with a rather unorthodox love triangle. The potential for amusement as a result of mistaken identity is now evident; the audience knows that Cesario is in fact male; and ‘he’ is in love with the man on whose behalf he is wooing Olivia.
We can understand perfectly how easily Olivia could fall for Cesario; the dialogue between them in Act I, scene 5 is light-hearted repartee, and Cesario is very complimentary of Olivia’s looks when she finally reveals herself “’Tis beauty truly blent”. When Cesario ceases reciting Orsino’s speech “It is the more liked to be feigned” and spontaneously speaks of how he himself would profess his love it is delivered so passionately that one becomes enthralled, as does Olivia, forgetting that Cesario is merely a messenger. Who could possibly resist such a lovely piece of poetry ripe with alliteration “”, and beautiful imagery “babbling gossip of the air”. Even the hardest of hearts would melt. Olivia’s monologue towards the end of the scene serves to confirm what we already suspect; she has fallen for Cesario “even so quickly may one catch the plague?”, as a result of mistaken identity, and thus Shakespeare has created a very intriguing love triangle.
The significance of Viola’s disguise and its importance to the plot is instrumental in building tension, especially at the end of Act II scene 2 when Viola realises that Olivia has fallen for her. “Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness” We can easily infer that she is obviously not just speaking about Olivia, but also the fact that disguise is preventing her from professing her love for Orsino. She does, however, amuse the audience with references to her disguise. Her aside “though I would not have it grow on my chin” in response to Feste’s wish that she have a beard, is a further device by which the audience can be reminded of the fact that they know things that characters in the play don’t.
As is the norm in Shakespeare’s plays, we need some respite from the dramatic tension, and this comes in the form of Feste, the ‘fool’.
Feste is in actual fact an erudite and witty man whose use of puns is a cause of great amusement to the audience. “This fellow is wise enough to play the fool.” He disguises his cleverness in order to put people off their guard so that he can observe them without them even realising it. Later in the play when he pretends to Malvolio that he is the minister Sir Topas, he actually dons a disguise even though Malvolio cannot see him. Perhaps this is because he needs the disguise to enable him to play the part effectively, or maybe it is Shakespeare’s way of saying that outward appearances are in fact not that important, or even indicative of one’s true personality. I believe that Feste’s comment cucullus non facit monachum ‘the cowl does not make the monk’ sums up the entire message of the
play.
As the plot now picks up, events grow increasingly complicated when Viola’s predicament becomes decidedly worse. Sir Andrew challenges her to a duel because he is assured by Sir Toby that it will impress Olivia. Neither of them really wants to fight, and the intervention of Antonio is a relief for both Viola and the audience. This relief is short lived however, when Antonio is arrested and then requests money from Viola which she does not have. He has mistaken Viola for her brother, and although the audience already knows that Sebastian is not dead; the mention of his name sparks hope in Viola’s breast. The drama of this scene is effective in evoking our sympathy for Antonio. Antonio loves Sebastian, perhaps not in a homoerotic way, but as a friend, and Sebastian’s apparent rejection appears to hurt him deeply. In the BBCs production of this play; we can see Viola’s fear and anxiety as yet again her disguise is her undoing “a little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man.” This, coupled with poor Antonio’s desperation “do not tempt my misery” make this one of the most heart-rending scenes in the play. Surprisingly, we still sympathise with Viola even though her deception is causing such chaos. This scene in particular is a turning point in the play, we as an audience feel that things just cannot get any worse, and there must be a resolution soon.
Of course there is a resolution, and disguise has played an important part in reaching it. Throughout Twelfth Night, disguise and mistaken identity have been at the forefront of the action in the form of Viola, and also on the periphery in the less major characters. The message ‘appearances can be deceptive’ should be the tag line for this play.
1333 words
Bibliography: www.englishbiz.co.uk www.sparknotes.com
www.opensourceshakespeare.com
Shakespeare’s use of disguise and mistaken identity is significant to the plot of Twelfth Night as it is the thread that runs through the entire fabric of the play; and is instrumental in providing confusion, misunderstanding, and ultimately – love. Almost all of the characters in this play either carry out some sort of identity deception, or are deceived by someone else doing much the same thing.
Primarily we have the play’s protagonist, Viola, who resorts to gender deception in order to get a job in what is essentially a male dominated society. It is noteworthy to mention that in Shakespeare’s time, female roles were played by males, and the idea of a male playing a female who disguises herself as a male is doubly ironic, creating an even greater comic element, and in effect would have been hilarious to the theatre goer. We also have Malvolio, who dresses in what is effectively a disguise to impress Olivia, and Feste who acts like a fool when he …show more content…
clearly is not, and disguises himself as a pastor in order to trick Malvolio. In addition, although not disguising himself in a physical sense, Sir Toby Belch hides his true nature in order to befriend the very affluent Sir Andrew Aguecheek who has “three thousand ducats a year”. We could even say that Olivia also disguises herself to some extent, hiding behind her mourning veil in order to avoid Orsino’s advances. All of these characters combine to contribute a number of amusing yet sometimes poignant moments in the play.
The dramatic backdrop of a shipwreck, and the apparent death of Viola’s twin, Sebastian, sets the scene for Act I scene 1 perfectly, introducing a grief-stricken Viola who is lost without her brother. “And what shall I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium”. She is alone in the world and has no choice but to enlist the Captain’s help in disguising herself “conceal me what I am” in order to gain employment with Duke Orsino. Shakespeare has presented Viola as a resourceful and determined young woman who in spite of her sorrow has come up with an ingenious plan. We have respect for her, but also empathise with her, even though she is in effect being deceitful. Let us not forget that in Viola’s case, her disguise is not being used for personal gain or in order to cause harm.
Viola’s disguise as ‘Cesario’ proves very effective and Orsino has accepted her without question “he hath known you but three days, and already you are no stranger”. Unfortunately for Viola, things become rather complicated when she falls in love with Orsino, and is subsequently tasked by him to woo Olivia. She realises that her disguise has now become a trap from which she cannot escape without revealing her true identity. This situation serves to build tension, poor Viola must do as Orsino asks however much it hurts, “whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife”. Events become complicated further when Olivia, herself in mourning for her own brother, falls in love with ‘Cesario’. We are now presented with a rather unorthodox love triangle. The potential for amusement as a result of mistaken identity is now evident; the audience knows that Cesario is in fact male; and ‘he’ is in love with the man on whose behalf he is wooing Olivia.
We can understand perfectly how easily Olivia could fall for Cesario; the dialogue between them in Act I, scene 5 is light-hearted repartee, and Cesario is very complimentary of Olivia’s looks when she finally reveals herself “’Tis beauty truly blent”. When Cesario ceases reciting Orsino’s speech “It is the more liked to be feigned” and spontaneously speaks of how he himself would profess his love it is delivered so passionately that one becomes enthralled, as does Olivia, forgetting that Cesario is merely a messenger. Who could possibly resist such a lovely piece of poetry ripe with alliteration “”, and beautiful imagery “babbling gossip of the air”. Even the hardest of hearts would melt. Olivia’s monologue towards the end of the scene serves to confirm what we already suspect; she has fallen for Cesario “even so quickly may one catch the plague?”, as a result of mistaken identity, and thus Shakespeare has created a very intriguing love triangle.
The significance of Viola’s disguise and its importance to the plot is instrumental in building tension, especially at the end of Act II scene 2 when Viola realises that Olivia has fallen for her. “Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness” We can easily infer that she is obviously not just speaking about Olivia, but also the fact that disguise is preventing her from professing her love for Orsino. She does, however, amuse the audience with references to her disguise. Her aside “though I would not have it grow on my chin” in response to Feste’s wish that she have a beard, is a further device by which the audience can be reminded of the fact that they know things that characters in the play don’t.
As is the norm in Shakespeare’s plays, we need some respite from the dramatic tension, and this comes in the form of Feste, the ‘fool’.
Feste is in actual fact an erudite and witty man whose use of puns is a cause of great amusement to the audience. “This fellow is wise enough to play the fool.” He disguises his cleverness in order to put people off their guard so that he can observe them without them even realising it. Later in the play when he pretends to Malvolio that he is the minister Sir Topas, he actually dons a disguise even though Malvolio cannot see him. Perhaps this is because he needs the disguise to enable him to play the part effectively, or maybe it is Shakespeare’s way of saying that outward appearances are in fact not that important, or even indicative of one’s true personality. I believe that Feste’s comment cucullus non facit monachum ‘the cowl does not make the monk’ sums up the entire message of the
play.
As the plot now picks up, events grow increasingly complicated when Viola’s predicament becomes decidedly worse. Sir Andrew challenges her to a duel because he is assured by Sir Toby that it will impress Olivia. Neither of them really wants to fight, and the intervention of Antonio is a relief for both Viola and the audience. This relief is short lived however, when Antonio is arrested and then requests money from Viola which she does not have. He has mistaken Viola for her brother, and although the audience already knows that Sebastian is not dead; the mention of his name sparks hope in Viola’s breast. The drama of this scene is effective in evoking our sympathy for Antonio. Antonio loves Sebastian, perhaps not in a homoerotic way, but as a friend, and Sebastian’s apparent rejection appears to hurt him deeply. In the BBCs production of this play; we can see Viola’s fear and anxiety as yet again her disguise is her undoing “a little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man.” This, coupled with poor Antonio’s desperation “do not tempt my misery” make this one of the most heart-rending scenes in the play. Surprisingly, we still sympathise with Viola even though her deception is causing such chaos. This scene in particular is a turning point in the play, we as an audience feel that things just cannot get any worse, and there must be a resolution soon.
Of course there is a resolution, and disguise has played an important part in reaching it. Throughout Twelfth Night, disguise and mistaken identity have been at the forefront of the action in the form of Viola, and also on the periphery in the less major characters. The message ‘appearances can be deceptive’ should be the tag line for this play.
1333 words
Bibliography: www.englishbiz.co.uk www.sparknotes.com
www.opensourceshakespeare.com