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Twelfth Night's Reflection Upon Women
When Shakespeare wrote the play Twelfth Night in about 1602, women
were generally thought of inferior to men meaning they were lower
class. Shakespeare does no accept this idea. He shows this when he was
asked by Queen Elizabeth 1 to write a play with love and comedy, the
two main characters are very strong women and the male characters are
very weak.
Olivia is rich, noble and very emotional and very strong in character.
In act 1 scene 2 we learn that Olivia’s brother and father have
recently passed away, Olivia has a very strong love for her brother
because of this she made some extreme vows: she will not show her face
at ample view, “but like a cloistress she will veiled walk”. She will
cry in her room everyday, she loved her brother so much that she was
willing to keep his memory alive by mourning for seven years, this
shows the very strong character she held, as this was an almost
impossible task.
Women were thought of as inferior at the time the play was written.
Women were ruled by the men of the household, but because Olivia’s
father and brother have died she has no-one to rule her life, this
shows her strength as she has taken advantage of this, by ruling her
own household and servants by herself. Olivia is confident enough to
seek what she wants gracefully for example in act 1 scene 5 Olivia
wants Cesario/Viola to come back again, in order to get Cesario/Viola
to come back Olivia removes her ring and forces Marvolio, (her head
servant) to take it to Cesario “Run after that same peevish messenger”
“He left this ring behind him” she did this so that Cesario would come
back again...
... middle of paper ...
... than do it for himself. The play also tells us that
Orsino only thinks about how he loves Olivia he doesn’t even think
about whether Olivia loves him he just expects her to love him.
Sebastian, Viola’s brother is also a very weak male character, when he
marries Olivia he lets her take control of him he does what she tells
him to do which shows how weak he is because he doesn’t control her or
his own life.
Overall Viola is the stronger woman as when Olivia’s brother dies
Olivia makes extreme vows where as when Viola thinks her brother is
dead she does not make extreme vows or mourn, she gets on with her
life, which shows that she is the stronger woman.
The fact that Duke Orsino and Sebastian are such a weak male
characters, they make the women look as though they are even stronger
than they already are.
Night's Dream, one will notice an immense difference in the way that a noble woman compared
mind, he would not let her, and that made her feel like she was less of a
which shows that all he wanted from her was to be reassured that he is
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.
same time imposes his will on her. He hinders her from having her own thoughts.
him, she was not strong enough before but now it is she that needs him.
teach him. When the woman realized that, she did what she had to do. She
agree with the actions she performs and his guilt overwhelms him. The guilt he feels pushes him to do
The Twelfth Knight inspired a funny movie called She’s the man. She’s the man was filmed in 2002 and directed by Andy Fickman. The main plot line of the movie She’s the man is thought to be derived from The twelfth Night. The movie and the play both have many of the same qualities throughout the plot line and characterization.
In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, gender identity and alternative sexualities are highlighted through the depiction of different characters and personalities. In the play, Viola disguises herself as a man thereby raising a merry-go-around of relationships that are actually based on a lie rather than actual fact. Viola attracts the attention of Olivia since she thinks that Viola is a man but even more fascinating is the fact that Orsino is attracted to Viola although he thinks that she is a man. In another twist Viola is attracted to Orsino and has fell in love with him although their love cannot exist since Orsino thinks that Viola is a man.
“Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.150). The most significant reason for Hamlet’s first soliloquy is based on how he feels about “woman”, mostly referring to his mother. Hamlet shows no respect towards his mother. Shakespeare tries to show Hamlet and other male characters as assertive men. However, in Shakespeare different plays women play a variety of roles. Throughout the play Hamlet, Shakespeare demonstrated brutal treatment towards women by the male characters in the play, whether it be verbally or with emotional abuse. Not only were the women manipulated by the male characters, but they were also controlled by their beloved ones.
Born on approximately April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. His literary legacy included 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and five major poems. Among his many plays is the notable, Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy, placed in a festive atmosphere in which three couples are brought together happily.
After Olivia has her very first conversation with Cesario (Viola), where he tries to woo her for Duke Orsino, she immediately falls in love with him. After Cesario leaves her palace, Olivia says to herself ‘Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit do give thee fivefold blazon. Not too fast; soft, soft. Unless the master were the man. How now? Even so quickly may one catch the plague?’ Here Olivia states that Cesario’s external features are what attract her to him. Her metaphor contains a s...
As Shakespeare wrote Hamlet, the fiction was set in the Renaissance era and therefore the persona of women was reflective of that period. The natural stereotype of that time viewed women as weak, fickle, and dependent of the men in their society and subject to the decisions that men make for them. It was an exceedingly common depiction and very rarely was it proven wrong to the men of that time. Women’s rights were nonexistent in this time period so it wasn’t unusual for the portrayal of women to be so negative and offensive. Given that women of that age had known nothing else they attempted to fit the stereotype to please the ‘natural order’.
The play The Twelfth Night and the movie She’s the Man are both similar and different in many ways. One of the biggest ideas is the fact that the play takes place in the late 1500’s where as She’s the Man takes place the same time it was filmed, 2006. As well, the modern version has new characters that were added in for the film to make sense that were not needed in the play. Finally, the movie had two rather large changes from the play.