Gender Norms In Twelfth Night

Viola’s first words that lay out her gender defying scheme are “Conceal me what I am and be my aid for sure a disguise as haply shall become the form of my intent” (Shakespeare 1.2.53-56). Throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare plays with the idea of gender and its role in society. The audience sees Orsino, the duke, trip over his words in his misogynistic contradictions of his opinions on women and their ability to love. Surprisingly, Viola also shares in such contradictions. However she is far from being misogynistic in modern terms. Viola’s outward duality is Shakespeare’s means of contrasting her with Orsino and reinforcing her disguise. (maybe: commenting on the nature of disguises)

Throughout the film, Madden introduces a number of conflicting perspectives that only further emphasise the hindrance women faced from becoming “successful in a man’s world.” The foremost conflicting perspective is that of Viola’s versus societal norms, as Viola’s longing to be an actor culminated when she was unable to perform in Shakespeare’s play due to legal obligations that meant only men could appear on stage as actors. Madden blatantly emphasises this through the use of Viola’s nurse stating “Playhouses are not for well-born ladies,” thereby explicitly reinforcing the inequitable level of gender inequality in the 15th century. Furthermore, another conflicting perspective is that of Viola’s father, Sir Robert De Lesseps, versus Viola,

Equity between men and women is a deeply rooted battle. As the modern culture shifts further from patriarchal rule, it is interesting to question why females remained the submissive sex for so many centuries. When examining the play Twelfth Night, it becomes apparent that Shakespeare considered such an issue and used the character Viola and her interaction with Orsino as a vessel for gender equality.

Animal Farm was written by George Orwell in 1945 in the form of an allegory. Initially, it seemed that Animal Farm was striding for a fair and just society. Animals lived better lives and enjoyed themselves. However, changes were limited, and cracks appeared when division emerged between the two leaders. In fact, Orwell indicates that Animal Farm is doomed.

All throughout Illyria, there is romance, passion, royalty, and an immense amount of gender stereotypes. William Shakespeare imagines the kingdom of Illyria to have very traditional norms for both women and men in his play Twelfth Night. In Scene 2 of Act 1, Viola, recently rescued from a shipwreck, hears about a duke named Orsino and instantly comes up with a plan to get closer to him. Her plan is to disguise herself as a boy who she will name Cesario and become one of Orsino's’ attendants. Right off the bat, we begin to see gender stereotypes. Why must Viola become a man in order to work for the duke? Elizabethan society “molded women into the form of the dutiful wife and mother” (Elizabethan Women). Viola could not have served duke Orsino as a woman because as a woman she was expected to work at home and be either a “dutiful wife [or a] mother”. Scene two prepares the audience for the idea of gender throughout the rest of the play. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is very traditional play due to its ideas of gender stereotypes in Elizabethan society.

In the Elizabethan era, there was a standard women and men had to follow. The Elizabethan society was patriarchal, meaning men were considered leaders, and the women were inferior to men. The men in Elizabethan life was to be of power, authority, and head of the their families, and above all to be obeyed. In this time wealthy men were to become courtiers, diplomen, clergymen, and lawyers. The men made the decisions and whatever decision they make women have to obey them. They were also responsible for taking care of the family while working different jobs..And they were expected to improve the positions of all members of the family through influence and patronage from wealthier people and families than their own. As for the women in this time frame they were raised to believe that they were inferior to men. Their roles in Elizabethan society was very limited, and their job was to be housewives and mothers. Women at the time were to be watched for and if she was married it would be her husband but if she was single then her father or brother. Gender conventions in Elizabethan Era is key to understand my argument about how women in Shakespeare’s plays break their gender conventions. I will be using parts from Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Twelfth Night, to show how women in this time period broke gender conventions.

The play Twelfth Night encapsulates what it meant to be a man and women throughout

In the times of Shakespeare, gender roles were clearly defined and there were expectations to uphold those customs. Men were the ones who held the power, they spoke freely, they were expected to be strong, emotionally tough, intelligent and courageous. Women, on the other hand, were expected to be more passive

In Twelfth Night, the protagonist of the story, Viola, is displayed as a rational, sacrificial, sincere, strong, witty woman, who disguises herself as a man, to become a faithful attendant of Orsino. Viola is one with sacrificial and patient love, willingly loving Orsino, and attending to his every need. Orsino, on the other hand, is shown as an emotional man, who has superficial and transient love for Olivia. This love is very abruptly shifted to Viola at the end of the play, when Viola reveals her true identity. Through this contrast of these two individuals, we can see that Shakespeare makes a distinct different between genders, and allows to draw a contrast between characters to think deeper into their characters and purpose in the story, beyond their surface appearances.

Viola’s choice to disguise herself as a man creates the largest gender imbalance throughout the play. Although there is not a major imbalance between the genders throughout the whole play, there are a times where the gender imbalance of the time period does stand out. The inequality between men and women is first explored when Viola decides to disguise herself as a man. The impetus for her decision was that as a man she could make it further than as a woman. She knew that as a woman she would stay a maid and would not advance in social class, whereas disguised as a man she could move up in social status more easily. The idea that men can move up in social class more easily than women plays into gender roles then and now. This idea proves that genders were not completely equal, though there are many ways throughout the play where they do seem to balance each other. One of the areas in the play where the gender roles are relatively steady is the love between characters.

Comedy, in the Elizabethan era, often included themes of wit, mistaken identity, love, and tragedy, all tied up with a happy ending. These themes are prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a comical play that explores the pangs of unrequited love and the confusion of gender. Love is a powerful emotion that causes suffering, happiness, and disorder throughout the play. The play also demonstrates the blurred lines of gender identity, which ties into the modern day debate on sexuality and gender identity. The main characters in the play, Viola, Olivia, and Orsino are connected by a love triangle, each person pursuing an unrequited love. Suffering from love and the fluidity of gender are the prevalent themes explored throughout the play and intertwined with Viola, Olivia, and Orsino.

Cross-dressing in ‘Twelfth Night’ makes Viola 's gender identity ambiguous, Viola is both a man and a woman, possessing both masculinity and femininity, therefore cross-dressing helps to break down renaissance gender stereotypes and eventually, the patriarchy. The 'original practice ' of ‘Twelfth Night’ was reconstructed in a 2012 globe production which replicated the way in which the play would 've been enacted in the Elizabethan era, by having an all-male cast. This added to the madness of the

Two of Shakespeare’s works, The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night, both have a parallel plot structure which involves a woman disguising herself as a man in order to accomplish some goal. In the former, Portia disguises herself as a lawyer so as to enter the Duke’s court and help her husband’s friend, Antonio, avoid having a pound of his flesh cut off. In the latter, Viola disguises herself as Cesario so she can enter Duke Orsino’s court and work as a page. This parallel structure is further strengthened by the fact that in both plays, the woman in disguise has to perform some task that (during Shakespeare’s time) was usually performed by a man. Portia has to defend her husband’s friend, Antonio, in court, while Viola has to engage in a sword fight with Sir Andrew. Despite the many similarities, there is a subtle difference: Portia seems much more confident in her role as a man when compared to Viola. We see when Portia is effective and confident as a lawyer but Viola is reluctant to spar with Sir Andrew in a sword fight, and also when she is weary that the Fool has caught on to her disguise. This difference reflects the theme of challenging prejudice in The Merchant of Venice, and also reflect the theme of highlighting gender difference in Twelfth Night, which reveals a lot about both plays as a whole.

Just like Portia, Viola, the strong female role in Twelfth night, also cares deeply for the people she loves. My opinion, Viola is the most faithful female character in the play. Her love for Duke is so pure and real. She would do anything to make him happy, even if that means eliminating her chances of being with him. Atlas, putting his feeling first shows the kind heartedness that she has with saying: “I’ll do my best to woo your lady-(aside) yet, a barful strife-whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife. (Act 1, scene 4). Also, another situation that shows her compassion side is her love for her brother. She never loses hope that he is alive. She thinks highly of him, doing everything she can for survival just in case he is alive.

    When one considers Shakespeare’s female characters, one has to remember that the plays were written in a time when women were considered weak-minded creatures who were apt to make bad choices if given the freedom.  Shakespeare, for the most