Viola in William Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night
Viola as a main character is the most deceitful; she tricks everybody
into believing she's a man, but as well as being most deceitful she is
also the most honest and sincere. So what are her attractive
qualities? Why does she appeal to us as an audience? In this essay I
will be looking at Viola and her appealing qualities as well as the
way in which I believe she should be acted.
In many ways Viola represents true love, love that is not self-seeking
but self-sacrificing, throughout the play she remains true to Orsino,
trusting him completely "To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die"
she would die for him and willingly. Many people would agree that any
person who could feel like that is stereotypically shallow and petty,
both traits people despise.
She carries out orders unquestioningly to "woo" Olivia, when she
herself knows she is wooing the woman that will be Orsino wife
"who'evr I woo, myself would be his wife" when it is she that wishes
to be in that place. She wants him to be happy and in giving him that
happiness, her happiness she is left alone, is that not
self-sacrificing?
Out of all the characters in the play it is Viola who speaks sincerely
and honestly, showing them what true love is "In faith they are as
true of heart as we" telling Orsino that love a woman can bear towards
him is as much as he can bear a woman. She says to Olivia "write loyal
cantons of contemned love, andsingthemloudevenin thedeadof night"
showing her what real love is and most likely stopped what would have
been a dreadful marriage between Olivia and Orsino, two people so very
unlike...
... middle of paper ...
...e her to an old lady dithering in the street, sure she knows
what she wants but in reality doesn't.
I think what make Viola an endearing character to play is that she has
a heart; she has feelings that aren't petty and annoying but deep and
thoughtful. I think that character is a hard character to play because
she has many complexities and acting her so she does appear thoughtful
is very hard to achieve.
I think that for example when Malvolio gives Viola the ring and
afterwards does her soliloquies that she should stare thoughtfully
down at the ring occasionally looking into the audience but her
attention always being brought back to the ring as a focal point.
Because this is kind of an important part is also adds a small amount
of drama. Viola is a rewarding character but also a very complex
character to play.
that they can spend more time together because she missed him when he was at work and he missed her when he was away from home.
tries to make her disinterested in him so that again, he may concentrate on the
what is for her and how she wants to live. So in the end, she is where she
... happiness only. In the end, she is a very striving old woman, she is always determine to make that little boy very happy, even if it is to give him medicine to get rid of the pain or just to buy him presents to ease the emotions he is going through.
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.
The play Twelfth Night, or What You Will by William Shakespeare is a 1601 comedy that has proven to be the source of experimentation in gender casting in the early twenty-first century due to its portrayal of gender in love and identity. The play centrally revolves around the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola. However, Olivia and Orsino both believe Viola is a boy named Cesario. Ironically, only male actors were on the stage in Shakespeare’s time. This means that Olivia, Viola, and other female characters were played by young boys who still had voices at higher pitches than older males.
Viola in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Viola has a great importance of “Twelfth Night” because she alone helps reveal other main characters’ personalities that would’ve otherwise been hidden. Viola who is disguised as Cesario had the greatest effect in revealing Orsino’s and Olivia’s true natures that were hidden behind their melodramatic and self-involved behaviour. Her strong qualities of being direct, honest and friendly allow her to form close relationships with the both. In just “but three days” in his service, Viola (as Cesario) has already formed a close relationship with Duke Orsino.
In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and in Molière’s The Imaginary Invalid, two ladies are presented, that are not necessarily the leading protagonist, but they help unravel the plays’ plots into something amazing. Twelfth Night features Maria, the lady in waiting to Olivia. At first Maria comes off as a dilettante, later on we find out that’s not the case at all. Meanwhile, in The Imaginary Invalid, there is the disputatious Toinette, who is the maidservant and nurse to the imaginary invalid himself, Argan. Maria and Toinette are two strong women characters, their strength and wit is depicted through Maria and Toinette’s deceiving schemes to make their plays more stimulating as well as their objectivity throughout all the chaos in their respective play.
to support her, and that without a woman a man is incapable of living independently and caring
Examining the relationship between speech, public space and authority for Viola's Character in Twelfth Night
The plot deepens as Cesario proceeds to woo Olivia for the Duke. It is only the second time that Cesario appears at Olivia’s home when Olivia openly declares her love for Cesario. Throughout this time, Sir Andrew has been nursing a hope to win Olivia’s love. When he plans to give up hope of her love, Sir Toby suggests that Sir Andrew fight with Cesario to impress Olivia. Cesario, however, refuses to fight. At the same time, Viola’s brother, Sebastian, who is also shipwrecked, makes his way to safe lodging in Illyria with Antonio the sea captain. After the fight between Cesario and Sir Andrew begins, Antonio intervenes to save Cesario, whom he takes for Sebastian. But the Duke’s officers promptly arrest Antonio for a past offense. Then, Olivia later comes upon Sir Andrew and Sebastian bickering at her home. Olivia, thinking Sebastian is Cesario, leads Sebastian to marriage in a nearby chapel. Finally, Cesario inevitably reveals that he is Viola and Sebastian recognizes her as his sister. The Duke reciprocates Viola’s love offerings and proposes to her. Olivia assures Malvolio...
Her need to be loved by him had taken over her idea that he enjoyed the power, she couldn’t live with out his love.
As in most comedies, William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night extensively. uses disguises, masks and mistaken identities to add to the comical nature of. the play. Viola's disguise as Orsino's page, Cesario, becomes crucial to the action in the play. Without this important element, the action in the play would slow down dramatically, making the story much less intriguing.
The play twelfth night, though largely a comedy, has it's fair share of challenges and obstacles which it's characters face throughout the plot. These revolve around love, honour and the death and loss of loved ones. However one character stands out to me as having faced the most difficult and trying of challenges, yet emerged with her pride and dignity intact. She coped well with all the problems that were thrown at her with a quiet resilience far beyond her years, and is worthy of our admiration.
Critics call Twelfth Night one of William Shakespeare’s most poetic and musical plays. Shakespeare writes poetic lines for the major characters, Viola, Orsino, and Olivia, and gives the Fool, and other minor characters, songs to sing throughout the play. The particularly romantic lines of the play make it seem as if the characters are professional poets themselves. Shakespeare also uses the music and poetry in Twelfth Night to foreshadow what is going to happen for the rest of the performance and to reveal major themes in the play. Music and poetry become major characters in the play themselves.