Modern Social Norms In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night examines patterns of love and courtship through a twisting of gender roles. The play centers on the lead female role and protagonist, Viola, who

Through great commotion it is created between the characters of the romantic drama and drives this Shakespeare’s play forward. As one of the main plot twists, it leads to the misunderstandings and the love triangle between Duke Orsino, Viola (Cesario) and Countess Olivia. The role of ‘identity’ begins when the noblewoman Viola, has just been shipwrecked near Illyria and therefore seeks employment in Duke Orsino’s court while searching for her lost (perhaps dead) brother. Duke Orsino accepts her, and soon becomes close to the male version of herself (Cesario), whom she had presented to the duke originally. Viola quickly falls for her master, and at times does not know how to act as her concealed gender, expressing words such as: “My father had a daughter loved a man, /As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,/ I should your lordship.” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night, 2.4.105-107) and hinting of “his” real identity. Although, Duke Orsino loves Lady Olivia, even if she does not return the love. Nevertheless, Viola is not the only character to conceal who she truly is. Lady Olivia does not love Duke Orsino because she will mourn her dead brother for seven years. She understands that the Duke is respected, handsome and rich however, cannot love him. Therefore, she hides behind a veil to refuse the Duke confessions of love. However, when meeting Cesario, the countess immediately forgets her grief and falls instantly for “him” and

Disguise in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has many purposes. Even though disguising one's gender is a common theme in Shakespeare, some say it is instates bonding and allows a way for it to happen. It is known that it is used as a necessity for survival. In Twelfth Night, Disguise and Identity is shown in feelings, appearances and decisions. Disguise is an occasionally seen force which drives one’s mind into believing in something unrealistic. Disguise and Identity get mixed up which causes confusion. Both factors are compared in the meaning of Truth.

that are undefeatable. This causes the characters to be in a confused state and each

Twelfth Night Danial Naseem Society today is full of examples of people who are deceiving each other by appearing as someone they are not. William Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night,” conveys many acts where characters are deceiving others. He illustrates how disguises impact others emotionally causing one to feel downed. Shakespeare has shown how disguises are very easy to fool people and that from this it could ruin one’s life.

Social class distinction remains a common theme throughout Shakespeare's plays. Shakespearean era society possessed a structured hierarchy of social class, based largely on wealth and nobility. This system influenced social interactions among the population and often guided marriage arrangements. Shakespeare’s commentary on social class, in his comedy Twelfth Night, exposes the divide humorously, by displaying ironic interactions between varying social classes. Twelfth Night places a variety of characters from different social classes in close quarters, causing inevitable conflict among classes.

The titular play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, suggests a very negative view of the human nature that in all its complexities, is flawed and hinders a very glorified subject of Shakespeare’s from ultimately prevailing: love. The faults of young love, a family feud and the power struggles within the chain of being are all complex products of the human nature that prevented a happy ending. Shakespeare stresses that the lovers were only driven to their suicidal fate by their young love in a very limited time triggering attempts to rebel against the wishes of their feuding families and the chain of being. Shakespeare utilises dramatic

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.

In 'Twelfth Night’, gender and sexuality in many ways add to the play’s themes of madness. 'Twelfth Night ' is a reflection of renaissance thought and culture, the renaissance was a transitional period from the medieval to the radical Elizabethan era. The culture of the time was a contradictory one, as from one aspect it was influenced by the patriarchal medieval time, where women were under the rule of men and seen as needing the protection of men, however, from another perspective, the culture was a changing one as women were starting to receive education and many humanists believed that women should be given more rights. The play reflects these attitudes and often challenges the social hierarchy and establishes ideas on gender roles, sexuality and cross-dressing. These factors indeed undermine the expectations of male and female behaviour, and in turn further the play 's theme of madness which has a comedic effect on the audience due to the shock humour it provides.

There is a certain degree of expectation with the genre of comedy that despite whatever difficulties appear within the play, by the end these will be resolved and the play will have a traditional happy-ending with a marriage or a celebration in the final scene. The “Twelfth Night” is no exception to this rule. Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they “have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as it should be, is marriage.”(Schwartz 5140). There is a resolution of harmony to a certain extent and an endorsement of romantic love yet despite the happiness evident in the last scene, there are many elements in the play

In Twelfth Night, Feste asks the “most simple and at the same time most complex of questions,” “What is Love?” (The English Review). Some people believe that love is easy, effortless, and leads to fairytale endings. However, in Twelfth Night, Shakespeare shows the other side of love. Love is not a simple feeling, and it is a confusing emotion which leads to heartbreak, or pure happiness. These two polar opposites are derived from either true or false love. Shakespeare portrays the idea that love is not always easy, and differentiates between false and true love in Twelfth Night.

Deception and disguise are two key themes in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. As in most comedies, Twelfth Night celebrates different forms of disguise and deception in order to make the play more entertaining. It also develops a strong connection between the main plot (with Viola, Orsino, Olivia, and the others) and the sub-plot (involving Sir Andrew, Sir Toby, Malvolio, and Maria). Disguise and deception appear in many different ways throughout the story.

Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, is a comedy about love. Love can be things that are not always what they seem and or it can be foolish and it can also be a weakness. Foolishness and weaknesses are the most of what we see in the play, Twelfth Night, the audience sees that, yes there is a tragedy but, that is not what the play revolves around. The audience sees that later on in the play all the love that is being described is foolish as well as something a child would do. The love that is being described can not happen for a certain reason and when the characters find out that someone loves them and they were not just saying that they would do something for them, the character just sort of accepts it and let fate intervene and take place. Everyone in the world has a weakness or have done something foolish in their life. It only counts

Though the effects of love on each of them varies,m they all are affected by love. Their reactions to love to to the effect of love are seen though their behavior, their speech and their relations to other characters. Each character changes in different ways, such as the Duke Orsino who changes the least from being in love while the character Malvolio changes the most from being in love. However each character dealing with the effects of love reacts differently they share common themes especially when in love. They even get a happy ending, well most. Therefore love is a powerful emotion that can change people, which is what Shakespeare was hinting at in the play Twelfth Night, as the Fool says “But that’s all one, our play is done” (Shakespeare

Twelfth Night, Or What You Will, written by Shakespeare during the Elizabethan era, centers around the convoluted and shifting nature of love. The play makes a point that the ways in which love and affection are expressed and interpreted differ amongst the different social classes. Count Orsino and Lady Olivia, representing the upper class of the nobility, demonstrate their love in grand, impersonal gestures, whereas Viola, whose status is slightly lower, does so in a selfless, more authentic manner. This stark difference in how these two classes perceive love is also seen in how quickly the feelings of Orsino and Olivia change for their love interests once someone new comes along. The nobility has little to no sense of what genuine love is, which is seen in both their frivolous displays of affection and how quickly they are able to fall for someone new.