Adversity In Twelfth Night

Adversity reveals character; people tend to exhibit their true nature when they face new and challenging situations. Odysseus, the Greek hero of Homer’s Odyssey, and Viola, the protagonist in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, are superficially very different people; Odysseus is a veteran warrior who survives ten years of a brutal war and another ten years of hardship before returning to his native Ithaca, while Viola is a very young lady who finds herself unexpectedly alone and without family after an accident at sea. However, as Odysseus and Viola encounter new circumstances and overcome new trials, adversity brings out genuine facets of their respective personalities, highlighting more similarities than differences. In the Odyssey, the battle-hardened

In Twelfth Night, young Viola encounters different types of challenges, from being shipwrecked and losing her twin brother, to dealing with complex personal relationships, including her own unrequited love for Duke Orsino. When Viola is washed up on the island of Illyria, she makes the bold decision to disguise herself as a man to serve Orsino, the local count, and takes great care to maintain this deception which allows her to survive as a woman without any living male relatives. While both Odysseus and Viola demonstrate boldness in the face of sudden adversity, and both display quick thinking and wit to help them in difficult times, Odysseus’ actions reveal a rash side to his personality that repeatedly imperils his journey, whereas Viola shows self-restraint that lets her remain successfully disguised till the end of the

In the Odyssey, earlier in the encounter with Polyphemus, the Cyclops asks Odysseus where his ship is. Odysseus realizes that Polyphemus is only asking this to learn about any other men on the island that he might be able to eat. In order to protect his crew, Odysseus spins a story: “So he laid his trap / but he never caught me, no, wise to the world / I shot back in my crafty way, ‘My ship? / Poseidon god of the earthquake smashed my ship” (220). On numerous other occasions, Odysseus shows his cunning in responding to questions with lies or half-truths to protect himself. Throughout Twelfth Night, Viola too repeatedly demonstrates her ability to think on her feet. When Viola, disguised as Cesario, is sent to court Lady Olivia on behalf of Duke Orsino, she uses her sharp thinking to get past Malvolio and get an audience with Olivia: “I told him you were sick; he takes on him to understand so much, and therefore comes to