Identity and Gender in the Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night portrays a reoccurring theme in Shakespeare’s plays of appearance versus reality and ideal versus real. The misconception of identity and gender are revealed through disguise. It is interesting how Olivia falls in love with a women whom she thinks is a man and Orsino is suggested to love Cesario since he often remarks on his beauty even though it is really Viola disguised. It also is interesting that the play is called twelfth night because it was first performed on the feast of epiphany twelve days after Christmas. There are many elements of the play that resembles the actual holiday. In the early 1600’s the holiday would be celebrated by dressing up as other identities where a servant might dress as a duke or a women may dress as a man. The characters in the play also switch identities by dressing up as opposite genders. In reality there was a limited social mobility within society and disguise altered that restriction of status through the play. Gender reversal and disguise perpetuate the plays confusion but the misunderstanding of identity brings humor to the audience, which is why it is a comedy. I wonder if the modern day term epiphany was understood when this play was made because it is ironic that it was produced during the holiday, the feast of epiphany but also demonstrates an insight onto reality, which is disguise of identity can alter the structure society created. Overall I believe the play represents an unknown notion to society back when it originated that suggests the status structure of society should not be as fixated and represented by ones social status.

Antonio and Sebastian's relationship

The relationship between Antonio and Sebastian seems clearly erotic. It seems as if Antonio is obsessed with Sebastian, where Sebastian was grateful for Antonio for having him take him in after the shipwreck but was ready to move on. Antonio portrays his love towards Sebastian because of his willingness to protect and serve Sebastian. Even though Antonio has enemies in llyria he insists on following Sebastian. His discourse and behavior represents the strong feelings he has for Sebastian which seems like he most likely wants to be more than friends. Later Antonio discloses information saying that if he cannot have the love of Sebastian’s then he wants to be his servant forever. This shows his obsession towards Sebastian because he basically is saying he will never leave him. The love is portrayed through the aspect of safety. Since Antonio insists following Sebastian for his safety, he shows his true passion towards him since he rather put Sebastian’s safety before his own even when he knows he has many enemies in llyria. It is ironic that later in act III Antonio mistakes Sebastian for his sister Viola dressed up as Cesario because he has such desirable feelings for Sebastian and then mistakes his identity. Deception and identity rolls become important and bring humor to the play since the audience is aware of what is going on but the characters do not, making them vulnerable and confused. Overall Antonio fulfills the elements of desirable love since he puts himself before Sebastian at all times. A question to pose is to think about the aspects and elements that draw people into love. Why is Antonio obsessed with Sebastian, this is never really clarified. Is it solely physical attraction because what is so charming about Sebastian’s personality to make Antonio obsessed?

Twelfth Night Act 1 scene 2

Similar to The Taming of the Shrew disguise is a central theme of Twelfth Night. Viola was recently in a shipwreck , which landed herself on llyria and she wishes to be a servant of Olivia. I believe she wants to work for her because it is a way for her to escape and blend into the new town she is in until she wants to properly identify herself. This will not work because Olivia will not see anyone. It seems that Viola wants to be the Duke’s servant but as a disguise of a man. She tells the captain her plan and wants him to play along with the idea. Music seems important to the Duke and Viola says “It may be worth thy pains, for I can sing and speak to him in many sorts of music”. This basically is saying she will sing to him and talk about music. The idea is that she will sicken him with too much music until he does not care about love anymore. Viola says she wants to be disguised as a servant or a eunuch. I believe Viola is pretending to be her brother’s identity because he died in the shipwreck. It is a little confusing why exactly Viola wants to become a man because it seems straight forwardly it is to hide her identity and get a job as the Duke’s servant. She may feel scared and alone since she randomly came upon llyria and may think she will be safer since men are strong seen as safeguards. I think Viola is vulnerable and does not want to portray herself as that. I also think she is emotionally ‘not there’ since she just went through a traumatic shipwreck and losing her brother. I think this will be an important aspect that will be uncovered as Twelfth Night unravels. I think there will be gendered related issues since Viola is dressing up as a man.

Blog #2 Act II.1 Taming of the Shrew

In Act II.I Baptista seems to be very nonchalant and seems to play the same character throughout the play. He seems like he does not have much personality and goes with whatever works. Petruchio, on the hand, has a very strong self-centered personality and over exaggerates his character. He seems to be quite boastful and attempts to come off as very intelligent. He persuades Baptista he is brilliant and is perfect for his daughter so he allows him to talk to Kate. Kate comes off as very witty and has quick defensive come backs towards Petruchio when they encounter each other. It seems like Petruchio is manipulating Kate and is having fun with arguing but you can tell Kate is not amused and is getting frustrated with him. She gets so worked up she ends up striking him which shows she is very stubborn and doesn’t take anything from men. Petruchio changes his character and starts to be nice and suck up to Kate. Although Kate is not buying it and says some sarcastic remarks Petruchio proceeds in asking Kate for her hand in marriage. Without time for kate to respond Baptista comes in and assumes they are to get married. Baptista once again seems like he gets walked all over since he agrees to almost anything and can easily be tricked. Kate is still stubborn and expresses her anger towards her father about the situation. I thought it was funny how Petruchio started calling Baptista father right after he asked Kate to marry him. I think Kate’s character is unique because she puts up a fight and talks back as if she is one of the guys. She still gets shut out and not taken into consideration about the marriage since she is a lady and does not get to make her own choices.

1.25- Richard

I thought it was interesting how characteristics of Richard changed throughout the play, especially towards the end. In the beginning he seems to be very confident and strong-willed. Towards the end Richard's language changes and he seems to all of a sudden have an acknowledgment of his own conscious. Throughout the play he seems too talk with a future plan in mind and at the end he starts to babble on because he knows his plan is falling apart. This is all present during Richard's dream in Act 5, scene 3. His conscious starts to torture him which helps him realize he will die with no one at his side. He even says he has no pity for himself. He is somewhat losing his power and identity as his conscious is now eating him away. This passage contrasts with the murderers conscious in Act 1, Scene 4 because they choose greed and power and disregard their conscious as cowardly.

Richmond and Richard's passages in Act 5, Scene 3 are also very interesting to compare and contrasts. They both seem to have the same goal of marketing their soldiers but both use different tactics of persuasion to get their soldiers motivated. Richmond's passage seems very passionate and positively moral. He makes many references to God and wants to share glory with his group, where he will die with them if they die. If the outcome results in victory richmond will share his profit. I think its extremely moving since he references Richard as God's enemy and fighting him will lead to success and great rewards. It seems like he wants public safety and fairness rather then Richard who seems like he just wants power. Richard's passage seems like a scare tactic and is not moral. It appears that he uses derogatory references and pumps up his people by trash talking the opponents. He also promotes not to let your conscious take you over. I believe a conscious is something out of everyone's control and trying to avoid it will only lead to greater problems in the long run. Overall Richard seems to be not as organized as he previously was and his language is full of negative implications.