Preview

Twelfth Night Analysis Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
794 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Twelfth Night Analysis Essay Example
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a well-known Christmas play, it is considered as one of the most successful comedies. The play starts when Viola and her twin brother, Sebastian, survive a shipwreck. When they cannot find each other, each thinks the other may be dead. Then they move on to two separate ways, establishing two story lines that finally meet with each other after involving funny mistaken identities. The love bug in the comedy bites not only Olivia and Orsino, but also Sebastian, along with Malvolio. Shakespeare finishes his play with a sweet ending when Viola finally gets together with Duke Orsino and Olivia realizes that she loves Sebastian. The comic effect in the play is achieved by several ingredients – a set of twins, a good amount of irony and a dash of romance. Among the various elements that generate the humor in Twelfth Night, the usage of irony is especially effective.

Situational irony creates an intense yet humorous atmosphere for the entire play. Viola complicates the plot after she disguises herself as a young man, calling herself Cesario, and works as an eunuch for Duke Orsino. An important situational irony that affects the plot significantly appear to us when Viola receives Olivia’s ring after visiting her house. When Viola realizes her situation, she says that “My master loves her dearly, / And I, poor master, fond as much on him, / And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me. / What will become of this? As I am man, / My state is desperate for my master’s love. / As I am woman ( now., alas the day! ), / What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! / O Time, thou must untangle this, not I. / It is too hard a knot for me t’ untie. ” (2.2.33-41) As Olivia helps Duke Orsino to woo Olivia, Viola begins to fall in love with the Duke while Olivia starts to fall in love with Viola, thinking “him” as a handsome young boy. Thus a classic situational irony takes place in the comedy, resembling characteristics of a modern
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Unit 12 P4 Essay Example
    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Unit 12 P4 Essay Example

    P4-Describe the benefits and opportunity to the business of using internet marketing within the marketing mix?…

    • 1351 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Snout A Midsummer Night's Dream Analysis
    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Snout A Midsummer Night's Dream Analysis

    Shakespeare’s most popular play, A Midsummer Night’s dream, is a romantic comedy that features young lovers that fall deeply in and out of love in a brief period of time. This play is unique because it demonstrates tragedy and comedy at the same time. The comedy not only provides amusement and laughter but also helps ease tension between characters. In the play, A “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, William Shakespeare produces a comedy through foolish characters and mistaken identities.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Lady Capulet Analysis Essay Example
    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lady Capulet Analysis Essay Example

    Capulet's wife is the matriarch of the house of Capulet, and Juliet's mother. She plays a larger role than Montague's wife, appearing in several scenes. In Act One, Scene three, she refuses to talk to her daughter about marriage, as she feels uncomfortable about it, but in Scene four, she is pleased about Count Paris's "interest" in her daughter. When Tybalt is killed in Act Three, she expresses extreme grief and a strong desire for revenge on Romeo. In Act Three, Scene 5, she becomes very angry with Juliet for refusing to marry Paris, and she coldly rejects her, saying "Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word; do as thou wilt, for I am done with thee". By the final act, she is nearly overcome by the tragic events of the play.[6] We know that Juliet was born when her mother was 14, thus she is about 28 years old, and her husband is many years older than her. Calling her "Lady Capulet" is a modern convention; it is an echo of Juliet's form of address in 3.5.65: "my lady mother".[4] In the first quartos the stage direction and speech headings can be "mother", "wife", or even "old lady", but nowhere "Lady Capulet".[…

    • 939 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night Trickery Analysis
    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Twelfth Night Trickery Analysis

    In William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night or What you Will, The characters in the play face a plot complete with love and trickery. William Shakespeare includes many examples of love and trickery throughout the play and it makes it very detailed and interesting.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Love In Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'
    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page

    Love In Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'

    Twelfth Night is a comedic play written by Shakespeare centered around two twins, Viola and Sebastian. Viola who disguises herself as a eunuch named Cesario falls in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Countess Olivia. When Cesario meets with Olivia, Olivia begins to fall in love with him thinking that she is a boy. Meanwhile, Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house, is tricked by other characters into thinking that Olivia has fallen in love with him. The characters often declare their love for one another through monologues. Throughout the story, Shakespeare effectively uses dramatic speeches to demonstrate love as being uncertain through the characters; Viola, Orsino, and Malvolio.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Twelfth Night: Interpretations Through the Directors Staging
    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Twelfth Night: Interpretations Through the Directors Staging

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explore the Ways in Which Shakespeare Presents and Develops the Character “Viola” in “Twelfth Night” Focusing on Act 1 Scene 5
    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Explore the Ways in Which Shakespeare Presents and Develops the Character “Viola” in “Twelfth Night” Focusing on Act 1 Scene 5

    “Twelfth Night” is a play written by William Shakespeare in the 17th Century that was supposed to be performed on the twelve days of Christmas. The play is about twins that get separated. Viola one of the twins, lands on an unknown land. She disguises herself as a man to work for Orsino, the duke of the land. She does all this to meet Olivia, the woman Orsino is wooing. While wooing Olivia for Orsino, Olivia starts to fall in love with Cesario (Viola’s male name). Throughout the play Viola starts to fall in love with Orsino as they get closer and closer. This love triangle gets more and more complicated throughout the play until Sebastian, the other twin, appears and marries Olivia. Orsino thinks Cesario has betrayed him until everyone meets and Sebastian and Viola reunite. Orsino, now understanding, realises he has been chasing the wrong woman and marries Viola to her great joy.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Opioid Prescription
    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Pros And Cons Of Opioid Prescription

    The high rate of opioid prescription brings many problems to the healthcare system, including the nursing profession, the health of individuals, their family, and their community. Many people have the perception that these type of drugs can do no harm to them, when in fact when it is misused, it can bring many problems and do more harm than good.…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    The Principle of Recompense in "Twelfth Night"
    • 5488 Words
    • 22 Pages

    The Principle of Recompense in "Twelfth Night"

    Like Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, TwelfthNight moves from personal frustration and social disorder to individual fulfilmentand social harmony by means of what Leo Salingar has shown to be the traditional comic combination of beneficent fortune and human intrigue.' This basic pattern, of course, takes a radically different form in each play. In comparison with many of the comedies, Twelfth Nightbegins with remarkablylittle conflict. The opening scenes introduce no villain bent on dissension and destruction, nor do they reveal disruptive antagonism between parents and children or between love and law. In contrast to the passion and anger of the first scene of A Midsummer Night'sDream,the restless melancholy or that pervades the beginning of TheMerchant Venice, the brutality and tyranny of LikeIt, the dominant note of Orsino's court and that precipitate the action in As You of Olivia's household is static self-containment. To be sure, both Orsino and Olivia…

    • 5488 Words
    • 22 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    An Analysis of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
    • 949 Words
    • 3 Pages

    An Analysis of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

    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
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How Does Shakespeare Use Deception In Twelfth Night
    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How Does Shakespeare Use Deception In Twelfth Night

    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
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hidden Identity In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hidden Identity In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    William Shakespeare’s works have everlasting significance due to the fact that his plays explore key ideas still relevant in our own time. Shakespeare’s play Twelfth night was written in 1602, as a comedy. It contains ideas and themes that link it closely with society. Twelfth Night explores the idea of love through his characterisation of Viola and Duke Orsino. Andy Fickman’s film modernised Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night through the change of some parts of the play and updating them.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Gender Roles In Twelfth Night
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Gender Roles In Twelfth Night

    “Nothing that is so is so,” states the fool Feste while looking at Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, a double for Cesario (IV.i.9). This singular quotes embodies the idea that gender identity is fictional in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, and that homoerotic desires are natural to the human body and mentality. Throughout this play, many characters are introduced to having homoerotic desires: Orsino for Viola dressed as Cesario, Sebastian for Antonio, and Olivia for Viola dressed as Cesario. Most provocative is the homoerotic desire between Maria and Olivia. Olivia, the lady of her house, is the employer of lady-in-waiting Maria, who serves Olivia with her best intentions in mind. Olivia feels a dutiful comfort with Maria, proven through…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Deception In Twelfth Night
    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Deception In Twelfth Night

    Without her presence, the story would fall apart. The fact that she plays a male role sets up the dramatic irony the comedy needs. This dramatic irony gives extra meaning to Viola’s hints to Orsino that she loves a person “of his complexion” and adds humor to ordinary dialog(II.iv.31). In the beginning of play, this same dramatic irony allows for the love triangle to develop and complicate the plot. Moreover, Viola faking the role of a twin causes great confusion among the other characters. Antonio’s conversation with Orsino exemplifies this. When Antonio tells Orsino about Viola, Orsino scoffs at his claims: “thy words are madness”(V.i.98). The confusion caused by Viola appearing to be her brother leads to humorous misunderstandings. These same misunderstandings help build to the climax in scene V. Needless to say, the tension, humor, and suspense needed to power the plot comes from Viola acting the part of a male.…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night Essay
    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Twelfth Night Essay

    In Scene Four of the Second Act of Twelfth Night Orsino and Viola, dressed as Cesario, listen to music and have a conversation about love and more specifically about which kind of women Viola allegedly fancies. Furthermore, Orsino gives Viola advice on what sort of woman would suit her best. In this discussion, the relationship between love and time or more accurately, the changing nature of love in the passing of time seems to play a central role. This close relationship between love and time is illustrated by the language used in the lines 13 to 40 in Act I, Scene iv. The first noticeable aspect of the language used in this conversation between Orsino and Viola, which indicates the important role of time for romantic affections, is the…

    • 887 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More