People are not always whom they appear to be. Whether it’s that fierce tattooed muscle man or that sweet elderly lady smiling from a few seats away, what is perceived is not always what is true. Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night portrays many a character whose identities do not align with their inner character. Olivia’s polite ladylike demeanour, Sir Toby’s guise of nobility, and Feste’s job as a fool all demonstrate how social identities don’t always align with inner character.
Olivia’s public status shows her as a caring and high-class lady, a persona with a stark contrast to her inner self as a bold and tenacious woman. When Olivia pines for Cesario, she takes action and confesses, “But, would you undertake another suit, / I had rather hear you to solicit that/ Than music from the spheres” (3.1.108-110). This confession shows Olivia’s yearning for Cesario to woo her, revealing a bold inner character and desire that doesn’t align with how others perceive her. Another example is after Cesario denies having married her and redirects the topic back to Duke Orsino, Olivia replies, “If it be aught to the old tune, my lord/ It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear/ As howling after music” (5.1.104-106). Olivia dismisses the Duke’s affections and rebukes him as a man would, saying his courting is gross and disgusting. This shows she is not the fragile and polite woman one may perceive her to be, but an abrasive woman who can speak her mind. Olivia breaks out of her social identity as a frail, polite, and proper Elizabethan lady and reveals her true inner character as a strong and empowered woman.
Olivia’s own cousin, Sir Toby, also has a secret side that doesn’t align with his social identity. Sir Toby is supposed to be a honourable high...
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...alvolio by slipping seamlessly into Sir Toby’s ploy. All of this reveals Feste’s inward character as wise and witty, as opposed to his social repute as an uneducated lower-class fool.
Olivia, Sir Toby, and Feste are all are vastly different from the way others view them. Their social identities put up guises and put expectations on them to act a certain way. This reflects back to real life where people’s social identities can alter the way others view and treat them, taking away peoples’ personal leeway for self expression in fear of a negative response from their peers. That heavily tattooed man could just be a kind aspiring kindergarten teacher while that sweet old lady could be a subway pickpocket. Shakespeare shows in Twelfth Night that social identity does not always align with inner character; an underlying theme that shines through to our society today.
Twelfth Night, written by Shakespeare between the years of 1599 and 1601 (“Shakespeare-Online”), is easily one of his most well-known plays. A year after the assumed date of publication, on February the 2nd of 1602, Twelfth Night was performed for the first time (“William-Shakespeare)”. The location of the production is thought to have taken place in the Middle Temple, which was one of four law schools within London that were known as the Inns of Court (“Shakespeare-Online”). Though some would classify Twelfth Night as generic, it is laced with a sharp sense of humor and controversial concerns that can easily be applied to the issues of present day. Many of these issues, such as marriage, gender identity, sex, homosexuality, and social ambition, are relevant in today’s society, making them easy to relate to. The central theme of the play is romance. The characters all experience love, in one way or another, whether it be unrequited or shared between more than one person. The plot is intricately woven, sometimes confusingly so, between twists and turns throughout the multiple acts, but it never strays too far from the subject of adoration. Despite the hardships, misperception and deceit the characters experience, six individuals are brought together in the name of holy matrimony in three distinct nuptials.
Compare how Shakespeare and Hardy present situations where their characters’ love and relationships are influenced by the need to uphold appearances within society, with particular reference to Othello and Tess of the d’Urbervilles
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a comedy that has been interpreted in different ways, enabling one to receive multiple experiences of the same story. Due to the content and themes of the play, it can be creatively challenging to producers and their casting strategies. Instead of being a hindrance, I find the ability for one to experiment exciting as people try to discover strategies that best represent entertainment for the audience, as well as the best ways to interpret Shakespeare’s work.
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, playwright William Shakespeare creates in Bottom, Oberon, and Puck unique characters that represent different aspects of him. Like Bottom, Shakespeare aspires to rise socially; Bottom has high aims and, however slightly, interacts with a queen. Through Bottom, Shakespeare mocks these pretensions within himself. Shakespeare also resembles King Oberon, controlling the magic we see on the stage. Unseen, he and Oberon pull the strings that control what the characters act and say. Finally, Shakespeare is like Puck, standing back from the other characters, acutely aware of their weaknesses and mocks them, relishing in mischief at their expense. With these three characters and some play-within-a-play enchantment, Shakespeare mocks himself and his plays as much as he does the young lovers and the mechanicals onstage. This genius playwright who is capable of writing serious dramas such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar is still able to laugh at himself just as he does at his characters. With the help of Bottom, Oberon, and Puck, Shakespeare shows us that theatre, and even life itself, are illusions that one should remember to laugh at.
...slowly filed the Chain of Being with Twelfth Night to show that a social hierarchy is not something that should be conformed too. Shakespeare thinks there are many individuals who do not belong in their society-appointed notch in the chain. This is true in modern day society. Some world leaders, CEOs, and other people in positions of power often make very foolish decisions regarding the important things under their jurisdiction. But on the flip-side, many normal people with no power can see clearly their mistakes before they make them and can also see the solution, just like Feste. If the world had more people like Feste the Fool, people who were not content with their social standing and willing to attempt the climb up the ladder, the world would have less homeless people, a more productive and innovative workforce, and a much lower crime rate. So be a Fool.
A person is created by the experiences they go through and by the things they learn throughout their life. It is the question of who each individual is and what makes up their identity. Writers, no matter the type, have been addressing the issue of identity for thousands of years. One playwright who stands out in this regard is Shakespeare and his play Hamlet. The play continually questions who the individuals are and what makes up the person they are. Yet another play can be associated with Shakespeare’s masterpiece, as Tom Stoppard takes the minor characters in Hamlet and develop them into something more in his play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The twentieth century reinvention of the supporting characters from Hamlet, contains three major messages or themes throughout the play including identity, language, and human motivation. The play has deep meaning hidden behind the comic exterior and upsetting conclusion and each of these three themes add to the ultimate message the play invokes into its audience.
Wells, Stanley, and Gary Taylor, eds. "Twelfth Night, or What You Will". William Shakespeare: The Complete Works. Oxford: Clarendon P, 1998.
Barton, Anne. Introduction to Twelfth Night. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974. 403-407.
Shakespeare’s Hamlet is arguably one of the best plays known to English literature. It presents the protagonist, Hamlet, and his increasingly complex path through self discovery. His character is of an abnormally complex nature, the likes of which not often found in plays, and many different theses have been put forward about Hamlet's dynamic disposition. One such thesis is that Hamlet is a young man with an identity crisis living in a world of conflicting values.
Logan, Thad Jenkins. "Twelfth Night: The Limits of Festivity." Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama. N.p.: Rice University, 1982. 223-38. Vol. 22 of Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. Rpt. in Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.
[Intro, thesis, 3 aspects,] Appearance is how someone is viewed on the outside, almost jumping to conclusions similar to stereotypes, whereas reality is who that person truly is. In William Shakespeare’s Hamlet appearances versus reality is a common occurrence for example Gertrude questioning Hamlet “if it be, / Why seems it so particular with thee?” (1.2.74-75). Hamlet responds with “Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems.’” (1.2.75). [explain] The thing that remains unchanged throughout the play is appearance versus reality. The main characters introduced to us throughout the play appear to be honorable and relatable, but in reality, they are disguising their plan. They deceitfully hide behind a mask of integrity. There are three main characters which have their appearances disguising their realities with honorability or blamelessness Hamlet, Claudius the king and Hamlets
Sir Toby is tempting to deceive Maria that Sir Andrew is a great man. But his description is full of mockery - he says one thing but means another.
What is love? In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night love is nothing more than another disguise. It is an illusion that fools everyone. Orsino, Olivia, Sebastian, and Viola do any of them find love in the end? No, they find nothing more than a disguise, an illusion of love. By analyzing each of these characters, their thoughts and feelings of, and their experiences with love throughout this play, we can determine that in the end, none of them have found true, genuine love.
Mistaken identity and disguise are important aspects of comedy in Twelfth Night that stand at the forefront of the play’s comedy. Not only are mistaken identities and disguise evident within the main plot of the play but also in various other situations. Sexual confusion amongst characters, subversion of gender roles and farcical elements through stagecraft all effectively contribute to the dramatic comedy genre. However, it can be suggested that certain elements of Twelfth Night are not interpreted to be purely comedic; Shakespeare has incorporated serious and controversial subjects such as the idea of genuine love, the patriarchy of the time and the cruel gulling of Malvolio. Therefore, disguise and mistaken identity are not solely for the purpose of comedy and it could be inferred that it even borders on the genre of tragedy.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has been performed hundreds of times and adapted into a number of modern films. The main plot of the play follows Viola, a girl who is rescued from a shipwreck and enters into the service of the Duke Orsino disguised as a man. Rising quickly in his estimation, Viola begins delivering messages of love on his behalf to Olivia, a noble woman who has no interest in Orsino’s advances. Over the course of the play Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly died in the shipwreck, returns. Following Sebastian’s return the twins are mistaken for each other, leading to both misunderstanding and marriage in the final scenes of the play. Alongside the main plot of Twelfth Night is an almost equally prominent subplot involving Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, who falls in love with her and who falls prey to a prank planned by the other members of the household who despise his abhorrence of fun. In the article “The Design of Twelfth Night” by L.G. Salingar, Salingar examines the plot and structure of the play and addresses the significance of the subplot. The purpose of this essay is to examine both evidence from the play and articles from other authors, with a focus on Salingar, who have written on the subject in order to determine the purpose of the subplot. In his article, Salingar comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the subplot is to provide a comic mirror of the main plot while amplifying the main themes of delusion, misrule and festivity. Salingar presents a solid argument, however he has neglected another lesser but significant element of the sub-plot which illustrate...