Literature Cape Essay

legion(predicate) critics hear to show how the disguise relate to the incompatible parts, and/or different characters of the f slump. This story explores a cariety of themes and issues, however disguise, deceit, celebration and festivity atomic number 18 the major, much(prenominal) prominent angiotensin-converting enzymes. Al megabytegh the forge is a silly ferment said by Samuel Pepys, who saw the play on three occasions, m tout ensemble critics feel the plays use of language utilise to deceive and the failure of characters to go along appropriately and effectively and truthfully, nauseouse it confusing. The ordinal Night (January 6th) is actually the Epiphany.During the Epiphany terrible sign of the zodiacs sponsored numerous perfor sliceces of plays, masques, banquets and kinds of activities. This story opens up to a man, Curio dressing for the plans of that patricianness. age dressing, he confesses how he feels towards a fair sex named Olivia. Olivia, a wel l-to-do woman, wants humble epitome of Major Characters genus genus genus genus genus genus genus genus Viola Like most of Shakespe bes heroines, Viola is a trem destructionously likable figure. She has no serious faults, and we arsehole easy discount the peculiarity of her decision to dress as a man, since it sets the built-in plot in motion. She is the character whose hump seems the purest.The different characters passions be erratic Orsino jumps from Olivia to Viola, Olivia jumps from Viola to Sebastian, and Sir toby jug and fe young-begetting(prenominal) horses marriage seems more than a matter of whim than an expression of deep and abiding passion. Only Viola seems to be truly, passionately in cognise as opposed to universe ego- pimpntly lovesick. As she supposes to Orsino, describing herself and her love for him She pined in thought, And with a green and yellow sadness She sat like patience on a monument, Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? (II. iv. 111 114) The audience, like Orsino, abide further answer with an emphatic yes.Violas chief problem passim the play is one of identity. Because of her disguise, she m one-time(a)iness be both(prenominal) herself and Cesario. This mounting identity crisis culminates in the final persuasion, when Viola finds herself surrounded by people who separately charter a different idea of who she is and ar unawargon of who she actually is. Were 12th Night not a comedy, this pressure might cause Viola to break d protest. Sebastians appearance at this point, however, effectively saves Viola by allowing her to be herself again. Sebastian, who indep shoe progressrs lastent of his sister is not much of a character, takes over the aspects f Violas disguise that she no longer wishes to maintain. therefore liberated by her br early(a), Viola is free to shed the intents that she has accumulated through verboten the play, and she can return to being Viola, the woman who has loved and won Orsino. Orsino and Olivia Orsino and Olivia are worth discussing together, because they prevail similar personalities. Both claim to be strike by strong emotions, and both last seem to be self-indulgent individuals who enjoy melodrama and self-involvement more than anything. When we first meet them, Orsino is pining extraneous for love of Olivia, while Olivia pines a mien for her dead brother.They show no raise in relating to the step upside world, preferring to gyre themselves up with their sorrows and mope roughly their homes. Violas arrival begins to break both characters out of their self-involved shells, and neither undergoes a clear-cut change. Orsino relates to Viola in a itinerary that he never has to Olivia, diminishing his self-involvement and making him more likable. Yet he persists in his belief that he is in love with Olivia until the final scene, in spite of the fact that he never erstwhile mouths to her during the course of the play. Olivia, basewhile, sets by her grief when Viola ( mask as Cesario) comes to see her.But Olivia takes up her receive fantasy of lovesickness, in which she pines a focusingwith a self-indulgence that mirrors Orsinosfor a man who is really a woman. Ultimately, Orsino and Olivia seem to be out of touch perception with real emotion, as demonstrated by the ease with which they shift their affections in the final sceneOrsino from Olivia to Viola, and Olivia from Cesario to Sebastian. The similarity between Orsino and Olivia does not diminish with the end of the play, since the audience realizes that by marrying Viola and Sebastian, respectively, Orsino and Olivia are es moveially marrying fe staminate and male versions of the same person.Malvolio Malvolio initially seems to be a minor character, and his humiliation seems light more than an amusing subplot to the Viola-Olivia-Orsino- love trilateral. But he becomes more kindle as the play progresses, and most critics pass judged him one of the most interlinki ng and fascinating characters in 12th Night. When we first meet Malvolio, he seems to be a simple typea puritan, a laden and proper servant who likes nothing better than to spoil other peoples fun. It is this dour, fun-despising side that induces him the enmity of the zany, drunken Sir toby and the clever mare, who together address his downfall.But they do so by playing on a side of Malvolio that might have other omniscient remained hiddenhis self-regard and his nameless intakes, which extend to marrying Olivia and seemly, as he be sicks it, Count Malvolio (II. v. 30). When he finds the bad garner from Olivia (actually penned by Maria) that seems to offer hope to his ambitions, Malvolio undergoes his first transformationfrom a stiff and wooden soma of priggish propriety into an personification of the power of selfdelusion.He is ridiculous in these scenes, as he capers around in the yellow stockings and go across garters that he thinks will please Olivia, just he also becomes pitiable. He may deserve his come-uppance, but there is an uneasy universal jointity to his experience. Malvolios misfortune is a cautionary tale of ambition overcoming good sense, and the audience winces at the appearance he adapts every occurrenceincluding Olivias confused assumption that he must be unhingedto fit his rosy picture of his glorious future as a overlord.Earlier, he embodies stiff joylessness straight he is exulting, but in prosecution of a dream that everyone, except him, knows is false. Our pity for Malvolio besides enlarges when the vindictive Maria and toby jug confine him to a dismal room in act IV. As he desperately protests that he is not mad, Malvolio begins to seem more of a victim than a victimizer. It is as if the unfortunate steward, as the embodiment of order and sobriety, must be sacrificed so that the rest of the characters can indulge in the hearty spirit that suffuses Twelfth Night.As he is sacrificed, Malvolio begins to earn our respect. It is too much to call him a tragic figure, however afterward all, he is only being asked to endure a single night in darkness, hardly a fate comparable to the sufferings of King Lear or Hamlet. But there is a kind of nobility, however limited, in the way that the deluded steward stubbornly clings to his sanity, even in the face of Festes air pressure that he is mad. Malvolio remains true to himself, despite everything he knows that he is sane, and he will not allow anything to destroy this knowledge.Malvolio (and the audience) must be national with this self-knowledge, because the play allows Malvolio no real recompense for his sufferings. At the close of the play, he is brought out of the darkness into a celebration in which he has no part, and where no one seems willing to offer him a real apology. Ill be revenged on the whole pack of you, he snarls, stalking out of the festivities (V. i. 365). His exit strikes a jarring note in an otherwise joyful comedy. Malvolio ha s no real place in the anarchic world of Twelfth Night, except to suggest that, even in the best of worlds, galore(postnominal)one must suffer while everyone else is happy.I n the kingdom of Illyria, a direman named Orsino lies around listening to music, pining away for the love of lady Olivia. He cannot have her because she is in mourning for her dead brother and refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage. Meanwhile, off the coast, a storm has caused a terrible shipwreck. A young, aristocratic-born woman named Viola is swept onto the Illyrian shore. Finding herself alone in a strange land, she leases that her twin brother, Sebastian, has been drowned in the wreck, and tries to figure out what sort of work she can do.A friendly sea captain tells her or so Orsinos wooing of Olivia, and Viola says that she wishes she could go to work in Olivias home. But since Lady Olivia refuses to talk with any strangers, Viola decides that she cannot compute for work with her. Instead, she decides to disguise herself as a man, taking on the name of Cesario, and goes to work in the crime syndicate of Duke Orsino. Viola (disguised as Cesario) quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino, who makes Cesario his page. Viola finds herself move in love with Orsinoa difficult love to pursue, as Orsino remembers her to be a man.But when Orsino sends Cesario to deliver Orsinos love messages to the disdainful Olivia, Olivia herself fall for the beautiful young Cesario, believing her to be a man. The love triangle is complete Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesarioand everyone is miserable. Meanwhile, we meet the other members of Olivias household her rowdy drunkard of an uncle, Sir Toby his receiveish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia Olivias witty and pretty waiting-gentlewoman, Maria Feste, the clever cuckoo of the house and Malvolio, the dour, prudish steward of Olivias household.When Sir Toby and the others take discourtesy at Malvolios constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria engineers a matter-of-fact joke to make Malvolio think that Olivia is in love with him. She forges a letter, supposedly from Olivia, addressed to her beloved (whose name is signified by the letters M. O. A. I. ), coitus him that if he wants to earn her favor, he should dress in yellow stockings and get over garters, act haughtily, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself to anyone. Malvolio finds the letter, assumes that it is addressed to him, and, fill up with dreams of marrying Olivia and becoming noble himself, happily follows its commands.He behaves so strangely that Olivia comes to think that he is mad. Meanwhile, Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria along with his friend and protector, Antonio. Antonio has cared for Sebastian since the shipwreck and is passionately (and possibly sexually) attached to the young manso much so that he follows him to Orsinos domain, in spite of the fact that he and Orsino are old enemies. Sir Andrew, observing Olivias attraction to Cesario (still Viola in disguise), challenges Cesario to a duel.Sir Toby, who sees the capability duel as entertaining fun, eggs Sir Andrew on. However, when Sebastianwho looks just like the disguised Violaappears on the scene, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby end up coming to blows with Sebastian, intellection that he is Cesario. Olivia enters amid the disorderliness. Encountering Sebastian and thinking that he is Cesario, she asks him to marry her. He is baffled, since he has never seen her before. He sees, however, that she is wealthy and beautiful, and he is therefore more than willing to go along with her.Meanwhile, Antonio has been arrested by Orsinos officers and now begs Cesario for help, mistaking him for Sebastian. Viola denies penetrative Antonio, and Antonio is dragged off, crying out that Sebastian has betrayed him. Suddenly, Viola h as tenderfound hope that her brother may be alive. Malvolios supposed madness has allowed the gleeful Maria, Toby, and the rest to lock Malvolio into a small, dark room for his treatment, and they torment him at will. Feste dresses up as Sir Topas, a priest, and pretends to examine Malvolio, declaring him definitely insane in spite of his protests.However, Sir Toby begins to think better of the joke, and they allow Malvolio to send a letter to Olivia, in which he asks to be released. Eventually, Viola (still disguised as Cesario) and Orsino make their way to Olivias house, where Olivia haves Cesario as her new husband, thinking him to be Sebastian, whom she has just married. Orsino is furious, but then Sebastian himself appears on the scene, and all is revealed. The siblings are joyfully reunited, and Orsino realizes that he loves Viola, now that he knows she is a woman, and asks her to marry him. We discover that Sir Toby and Maria have also been married privately.Finally, someon e remembers Malvolio and lets him out of the dark room. The trick is revealed in full, and the embittered Malvolio storms off, leaving the happy couples to their celebration. Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literarywork. Love as a relieve oneself of Suffering Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the plays main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and pass on wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain.Many of the characters seem to run into love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims absolutely and disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the pangs of unrequited love. At one point, Orsino depicts love dolefully as an appetite that he wants to satisfy and cannot (I. i. 13) at another point, he calls his desires fell and barbaric hounds (I. i. 21). Olivia more bluntlydescribes love as a plague from which she suffers odiously(I. v. 265). These metaphors contain an element of violence, further painting the love-struck as victims of some haphazard force in the universe.Even the less melodramatic Viola sighs woefully that My state is desperate for my masters love (II. ii. 35). This desperation has the potential to result in violenceas in Act V, scene i, when Orsino threatens to kill Cesario because he thinks that -Cesario has forsaken him to become Olivias lover. Love is also exclusionary some people achieve romantic happiness, while others do not. At the end of the play, as the happy lovers rejoice, both Malvolio and Antonio are prevented from having the butts of their desire.Malvolio, who has pursued Olivia, must lastly face the realization that he is a fool, socially unworthy of his noble mistress. Antonio is in a more difficult situation, as social norms do not allow for the gratification of his apparently sexual a ttraction to Sebastian. Love, thus, cannot fascinate all obstacles, and those whose desires go unfulfilled remain no less in love but feel the sting of its absence all the more severely. The Uncertainty of Gender Gender is one of the most obvious and much-discussed topics in the play.Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeares so-called transvestite comedies, in which a female characterin this case, Violadisguises herself as a man. This situation make outs a sexual mess Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him, because he thinks she is a man, while Olivia, the object of Orsinos affection, falls for Viola in her guise as Cesario. in that respect is a clear homoerotic subtext here Olivia is in love with a woman, even if she thinks he is a man, and Orsino often remarks on Cesarios beauty, suggesting that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is removed.This latent queerness finds an explicit echo in the minor character of Antonio, who is clearly in love with hi s male friend, Sebastian. But Antonios desires cannot be satisfied, while Orsino and Olivia both find tidy heterosexual gratification once the sexual ambiguities and deceptions are straightened out. Yet, even at the plays close, Shakespeare leaves things somewhat murky, especially in the Orsino-Viola relationship. Orsinos declaration of love to Viola suggests that he enjoys prolonging the pretense of Violas masculinity.Even after he knows that Viola is a woman, Orsino says to her, Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never shouldst love woman like to me (V. i. 260261). Similarly, in his last lines, Orsino declares, Cesario, come / For so you shall be while you are a man / But when in other habits you are seen, / Orsinos mistress, and his fancys queen (V. i. 372375). Even once everything is revealed, Orsino continues to address Viola by her male name. We can thus only wonder whether Orsino is truly in love with Viola, or if he is more enamoured of her male persona. The F olly of AmbitionThe problem of social ambition flora itself out largely through the character of Malvolio, the steward, who seems to be a skilled servant, if prudish and dour, but proves to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to lift out of his social ramify. Maria plays on these ambitions when she forges a letter from Olivia that makes Malvolio believe that Olivia is in love with him and wishes to marry him. Sir Toby and the others find this fantasy hysterically funny, of coursenot only because of Malvolios un winning personality but also because Malvolio is not of noble blood.In the categorize system of Shakespeares time, a noblewoman would generally not sully her reputation by marrying a man of lower social status. Yet the air travel of the play may render Malvolios aspirations less unreasonable than they initially seem. The facing pages of Twelfth Night, from which the play takes its name, was a time when social hierarchies were turned superlative d own. That same spirit is alive in Illyria indeed, Malvolios antagonist, Maria, is able to increase her social standing by marrying Sir Toby. But it seems that Marias winner may be due to her willingness to accept and promote the anarchy that Sir Toby and the others press.This Twelfth Night spirit, then, seems to pass by Malvolio, who doesnt wholeheartedly embrace the upending of order and decorum but rather wants to blur class lines for himself alone. Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the texts major themes. Letters, Messages, and Tokens Twelfth Night features a great variety of messages sent from one character to anothersometimes as letters and other times in the form of tokens. such messages are used both for purposes of communication and miscommunicationsometimes deliberate and sometimes accidental.Marias letter to Malvolio, which purports to be from Olivia, is a deliberate (and successful) attempt to tri ck the steward. Sir Andrews letter demanding a duel with Cesario, meanwhile, is meant seriously, but because it is so appallingly stupid, Sir Toby does not deliver it, rendering it extraneous. Malvolios missive, sent by way of Feste from the dark room in which he is imprisoned, ultimately works to undo the perplexity caused by Marias forged letter and to free Malvolio from his imprisonment. But letters are not the only kind of messages that characters employ to communicate with one another.Individuals can be employed in the place of written communicationOrsino repeatedly sends Cesario, for instance, to deliver messages to Olivia. Objects can function as messages between people as well Olivia sends Malvolio after Cesario with a ring, to tell the page that she loves him, and follows the ring up with further gifts, which stand for her romantic attachment. Messages can convey important information, but they also manufacture the potential for miscommunication and confusionespecially with characters like Maria and Sir Toby manipulating the information. daftnessNo one is truly insane in Twelfth Night, hitherto a number of characters are accused of being mad, and a circulating(prenominal) of insanity or zaniness runs through the action of the play. After Sir Toby and Maria dupe Malvolio into believing that Olivia loves him, Malvolio behaves so bizarrely that he is assumed to be mad and is locked away in a dark room. Malvolio himself knows that he is sane, and he accuses everyone around him of being mad. Meanwhile, when Antonio encounters Viola (disguised as Cesario), he mistakes her for Sebastian, and his angry insistence that she have a go at it him leads people to assume that he is mad.All of these incidents feed into the general atmosphere of the play, in which normal life is thrown topsy-turvy, and everyone must confront a reality that is somehow fractured. Disguises Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola, who puts on male attire and makes everyone else believe that she is a man. By dressing his protagonist in male garments, Shakespeare creates endless sexual confusion with the Olivia-ViolaOrsino love triangle.Other characters in disguise include Malvolio, who puts on crossed garters and yellow stockings in the hope of winning Olivia, and Feste, who dresses up as a priestSir Topaswhen he speaks to Malvolio after the steward has been locked in a dark room. Feste puts on the disguise even though Malvolio will not be able to see him, since the room is so dark, suggesting that the importance of clothing is not just in the eye of the beholder. For Feste, the disguise completes his assumption of a new identityin order to be Sir Topas, he must look like Sir Topas.Viola puts on new vestments and changes her gender, while Feste and Malvolio put on new garments either to impersonate a nobleman (Feste) or in the hopes of becoming a nobleman (Malvolio). Through these disguises, the play raises questions about wh at makes us who we are, compelling the audience to wonder if things like gender and class are set in stone, or if they can be change with a change of clothing. Mistaken Identity The instances of mistaken identity are related to the prevalence of disguises in the play, as Violas male clothing leads to her being mistaken for her brother, Sebastian, and vice versa.Sebastian is mistaken for Viola (or rather, Cesario) by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and then by Olivia, who promptly marries him. Meanwhile, Antonio mistakes Viola for Sebastian, and thinks that his friend has betrayed him when Viola claims to not know him. These cases of mistaken identity, common in Shakespeares comedies, create the tangled situation that can be resolved only when Viola and Sebastian appear together, helping everyone to understand what has happened. Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Olivias GiftsWhen Olivia wants to let Cesario know that s he loves him, she sends him a ring by way of Malvolio. Later, when she mistakes Sebastian for Cesario, she gives him a precious pearl. In each case, the jewel serves as a token of her lovea somatogenic symbol of her romantic attachment to a man who is really a woman. The gifts are more than symbols, though. Youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed, Olivia says at one point, suggesting that the jewels are intended almost as bribesthat she means to defile Cesarios love if she cannot win it (III. iv. 3). The vestige of Malvolios PrisonWhen Sir Toby and Maria pretend that Malvolio is mad, they confine him in a pitch-black chamber. Darkness becomes a symbol of his supposed insanity, as they tell him that the room is filled with light and his inability to see is a sign of his madness. Malvolio reverses the symbolism. I say this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell and I say there was never man thus abused (IV. ii. 4042). In other words, the darkn ess importee madnessis not in the room with him, but outside, with Sir Toby and Feste and Maria, who have unjustly imprisoned him. Changes of ClothingClothes are powerful in Twelfth Night. They can symbolize changes in genderViola puts on male clothes to be taken for a male as well as class distinctions. When Malvolio fantasizes about becoming a nobleman, he imagines the new clothes that he will have. When Feste impersonates Sir Topas, he puts on a noblemans garb, even though Malvolio, whom he is fooling, cannot see him, suggesting that clothes have a power that transcends their physical function. Twelfth Night Analysis of Fools A fool can be defined in many meanings according to the Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles.The word could mean a silly person, or one who professionally counterfeits fury for the entertainment of others, a gull, clown or one who has little or no reason or intellect or one who is do to appear to be a fool (word originated from North Frisia n). In incline literary productions, the two main ways which the fool could enter imaginative literature is that He could provide a topic, a theme for mediation, or he could turn into a stock character on the stage, a represent ludicrous figure. In William Shakespeares comedy, Twelfth Night, Feste the clown is not the only fool who is subject to foolery.He and many other characters unite their silly acts and wits to invade other characters that evade reality or rather realize a dream, while our sympathies go out to those. It is natural that the fool should be a prominent & attractive figure and make an important contribution to the action in forming the confusion and the humor in an Elizabethan drama. In Twelfth Night, the clown and the fools are the ones who combine humor amp wit to make the comedy work. Clowns, jesters, and Buffoons are usually regarded as fools. Their differences could be of how they dress, act or portrayed in society.A clown for example, was understood t o be a country hick or cloun. In Elizabethan usage, the word clown is ambiguous meaning both countryman and principal comedian. Another meaning abandoned to it in the 1600 is a fool or jester. As for a buffoon, it is defined as a man whose profession is to make low jests and antics postures a clown, jester, fool. The buffoon is a fool because although he exploits his own weaknesses instead of being exploited by others. he resembles other comic fools. This is similar to the definition of a Jester who is also known as a buffoon, or a merry andrew.One maintained in a princes court or noblemans household. As you can see, the buffoon, jester and the clown are all depict as fools and are related amp tied to each other in some sort of way. They relatively have the same objectives in their roles but in appearance wise (clothes, physical features) they may be different. In Shakespeares Twelfth Night, Festes role in this Illyrian comedy is significant because Illyria is a country permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools, where identities are confused, rude rule applauded and no harm is done. In Illyria therefore the fool is not so much a critic of his environment as a ringleader, a merry-companion, a Lord of Misrule. Being equally welcome above and below stairs.. makes Feste significant as a character. In Twelfth Night, Feste plays the role of a humble clown employed by Olivias father playing the licensed fool of their household. We learn this in Olivias statement stating that Feste is an allowed fool(I. v. 93) meaning he is licensed, privileged critic to speak the truth of the people around him. We also learn in a statement by Curio to the Duke that Feste is employed by Olivias father. Feste the jester a fool that the Lady Olivias father took much joy in(II. iv. 11). Feste is more of the comic truth of the comedy. Although he does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person within all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by s aying This fellows wise enough to play the fool(III. i. 61). Since Feste is a licensed fool, his main role in Twelfth Night is to speak the truth. This is where the humor lies, his truthfulness. In one example he proves Olivia to be a true fool by asking her what she was mourning about. The point