Category: Twelfth Night

This essay will discuss the theme of relationships reflected in the characters of Viola and Duke Orsino in the film Twelfth Night and She’s The Man. Both depict a love triangle where the female lead fallsin love with the main male character,who is in love with someone else.In She’s the Man, Viola, who pretends to be Sebastian, falls in love with Duke who is in love with Olivia. The irony is that Duke uses Viola to send his love messages to Olivia.

In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Viola impersonates Sebastian to work as a page for Duke Orsino who in turn is in love with Olivia.Viola isa very determined girlin She’s the Man, who persists in achieving thegoalsthat she has set up for herselfeven though,sheis suppressed by her coach and her ex-boyfriend. Viola challenged the audience on the comment of soccer coach “it doesn’t matter whether you are a girl or a boy’.She is out to prove that her gender is not an obstacle to achieving her dream of becoming an ace soccer player. She works very hard at gaining the respect of the soccer coach and players. Eventually, she joinsthe team by disguising as Sebastian.However, in the process, she ends up fall in love withthe good-looking Duke, who is also on the same team.InShakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Viola disguises herself as Sebastian and realises that she has fallen in love with the Duke Orsinowho has feelings for Olivia. Both movies use the technique of irony and the use of disguises by the strong female leads to show how challenging the love is. Each female lead is aspiring to attain their dreams but develop romantic feelings for a male character who does notreciprocate their feelings. Infactthey are in love with another.

Both movies have their own merits. However, She’s the Man is more appealing to the modern audience as they can relate to the unrequitedlove of Viola. The characters and personalities of Olivia and Duke are similar to those of today’s teenagers and young adults.For adults, it had elements of royalty and nobility. Viola in Twelfth Night wants to marry the man she loves, not the one who is arranged for her to marry. It is difficult for the audience to relatebecause arranged marriages are uncommon in today’s society.Both Shakespeare and Fickman incorporate the use of humour to make people laugh andto demonstrate ironic situations that both the Viola’s get themselves into. InShe’s the Man, Viola pushes a tampon into her nostrils when her roommates discover a stash of tampons in her bag. With the roommates, in the scene, is also Duke, the boy she feels for. To throw them off the scent, she has only one option -to demonstrate another use of a tampon. This is hilarious because it is a very unusual use of a sanitary pad. The boys only know one use of the sanitary pad.In Twelfth Night, in Act 2 Scene 3, Malvoliois tricked by the servant Maria for being pompous. She writes him a letter pretending to be Olivia, the woman he loved, asking him to wear yellow stockings and cross garters to amaze her. Poor Malvolio thinks this to be his loved ones desire and attires himself as such. This amuses the audience who see Malvolio as a puritan. The use of humour engages the audience and creates light moments in the play/movie. The modern audience enjoys nothing more than a bit of light hearted comedy as a way to spend a relaxing evening or weekend. As well, these humorousscenes depict many sides of a character to the audience. We all are susceptible to practical jokes and the modern day audience enjoy these episodes. It may well give them something to think about for April Fools day.Another element that allows the audience to see who or what the ‘real character’ is like in a play or movie is soliloquy. Soliloquy is a technique widely used by Shakespeare to bring out the personality of his characters. In Twelfth Night, Viola,in her soliloquy says:Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.How easy is it for the proper-falseIn women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!

Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we,For such as we are made of, such we be. (2.2.26-31)She acknowledges that disguising herself is “wicked” but feels that there is nothing she can do because she wants to achieve her goals. She continues:O, Time, thou must unravel this, not I;It is too hard a knot for me to untie. (2.2.39-40)In this soliloquy, Viola/Caesario points to the weakness of women, the subjectivity of love, and the conflicts presented by appearance vs. reality.In She’s the Man, although there are no such apparent soliloquies, Andy uses the Eye of God method to tell us what is going on in Viola’s mind. The viewers canhear her thoughts. In this way the audience is able to engage with what is taking place in the scene and link it to what happens in the subsequent scenes. Audiences enjoy the modern version of Twelfth Night, which is the movie She’s the Man, because these days no one speaks their thoughts aloud. Rather people keep their thoughts to themselves and use this way to resolve issues.In She’s the Man, Viola challenges the audience to the idea that it doesn’t matter whether you are a girl or a boy, if you set your mind on something, you can achieve it. Her character reflects the idea that gender should not discriminate what a person can or cannot do. In the opening scene, she is very muscular and sturdy and she believes that the reason she is not on the team is because of her gender. She then, disguises herself as a male and finds a spot for herself on the team, dressing in a black hoodie instead of pink that Monique.

The word appropriation means moving a text from one context to another, but keeping particular elements like the setting and character similar. An example of appropriation from both the film and the play is the quote ‘some are born great, some achieve greatness’ this quote is said in both the film and the play and it’s just one of the many similarities between ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘She’s the Man’. A writer might choose to appropriate a text because it can make a text more interesting to a modern audience and can help the present day audience understand what they’re saying. The film ‘She’s the Man’ by Andy Fickman released in 2006 is an appropriation of the shakespearean play ‘Twelfth Night’ composed in 1601 by William shakespeare. Two elements from the original shakespearean play that have been modernised include character and setting. This can be seen through the character of Viola in ‘She’s the Man’ as well as the character of Viola in Twelfth Night’. The concept of appropriation shows people that we can turn a boring and old play and remake a more modernised version of it so that it’s more engaging to younger audiences.

The first element of character helps us have empathy for the character. Empathy helps us to obtain a better understanding of the plot by being able to see the plot through the character’s point of view which helps us focus on the character’s emotions. In the film ‘She’s the Man’ this is shown through the character of Viola. Empathy helps us to understand Violas frustration for not being able to play soccer in a girls team, another example of this frustration is when she was in love with Duke while she was dressing up as a man. Appropriation is important for this text as Shakespeare’s version of the play is complex and difficult for a modern audience to understand.

Viola is a confusing character because of all her different emotions, her brother is supposedly dead, she has to dress like a man and she’s falling in love. We are able to see some similarities between the Viola from ‘shes the man’ and the Viola from ‘Twelfth Night’ like when they both fall in love with a boy they can’t have, this is the same situation, but we can see how it’s been appropriated in ‘She’s the Man’ which creates a better understanding for modern audiences. Therefore this element has been made modern by changing the way we empathize with the character by turning the scenarios from ‘Twelfth Night’ into something that is easier to understand.

The setting from ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘She’s the Man’ has been changed a lot to suit a more modern audience. The play ‘Twelfth Night’ is set in Illyria, which was a place that was ruled by dukes and duchesses and was written in 1601. The film ‘She’s the Man’ was filmed in Vancouver, canada in 2006 and was based in a high school. The setting from ‘Twelfth Night’ would be difficult to for a present day audience to understand and it would be boring because we wouldn’t have anything to relate to so by taking the old Shakespearean setting and turning it into something that is easier to understand and relate to like the high school setting it gives us a new understanding of what was happening in the play. Therefore this element has been made more modern by changing the setting to make it an easier topic for younger audiences to understand.

Shakespeare endeavors to make a dreary distress inside twelfth night, accentuating the torment got by the detested characters, while additionally including a detailed storyline that finishes in the traditional Elizabethan manner; marriage. Be that as it may, Trevor Nunn, with the additional component of visuals, weakens the play’s content by utilizing stage activities and camera developments. In Nunn’s 1996 adjustment of twelfth night, the adventure to rejoin couples is made more comedic and pleasant, as opposed to discouraging. This is done through different emblematic camera shots and various executions of film shows.

All through the 1996 adjustment of twelfth night, Nunn centers around parody to weaken play’s gravity. Nunn has used his bit of leeway of a visual generation to underline comedic scenes, all through the play. As often as possible, Shakespeare has not given stage bearings to a considerable lot of the scenes, which permits Nunn to change his scenes into imaginative and comedic pieces. He has utilized the possibility of a sixteenth century duel and radically dispersed the feelings engaged with it. During a poor sword battle among Cesario and Sir Andrew, Nunn summons the utilization of silly camera developments, to show the ungraceful idea of the two duellers, an endeavor to set the disposition and carry chuckling to the group of spectators over a woeful squabble. This is additionally accentuated toward the start of the battle, where the principal association of swords is trailed by an uncomfortable silence. This is depicted to be where both Cesario and Sir Andrew acknowledge they are leaving their usual range of familiarity. All through the play, Sir Andrew is appeared as an alcoholic, immature weakling, not just showing how dueling is a remote idea to him, yet additionally the quality of his will to battle for Olivia’s affection. Cesario has just been uncovered as a female, Viola, and consequently have no understanding to battle too. To late the nearness of parody inside this scene, Nunn has included a merry tone in the back as both ‘men’ endeavor to butcher each other for the ladies they evidently love. In this manner, showing how the usage of satire in the play has helped with decreasing Shakespeare’s despairing idea.

Nunn’s adjustment of twelfth night exhibits the light idea of the play, by featuring the joke of higher forces. By depicting individuals with control and as energetic and defenseless, Nunn has obviously illustrated the tone and setting of his adjustment to be an increasingly cheerful adaptation of Shakespeare’s twelfth night. Nunn accentuates the painful tricked played on Malvolio, featuring how simple it was for Sir Toby and Maria to exploit Malvolio’s haughty nature and thus, trick a high-positioning negotiator. The scene depicts Malvolio secured away a dim basement being treated as a psycho by a minister known as ‘Sir Topas’ who is really Feste with an alternate voice. Previously having Malvolio thrilled by a produced letter proclaiming Olivia’ love for him, Sir Topas utilizes nonsensical expressions to additionally baffle the steward. By communicating ‘black’ as ‘shiny’ Feste starts to taunt the clerics of their knowledge as midnight is really a dull wood, and in this way maddening a puritan like Malvolio who regards the congregation. This further adds to thought of appearance versus reality inside Illyria, where Feste shouts how ‘nothing that is along these lines, is so’, anyway as Sir Topas, Feste announces that ‘that that is, is.’ Thus exhibiting how the capacity to play with higher power no sweat, includes a cheerful and comedic routine into the play.

In the 1996 adjustment of twelfth night, Trevor Nunn mirrors Shakespeare’s despairing thought, by sketching out how mask is driven by yearning wants. Nunn keeps up the dismal soul set by Shakespeare by proceeding to express the possibility of sex disarray, appeared through the scenes with Viola as Cesario. In spite of the fact that Viola expected to camouflage herself as a man so as to get by in a world commanded by men, the fulfillment of being one was driven by her yearning wants. Viola experienced issues adapting to her sibling’s grievous demise, and in this manner taking care of business had helped as an update that he may even now be living. Notwithstanding that, the physical similarity among Cesario and Orsino further hints Viola’s warmth towards Orsino. Nunn has accentuated this by utilizing cameras to focus in on the phony mustache as Viola thinks about it to her brother’s, putting a specific imagery on the item. A comparable comprehension is demonstrated while portraying the connection among Malvolio and Olivia. In spite of the fact that Malvolio might be a steward to Olivia, his energy for regard and power drives him into the fascination of Olivia. Subsequent to accepting a letter from Olivia, Malvolio has been approached to accomplish things that legitimately concur with his tendency and character, for example, smiling and wearing celebratory yellow tights. Nonetheless, he apparently is grasping the new culture, inferring the discouraging idea that he may have needed to cover himself so as to stay regarded and vainglorious. Along these lines, uncovering how both Nunn and Shakespeare keep a grim idea when alluding to the sexual orientation perplexity inside the play.

Shakespeare has made a calm situation in twelfth night, by communicating both dispassionate and non-non-romantic love as a troublesome and solitary adventure, that may end in grieving. Nunn has differentiated this by driving his plot with comedic visuals just as the carefree joke of higher forces. Albeit both the first play and the 1996 adjustment keep up the pitiful thought that sexual orientation perplexity inside the play, is in certainty acquired by one’s inward yearnings. In this way, exhibiting how Shakespeare’s play has been adjusted by Nunn to frame an all the more carefree and comedic piece.

By effectively manipulating comedy and the satirical use of jokes and humour, Shakespeare successfully managed to comment on certain aspects of Elizabethan society in his play ‘Twelfth night’. Through his use of puns, irony, double entendres and satire, Shakespeare manages to entertain his Elizabethan audience whilst commenting on many ideas and values that revolve around their society. Twelfth Night contains many classic aspects of dramatic comedy. Central to its design is a series of tangled love interests (Orsino loves Olivia, Olivia loves Cesario and then Sebastian, Viola loves Orsino, Sir Andrew and Malvolio love Olivia); disguise (the plot hinges on Viola’s dressing as a male servant in order to survive after being shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria); mistaken identities (Viola and Sebastian are twins so alike that no-one can tell them apart ); trickery and tomfoolery; the lavish use of singing and dancing and an ending where all confusion is resolved and three marriages take place.

Perhaps the most obvious form of comedy in Twelfth Night is the slapstick humour generated by Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (whose names are themselves a source of humour) and their cronies. The humour is immediately signalled by their use of prose, bawdy language and song that would no doubt have appealed to the working-class audience in the pit. Their buffoonery during their midnight revel in Act 2 scene iii, where they drunkenly carouse, mock Malvolio and sing at the top of their voices, reflects their sense of fun and joie de vivre. Likewise, the physical comedy in the scene where Sir Andrew and Cesario attempt to duel, but prove themselves utterly inept and fearful, is clearly entertaining and invites laughter.

The truly foolish character in the play is Andrew Aguecheek, whom Shakespeare creates to play the ‘gull’. Andrew is frequently depicted as cowardly, incompetent and unintelligent. He is unable to understand the simplest of jokes or metaphors, responding to Sir Toby’s ‘I smell a device’ with the literal ‘I haven’t in my nose, too’. Maria aptly describes him as ‘a fool’, ‘a great quarreller’, and one who has the ‘gift of a coward’. He is ludicrously led to believe that he could be a potential suitor for Olivia. In this, he proves hopeless, as is evident when he attempts to listen in to Cesario to learn how to woo and thus becomes a parody of the courtly lover. Andrew Aguecheek is a figure of fun central to Sir Toby’s revelries and a character whose denigration is amusing for both stage and theatre audiences. In the play itself, Andrew is a knight, who in their society is generalised as being courageous, noble and having great swordsmanship, all of which are characteristics Sir Andrew Aguecheek fails to possess. Shakespeare intentionally depicts him in such a way to challenge the Elizabethan society’s views on how nobleman should act within their society. Andrew’s cowardness, incompetence and overall unintelligent behaviour are all traits which make him susceptible towards mockery from the audience, particularly the lower class audience and disbelief from the upper-class audience who would see Andrews behaviour as simply obnoxious and disrespectful.

A predominant figure of comedy is the fool. In the world of Twelfth Night, Feste is a licensed and professional fool. He contributes to the festive spirit, implied by his name, through his creation of music, song and jokes. He is attached to Olivia’s household though he is something of a free spirit often frequenting the Duke’s palace and singing to him. Feste embodies the spirit of misrule in which the play delights and he is the perpetrator of folly – the antithesis of the serious Malvolio who, as a Puritan, scorns merrymaking. However, it is not merely his witty word-play that generates comedy. He also exposes truth to the other characters and the audience: he mocks Orsino’s lovelorn behaviour; he challenges Olivia’s obsessive mourning and, much to Malvolio’s horror, proves her a ‘fool’ in his witty repartee; and he lays bare Malvolio’s hubris by publically humiliating him. He thus seems able to see the true nature of those around him, mocking their foibles and flaws, leading to the comic resolution of events. There is also humour in the fact that his role gives him licence to mock his superiors. Despite his status as jester, he is far wiser than his masters (‘wise enough’ as Viola says ‘to play the fool’).

Gender from Then to Today

The societal role of women within british literature is a recurring theme seen across the centuries. Whether it be Guinevere in a lustrous affair with Sir Lancelot, to the Wife of Bath battling gender norms, to Viola fighting for work in a man’s world we see the importance of gender identity. In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night we see how the main character Viola, undercover as Cesairo, experiences the nature of being both a woman and a man during the Elizabethan era. With the comparison of Viola to Olivia we see the stark difference between a feminine female to one who is a musculine.

Women across generations have been depicted in western culture as feeble, meek, and emotional. Shakespeare himself introduces the notion having Cesario describe Olivia, under the jurisdiction of Duke Orsino, as a woman with, “Diana’s lip is not more rubious. Thy small pipe / Is as the maiden’s organ, shrill and sound / And all is semblative a woman’s part. (I.iv.)”. Something in theory the main character, Viola, in Twelfth Night possesses in a physical sense knowing that, “thy constellation is right apt for this affair” (I.iv.71). But, Viola seems to not possess these qualities in personality due to her will to survive. With this in mind, Viola in desperation strategically decides to enter the man’s world in order to, “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid / For such disguise as happily shall become / The form of my intent” (I.ii.100). By entering a man’s world Viola learns more about her position in the world and the relationships between men and woman than she might have begged for.

The biggest lesson that Olivia learns between men and women is the definition of love and grief that is shared between the sexes. We see that men’s love is physical, as discussed between Orsino and Cersario describing that male attraction is more, “giddy and unfirm, / More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, / Than women’s are” (II.iv.65). While we see with Olivia the desire for emotional connection, in this case shared grief with Cesario, or rather Viola, sharing their grievances at the hands of their brother’s deaths. But, between the sexes we see that love is both overpowering and infectious stating that, ‘If music be the food of love” (1.1.1-3) and, “But come what may, I do adore thee so / That danger shall seem sport, and I will go” (II.i.101-102).

In all, Viola learns the advantages and disadvantages of being both a man and woman when it comes to love and relationships. We see that both men and women are fast to fall in love and thus suffer the consequences of that love as well. Cesario describes to Olivia in her soliloquy that, “I am the man. If it be so, as ‘tis, / Poor lady, she were better love a dream / Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. / How easy it is for the proper false/ In women’s waxen hearts to set their form! / Alas our frailty is the cause, not we, / For such as we are made of, such we be” (II.ii.25-32). But, in contrast to love we see that men and masculinity are quick to jealousy and anger as, “I am sure no man hath any quarrel to me. My remembrance is very free and clear from / any image of offense done to any man” (III.iv.231-253).

Men and women alike have their strengths and weaknesses due to their gender roles when it comes to strong emotions such as love, lust, jealousy, and anger. When it comes to these emotions that men and women are allowed to feel and act upon we see how gender roles are developed and inequalities are created. Although Twelfth Night was written during the Elizabethen era the value of the story still reigns true to today.

William Shakespeare is deemed to be the greatest dramatist of all time. As Ben Jonson, one of his closest friends once said, “Shakespeare is not of an age but for all time”. Many of his plays continue to be studied in our modern era and are a staple to any English curriculum. He has many famous plays that have been performed for more than four hundred years and to this day, we still believe that analyzing Shakespearian plays is a requirement to English literature and that his works should continue to be honoured.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is believed to be written in 1601 and counts as one of his last “real” plays and is very alluring in itself. It is considered a comedy filled with miscommunicated gender fluidity that delivers for a great theatrical masterpiece. This play utilizes all the possible springs of ambivalence that may be encountered in this immense game of love extending on multiple dimensions where the desire is never reciprocal and the object of the desire always uncertain.

Involved in a particularly vicious shipwreck, our main character Viola finds land and decides to adopt the identity of her twin brother Sebastian whom she considered to be dead at sea. In order to get herself out of this ordeal, having no refuge and nothing to help her get back on her feet, she decided to appropriate Sebastian’s features to avoid being forced to join a convent and devote herself to religion, into marriage or prostitution for monetary worth and decides to work under Duke Orsino’s service and have herself called Cesario.

We can then ask ourselves how does Twelfth Night examine traditional ideas regarding gender as well as sexuality? How does it depict and proposes conceivable outcomes between same-sex pairs?

Shakespeare works his way around gender conformity and centres his play around the manner in which the sexual orientation of the characters can be built as one desires to do so. We can pinpoint a central love triangle within the relations in the play. Duke Orsino is in love with the Countess Olivia, but she is in love with Cesario (who is played by Viola) who dismisses the former because she/he herself is in love with the Duke. Sebastian then comes into play and falls in love with the Countess who confuses him for his sister Viola and decides to marry him. This love triangle filled with unreturned love is the main plot of the play and serves as its key climatic irony.

The auxiliary love triangles finds itself when Cesario rejects Countess Olivia because Cesario is in reality a woman whereas Sebastian instantly falls in love with Olivia and forms another dimension to the love triangle. The multiple liaisons are in place and its protagonists are unable to merge in this never ending desire filled spiral. Even Sebastian is helpless and cannot escape the looming ambiguity that is present throughout the play. Antonio, the sea captain who came to his rescue after the shipwreck is in love with him. His character seems to be making a joke of the whole love triangle situation as the love he harbours for Sebastian is sincere compared to the superficial relationships in the play.

Duke Orsino is all over the place. he does not know where to put his head as he likes to believe that he is in love with the Countess Olivia yet still finds himself falling for Viola whom he believes and considers to be one of his male servants. Even he is entranced with Cesario’s fair physical attributes and decides to employ him/her to court the Countess. We start to believe that the Duke is not really in love with Olivia but instead, he is more in love with the idea of being in love and would courtship anyone willing to receive his love. The first lines in the play are “If music be the food of love, play on, / Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. (Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene I, lines 1-3). The starting lines help us understand the Duke better as we can see that he is obsessed with love. He asks his servants to keep playing so that he is filled with music to the point where he would not be able to take it anymore which would inevitably put a stop to his incessant infatuation over the Countess Olivia. Using Cesario as a pawn, he send his servant over to the Countess and makes Cesario deliver as speech.

The speech of love that Cesario delivers is not the one the Duke intended for her to hear. Instead Cesario who at this point has fallen in love with the Duke changes the message and delivers a speech which we can say is the starting point of Olivia’s infatuation with Cesario. She believes him to be the male servant of Orsino and is entranced by his words. Cesario has Olivia fall in love with him instead of having her fall in love with Orsino like they originally planned. It makes Olivia realize that the way the Duke is proclaiming his love for her which we can generate a mental image that would ressemble him, lounging in his abode, probably being served grapes on his futon while he wallows in self pity and complains about not being loved back cannot be compared to the Duke putting effort in his courtship by pursuing her day and night, going to see her and staying by her door waiting for her to want him back. It is inevitable that Olivia swallows up Cesario’s words and plants the idea in her head that she would rather have someone like Cesario courting her. “Let him send no more— / Unless perchance you come to me again” (Twelfth Night, Act I, Scene 5, Lines 249-250), we can see that Olivia would like to see Cesario again and maybe have him seek her undivided attention and love.

What is the value of Shakespeare’s work in modern society?

William Shakespeare, just the mention of that name is enough to excite a chorus of groans around any classroom. We’ve all heard of him, but the name incites a level of fear because we expect to not understand the difficult language or gain anything from someone who lived over 400 years ago. However, if we take the time to study his works in Modern English, we come to understand that his topics and characters speak to a modern audience just as forcefully as they did when he was writing in the 16th century. William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the best writer in the English language. His play, ‘Twelfth Night’, is a good introduction to Shakespeare as an artist and the themes of unrequited love, confusing romantic connections and gender issues transcend time, place and age. Shakespeare’s plays remain relevant to us because we still struggle with the same issues that his characters faced.

In ‘Twelfth Night’ there are numerous situations where love is unrequited. For example, in the play Duke Orsino states “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence”. Duke Orsino reveals his desire for Olivia and we soon learn that Olivia is not moved by the Duke’s advances. He constantly sends people like Cesario to persuade her to accept him, but again and again he gets rejected. He does not take no for an answer and when Olivia consciously tries to reject him whilst mourning the death of her brother, the Duke is not discouraged. In fact, her brevity only acts as fuel to his passion. Duke Orsino has a hard time wrapping his brain around the idea that Olivia isn’t interest in him. He is completely dismissive of the notion that Oliva could love so intensely a dead brother. He mistakenly believes that she will somehow channel all her energy into a relationship with him. The pain of unrequited love is still relevant to a modern-day audience and is something that most of us will learn to understand as we painfully experience one-sided love, or, worse still, outright rejection.

Love is a re-occurring theme in Shakespearian plays and we see this in Twelfth Night. It seems like Shakespeare enjoys playing with love triangles. Twelfth Night follows along this pattern and it can confuse the audience a little: this is shown when Cesario, who is really Viola disguised as a man, is in love with Duke Orsino, but Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia, but, unfortunately for the Duke, Olivia is in love with Cesario, who is really Viola disguised as a man. Modern life is full of confusing romantic connections like these and even when we are not directly involved, we are fascinated by them. It’s the 16th century version of our modern-day realty TV show, Married at First Sight.

To further illustrate Shakespeare’s value in modern society, Twelfth Night brilliantly demonstrates how gender is merely a socially constructed identity. This is played out in Twelfth Night as Viola, who is female, disguises herself as a young man. His play pulls together the overarching theme that although it is often seen as more, gender is merely a label – a socially constructed identity. Even today society still recognizes vast differences amongst men and women; however, Shakespeare points out that plenty of likenesses exist. In doing so throughout Twelfth Night, he speaks to readers and viewers alike about the ambiguity of gender as well as the strict societal constructs of male and female. There is a crucial line in the last act where Duke Orsino meets Sebastian, the twin brother of Viola. He states “One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons – A natural perspective that is and is not.” (V.i.216-218) He notes that they look, sound, and dress the same yet are not because Viola is really female, but, other than gender there is no difference.

Through the exploits of Duke Orsino, Viola and Olivia, Twelfth Night seems to embody the themes of unrequited love, confusing romantic connections and gender issues.A modern audience still finds the themes of relevant in today’s society. Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night reveals that these themes have not lost their meaning over the centuries. The topics of unrequited love, confusing romantic connections and gender issues are all too real in today’s modern society and we are all likely to experience at least a couple of these issues in life. We all should read more Shakespeare for an insight into modern society behaviors.

For modern audiences, it’s easy to forget about issues of ‘class’ in Shakespeare’s famously gender-bending play. Yet, crossing gender boundaries is not the only kind of social transgression at work in Twelfth Night. The play is very much concerned with social ambition, especially as it relates to marrying above or below one’s ‘estate’ (rank). The issue is largely explored in the Malvolio plot, where the play takes particular pleasure in ridiculing Malvolio’s social-climbing fantasies. Of course, Shakespeare himself was not born into a noble or even wealthy family, and famously purchased his ‘Gentleman’ title after a lucrative theater career, which may be of interest in relation to Feste’s status. While drunken fools like Sir Toby Belch eat, drink, and spend their way through life, the brilliant performer and ‘licensed fool,’ Feste, works for spare change and is often treated like a common servant.

Bibliography

1. ‘Exploring the Ambiguities of Gender Identity in Twelfth Night’, Emma Luk, 2010, Prized Writing, http://prizedwriting.ucdavis.edu/exploring-ambiguities-gender-identity-twelfth-night
2. ‘Love triangle in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night’ [online], Bartelby Writing https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Love-Triangle-in-William-Shakespeares-Twelfth-Night-FK2GH5YVC
3. ‘Shakespeare II’ [online] https://newpaltzshakespeare.wordpress.com/2014/09/16/olivia-violacesario-love-triangle/
4. Twelfth Night Quotes, Sparknotes, https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/quotes/theme/desire-and-love/

‘Twelfth Night’ or ‘What You Will’ is a Shakespearean play that includes many comedic conventions like disguise, trickery and love interests. It is these conventions that make modern audiences enjoy and laugh at ‘Twelfth Night’, contrary to Sir Richard Eyre’s comment, ‘It’s true that a lot of Shakespeare’s jokes aren’t very good, because they’re topical, you know. Comedy dates very, very quickly.”, on the Telegraph UK. Though Sir Richard Eyre was the former head of the Royal National Theatre and one of Britain’s most celebrated Shakespearean directors, his words are to be contradicted as we explore the comedic convention of disguise in ‘Twelfth Night’ and its examples like Viola dressing as Cesario and Feste dressing as Sir Topas.

First, the protagonist, Viola, disguises as Cesario, which brings much commotion and comedy as everyone thinks she is a man but really, she is a woman. One example of this can be how Olivia kisses and subsequently marries Sebastian, thinking it is Viola. Sebastian is the twin brother of Viola and this tells us that they look similar. This is very hilarious when in Act 5 Scene 1, Olivia calls Viola ‘husband’, “Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay,” when actually it was Sebastian who was the ‘husband’. This all because of dramatic irony, as Olivia sent love to the wrong person. Another example Viola’s disguise as Cesario can be when Sir Toby Belch (Olivia’s uncle) encourages Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Sir Toby’s friend) to defeat Viola [Cesario] in a sword fight as Sir Toby wants to wed Olivia with Sir Andrew in Act 4 Scene 1. However, since Viola is dressed as a man, Sebastian he is fought. Since, Sebastian is much stronger than the feeble old men, he injures them. This makes for a hilarious scene because of the use of dramatic irony after Sir Andrew and Sir Toby accidently fight the wrong person. This comedy is especially evident when Sir Andrew accuses Viola of seriously hurting and Viola [Cesario] has no clue of what was going on, “Why do you speak to me? I never hurt you: you drew your sword upon me without cause; but I bespoke you fair and hurt you not.” Overall, Viola’s masquerade as a Cesario Is what causes so many problems that are portrayed in a humorous way that does attract a modern audience like myself.

Another broad example of disguise is when Feste dresses as Sir Topas, providing another layer of humor to the already hysterical human. Feste disguises as Sir Topas, a parson, in the quote, “put on this gown and this beard; make him believe thou art Sir Topas.” But it is his conversation in Act 4 Scene 2 that is hilarious. From the start, Malvolio is pleading Sir Topas to go to Olivia and tell about how he has been wronged, abused and put in a dark hole, “Sir Topas, never was a man thus wronged: good Sir.

Topas, do not think I am mad: they have laid me here in hideous darkness.” Also, it is very ironic that Malvolio is always acting as if he is everyone’s superior, however, now he is literally begging to the people he was once arrogant towards. The irony and pleading combine to produce a comical disguise against a character who is designed to hate.

In conclusion, the ‘Twelfth Night’ is an entertaining play from Shakespeare that embodies comedic conventions such as disguise and trickery, with disguise predominating. Disguise does bring a comedic effect to the play because of the use of dramatic irony. Examples of disguise are Viola as Cesario and Feste as Sir Topas. These examples are undoubtedly funny, opposing Sir Richard Eyre’s claims that Shakespeare’s jokes in ‘Twelfth Night’ are not funny and rather topical. The jokes simply cannot be topical because it still reflects timeless themes such as the positive and negative of love and deceptions and misunderstandings.

Love. it is such an interesting thing to think about, and it is very complicated. But we have to remember that people see it differently to others, they may see it as a curse, or as fate, but in the same sense, it means similar things. To show you what I mean, there are two sources that I will be talking to you about today, Shes the man directed by andy Fickman, and Twelfth night, the play by William Shakespeare. And yes, many people may be wondering how in the world Shes the man; a modern-day iconic film is related to this old play that was created way, WAY back, but you will be surprised to know that it is actually a remake of twelfth night. I know; a way to suck the fun out of a good movie!

It is obvious that the theme I will be talking about to you today is love, as it is the base of both shes the man and twelfth night, so, let’s explore and compare the idea of love in both of these stories. But before we do this, I have to tell you one thing… these stories are very confusing! Even I still don’t understand it, and reading the Elizabethan language did not help at all! but I will do my best to explain it to you as well as possible. Let’s start with Shakespeare’s famous and most confusing play, twelfth night.

The way Shakespeare demonstrated love in this play was very clever. Although this play may not be funny to us modern humans, it is actually a romantic comedy and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Even though the play offers a happy ending, where lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love causes pain, and the majority of the characters view love as some kind of curse. Like a feeling that attacks its victims abruptly and disruptively. Many of these characters claim to suffer pain just from being in love, but maybe it is the pangs of unsaid love.

At one point, Duke Orsino depicts love as an appetite that he wants to satisfy but he can’t find the way to do it. At another point, he names his desires “fell and cruel hounds” Olivia depicts love bluntly as the plague, from which she says she suffers terribly. All of these metaphors used contain elements of violence, therefore, explaining that love causes pain, and all the characters can agree. Even viola pictures love as a curse, as she says “my state is desperate for my masters to love” the desperation has the potential to cause violence as seen in act 5 scene 1 when Orsino threatens to kill Cesario because he thinks that Cesario is becoming Olivia’s lover, kind of like how Duke got angry at viola as Sebastion in shes the man for “kissing” Olivia, even though it was actually Sebastion. Wow, that was a lot, but basically, to sum it up, love is seen as a curse or an act of violence that takes over people’s lives and they can’t seem to get out of it.

The love story in the film “she’s the man” is actually really hard to follow because all of the characters are attracted to someone else, this is how it goes. Duke wants Olivia who likes Sebastian who is really Viola whose brother is dating Monique so she hates Olivia who with the duke to make Sebastian jealous who is really viola whos crushing on Duke who thinks she’s a guy. Sound familiar? Well, it is basically the plot of the twelfth night. Except in Shakespeare’s play, Viola’s brother Sebastion is believed to have died at sea.

At the end of the film, everyone gets paired up with the person of their dreams and there is this sense of romantic closure in spite of all that chaos that they had to go through. Kind of like how Olivia is Twelfth night was obsessing over Cesario who was really viola, which then got Duke Orsino furious, which in turn made viola feel bad, ect ect. The film is a romantic comedy, just like Shakespeare in which the people end up with their soulmates after a very stressful period of conflict.

Now, some of you may still be wondering how these two completely different stories from completely different eras are the same, but i will go into a better-explained comparison for you. Duke Orsino of Illyria in twelfth night and Duke Orsino the soccer captain in shes the man. Duke is in love with Olivia in both. Olivia falls in love with the viola who was disguised as Cesario in twelfth night and Sebastion in she’s the man, her twin brother in both movies. Also in both the movie and the play, Viola is in love with Duke who thinks she is a male in both. Another way the plots are alike is that Orsino enlists Viola whether she be disguised as Sebastion or Cesario, to help get Orsino to win Olivia’s heart, which is a mistake because Olivia ends up falling in love with Viola. Also in both, Duke Orsino ends up with Viola and Sebastian ends up with Olivia. They all get their happy ending.

Another way is that Olivia is grieving in both movies and that’s why she does not want to date duke, but in she’s the man, it’s over her ex-boyfriend who had just dumped her because they were in a bad relationship. One last way that we can compare these two is when Olivia has a man trying to woo her in both. In shes the man, it’s Malcome feste and in twelfth night, it sir Andrew. What did i tell you. Thye are both very similar, including the love triangle.

So here you go! I have now shown and compared love between these 2 stories! I hope that you enjoyed and learned something new, because, let’s be real, it is very confusing to understand. Hey on the plus side we got there in the end so thanks for listening.

She’s The Man may be a beautiful and uproarious comedy recorded within the us. it had been directed in 2002 by Andy Fickman and relies on the play the Twelfth night written and composed by poet. within the film She’s The Man the main character, Viola Hastings, disguises herself as a person and takes her brother’s place within the boys’ football game team. Her intentions are to prove that women are capable of doing what boys do and during a approach she succeeds to try to to simply that. From Shakespeare (8) the book Twelfth night is regarding Viola, later adopts the name Cesario, WHO notice herself in an associate degree island shipwrecked and separated from her twin brother Sebastian. The ship captain then garments her as a boy so she would instead serve the Duke. The plot is that of a love triangle and plenty of misconceptions.

In the play, The Twelfth night and therefore the show She’s the One the character of Viola and Cesario contend by Imogen Stubbs and Amanda Bynes severally are girls acting as men. They each had their strengths and weaknesses throughout the show and therefore the play. They pictured a person terribly effectively dynamical their appearances to appear like men so as to fool alternative characters. Cesario used a pretend hair ad facial hair whereas Viola had sideburns. they’d to deepen their voices to sound a lot of of men though at some purpose they erroneously resorted back to their traditional voices.

In the scene within the Twelfth night, wherever Cesario and Duke Orsino are pushing one another around, the previous starts to squeal sort of a lady when losing management on the geological formation. though similar things happen within the show on several occasions moreover, one incident stands out. once the tarantula, Malvolio, Crawls into Viola’s area. They characters is also delineated to be similar in several approach however they even have variations.

In the film She’s The Man, Bynes uses a form of slang that’s stereotyped and hardly in use these days and might need been simple to spot she wasn’t a person. She plays in even less effectively once Duke shows up and therefore the two of them are sharing a spoken language. She forgets her masculine role and is overcome by her needs for him. within the novel by Shakespeare, it happens to the character Cesario again and again however not like Viola by Bynes, she is best at concealment it.

The movie She’s The Man shows abundant of the overall plan of the initial Shakespearian book, the Twelfth night. It also, illustrates the modification in female roles within the community and society at giant, the most theme of the show being feminism. In the Shakespearian era and time, the necessary, recognizable and powerful positions within the society were taken by men and thus Viola in the Twelfth night disguises herself as a castrate so as to induce on the point of Olivia, the noblewoman and therefore the Duke.

Viola within the Twelfth night realizes that she has caused Olivia to fall crazy along with her accidentally. She says she is that the man as delineated by Shakespeare (12). She then observes that by sporting male apparel she may be a creature that’s each male and feminine which she is a poor creature. Similarly, Viola from the videodisk She’s The Man overhears a spoken language Olivia confessing that she contains a crush on Sebastian, her male identity. She is aghast and on staring at herself on the mirror, she smiles inattentively touching her face and quickly involves reality with a jerk and wonders, “Oh boy.” She experiences a flash of crisis even as Cesario will within the play.

The movie, She’s The Man, sticks to the characterization of the play and customarily follows the narrative structure and solely modernizes the language and therefore the setting of the play into a a lot of acquainted abstract script. but it doesn’t follow the tragic events that are delineated within the play. It emphasizes on comedy, overcoming the dark tones of Shakespeare’s book to specializing in a pleasing heterosexual union within the final scene. though the lady power message is communicated, the show by Fickman presents ultimately a conservative reading of the play by Shakespeare by creating Viola embrace the trait historically at the tip.

The show borrows most names of each the characters and therefore the settings from the initial play. though the names within the show don’t essentially correspond to the characters live, they’re employed in a method or another. . Some statements within the script are borrowed from the play for instance duke says; “Some are born nice, some deliver the goods greatness, and a few have greatness thrust upon them”. (Shakespeare 37) this is often a quotation within the letter Malvolio browse in the play the Twelfth night. The remake of the initial Shakespeare’s play into a show loses most of the tragic impact far-famed in his literature. His main themes of affection and death are subsided and it’s hardly noticeable that the show was adopted from Shakespeare’s work. but the plot of the play has typically been preserved.