Twelfth Night Fate Vs Free Will Essay
As many know Shakespeare is a masterful storyteller. Many of his tragic plays such as Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Hamlet have a keen sense of fate versus free will, but it is not just in his tragedies that this is seen. In his comedy, “Twelfth Night”, the theme of fate versus free will reverses the expected gender roles. Although it was written in the Elizabethan days, gender roles are constantly seen. In this play, Shakespeare seems to reverse the role of men and women, making women to be dependent and not reliant on men.
The shipwreck throws Viola and her brother into a life or death situation. In her opening scene, Viola speaks to the captain about what could have happened to her brother, uncertain if he is alive, she says “Perchance he is not drown’d”(1.2.5). When the captain replies, he made it obvious that fate is not what saved Viola, but the free will that both her and brother had. By saying, “It is perchance that you yourself were saved” (1.2.5) the captain is saying that she is alive because of what she did to save herself. Viola made the choice to “[hang] on
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Malvoilo, one of Olivia’s stewards, is constantly belittling everyone around him thinking he is destined for greatness and will be known as “Count Malvolio”(2.5.32) in the future. Maria grows old with his constant chastising and comes up with a malicious plan, convincing Malvolio that Olivia is in love with him. She plots to write a letter saying, “I can write a very like my lady, your naive; on a forgotten matter we can hardly make distinction of our hands”(2.3.147-149). Maria knows how sneaky and deceiving this letter will be, and ultimately wants to mortify Malvolio to everyone. Sir Toby even calls Maria “Penthesila”(2.3.162), comparing her to an Amazonian warrior. Marias diabolical scheme to embarrass Malvolio for her own self-satisfaction pushed boundaries and was obscure for women during this time
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1043 Words | 5 PagesShakespeare uses Viola (Cesario) as an example of a mechanism that can throw internal conflicts into temporary chaos. Viola willingly faces whatever comes in her way. Her love for Duke Orsino seems too constant and true, unlike the other characters in the play. The temporary chaos of the play is when Viola falls in love with Orsino, who falls in love with Olivia, who on the other hand falls in love with Viola’s disguise, Cesario. This love triangle is very complicated as none of them realize that Cesario is a woman, making this an internal conflict for Viola, as she cannot ‘truly’ love whom she wants.
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