William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
The use of genre in any literary work assist the responder in
understanding the text, as prior knowledge and past experience are
used by composers to construct certain expectations due to
characteristics that are recognised. Shakespeare, in his play 'Twelfth
Night' uses the Romantic comedy genre and it's conventions of strong
themes of love and a series of obstacles and misunderstandings
concluded with a harmonious union of the lovers to explore gender
issues, particularly those of women in society. This is explored
through the two main female characters: Viola and Olivia. Viola, who
spends the majority of the play masquerading as a man, and Olivia, a
seemingly independent noblewoman, are used by Shakespeare to explore
the topic of female independence in society in comparison to that of
men.
The romantic comedy as a genre is ideal for discussing issues of
gender, as the conventions common to it promote interaction between
characters of both sexes. In addition to these common conventions of
love as a major theme, a series of obstacles and a union of the lovers
at the end, the romantic comedy also may make use of devices such as
mistaken identity, separated twins and gender-crossing disguise, all
of which Shakespeare took advantage of in order to explore the
position of the female in society. (Playing The Wo/Man's Part
http://www.satexas.com/~smootsg/genderroles.html) As a romantic
comedy, the Shakespearian audience of 'Twelfth Night' would have
readily accepted unusual occurrences such as Viola disguising herself
as a man, as it was expected, and added to the humorous concept of the
play. T...
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...stacles and a harmonious ending,
all of which are features of the romantic comedy, combined with the
audiences preconceived expectations of the genre create an ideal
situation to explore the gender issues in Shakespearean society.
Bibliography
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ClassicNote on Twelfth Night.
http://www.gradesaver.comk/ClassicNotes/Titles/twelfth/fullsumm.html.
20th April, 2004
Hotson, Leslie.The First Night of Twelfth Night. London: Rupert
Hart-Davis, 1955.
Playing the Wo/Man's Part: Gender Roles in Shakespeare.
http://www.satexas.com/~smootsg/genderroles.html. 20th April,
2004-04-29
Tamed Shrews and Twelfth Nights: the Role of Women in Shakespeare.
http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/172.php. 24th April, 2004
White, R.S. Shakespeare and the Romance Ending. Newcastle:Tyneside
Free Press, 1981
when he gets bored of it then he tells him to stop, just like that.
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.
Historical Fiction It was a bright sunny morning in New York on September 11, 2001. I was visiting my friend Olivia. She worked for the Aon company in the south tower. She went to work about 10 minutes after I got there. So I decided to take a tour around the city.
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Emotions are among the most potent forces humanity has ever faced, and, as William Shakespeare emphasizes, love is one of the most influential emotions an individual can experience. Throughout Twelfth Night, Shakespeare focuses on one main characteristic about love that helps to solidify the strength of this emotion on the characters. He wants to reader to understand that love is one of the few forces that can instantaneously incapacitate and cripple human beings, yet it simultaneously wields the capacity to bestow the highest level of satisfaction within an individual.
Andrew is funny, it is not intentional. His faults include a lack of wit, a
to address Viola as if she were male, he says, "Boy, thou hast said to
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William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, which is commonly believed to criticize society’s romanticized idea of love, demonstrates that even though love may seem unachievable, it is still possible to find it even in the most unlikely places. Shakespeare illustrates this idea in Twelfth Night through the characters Antonio and Sebastian by subtly suggesting that Antonio and Sebastian are more than just friends. It is Sebastian’s physical beauty that attracts Antonio to him, which leads him to devote himself to Sebastian as a sign of love. Antonio’s love for Sebastian grows to obsession; however Sebastian considers their friendship to be completely plutonic. In addition Sebastian generally tries to save Antonio from his own desire; however he does a bad job by leading him on unintentionally due to his passive nature.
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
make him think he is mad and they also make Olivia think he is mad
In Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night or What you Will, the characters are involved in a plot complete with trickery, disguise, and love. Each character is defined not by his or her gender or true identity, but by the role they are forced to take because of the complicated situation that arises. Unlike their gender, the speech the characters give an insight to their true personalities. In the Twelfth Night, the character Duke Orsino uses flowery and over-dramatic language, long poetic sentence structure, and melodramatic metaphors to display his overemotional romantic nature despite the different emotions in his various speeches.
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The Role of the Fool in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare In English Literature, a fool is a person professionally counterfeits. folly for the entertainment of others. They are always regarded as comic figures, which provide mediation under tensional circumstances. As Twelfth Night is an atypical romantic comedy, the jester is not the.
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