Reversed Gender Roles In Twelfth Night
The Reversed Gender Roles in Twelfth Night During the time of Shakespeare, women’s roles in the society were very limited, they had few rights, and many of their talents were likely to be ignored by men. However, in the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare created female characters who are very intelligent, and they are the leading roles in the play. Because of the unexpected shipwreck, Viola is trapped in the foreign land of Illyria, and she has to become something she is not, a man, in order to get the position she wants. There are a lot of conflicts and misunderstanding happening around Orsino, Olivia, and Viola, because Shakespeare breaks the boundaries of society, and limitation of sex, and he keeps developing the confusions that the ambiguous gender roles can lead to. Usually, men are described as very loyal to their emotions, but in the play Twelfth Night, their image is reversed and their mind can be changed very easily. As soon as Orsino realizes that Cesario is actually a woman, Viola, he agrees to marry her immediately. Although before then, he was fully in love with another woman. The sudden mind change shows that Orsino maybe is not fond with Olivia at all, he just loves the idea of being in love with Olivia. Before Viola reveals the truth, she tries to show her affection towards Orsino. And Orsino even shows attraction towards Viola before she revealing the truth that she is a woman, “ Diana’s lip is not more smooth and rubious. Thy small pipe Is as the maiden’s organ, shrill and sound, And all is …show more content…
But in Twelfth Night, the gender role has reversed, women become the ones who are in control. They could decide who they want to associate with, but in reality, women do not have power like this. The reverse of the gender roles does not only mock the male demoted society, but also invoice that women are just as talented as
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713 Words | 3 PagesFor a woman to show interests in current affairs, express opinions, write literature was unladylike. Viola, fending for herself, in distant land, disguises herself as a boy named Cesario. Cross-dressing, in Elizabethan society, was seen as highly immoral. Viola 's male disguise “allows her to escape the confinement of a single perspective and a single voice by momentarily unfixing sexual stereotypes (184)”(Melchoir). Furthermore, Viola’s situation in Twelfth Night is not typical of an Elizabethan woman because she proves herself to be capable and intelligent.
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