Viola And Olivia In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
In Twelfth Night, Viola and Olivia are the central characters to the play’s plot. Each are young women that take approaches to dealing with the people around them, which are mainly men. There is much trickery that goes on in Twelfth Night, but the ending is for the most part happy. Viola marries Orsino and Olivia marries Sebastian, but the events leading up to this are more or less chaotic. Ultimately, I argue that while Olivia uses her higher social status in order to maintain control of herself and others, Viola resorts to trickery in order to bring about her desires. Thus, there are ways that Viola and Olivia both reserve information about themselves while also remaining authentic to an extent.
Aside from mere personality, though, Olivia as well as Viola can be distinguished from other characters in Twelfth Night not just by their genders, but also by their attempts at isolating themselves from society. Olivia, according to Valentine, vows “till seven years’ heat,/ Shall not behold her face at ample view” (1.1.25-26). This is due to her brother’s death. It is even possible that her vow to retreat from society fueled her lack of interest in the duke who pursues her called Orsino. Olivia and Viola both have lost a brother, although Viola fortunately eventually finds her brother. Still, due to the fact both characters believe their brothers to be dead for the majority of the play, their attitudes are affected by this. Olivia in particular attempts to keep a good opinion of
Viola And Sabastian Hastings: Their Identities On The Cornwall Soccer Team
624 Words | 3 PagesViola reveals that she was acting as Sabastian while he was away because her soccer team got cut, and she was showing how that girls can be better at soccer than boys. So she revealed that she was a girl by lifting up her shirt and Sabastian revealed that he was a boy by pulling his pants down. But Sabastian did not even know that his sister was acting as him for the whole two weeks while he was away playing in a band. The principle was shocked when Sabastian pulled his pants down and viola lifted her shirt up.
Violas In Tim O Brien's The Answers
807 Words | 4 PagesViola and Todd’s lives are constantly being flipped and turned with every move they make. During Viola’s escape from New Prentisstown she was almost blown up in another one of The Answers bombs. She barely made it out of the way with the help of Mistress Coyle pushing her clear of harm. Now Viola is stuck in the camp of The Answer with, ironically, nobody giving her any answers to her questions. Todd isn’t fairing too well either.
Examples Of Sexualtiy In The 1600's
1963 Words | 8 PagesAs an alternative Viola decides to live as a man under the protection of
Hamlet Critical Lens Analysis
1249 Words | 5 PagesOlivia Lynch Mrs. Butterfield AP Lit 5/1/16 When you are ready to dive into the vast world of Shakespeare, you can begin by using what is known as a critical lens. The lens that may help you understand the background details of one of Shakespeare’s plays would be the Historical lens. Although there are many different lens that you can use to interpret a story, the Historical Lens is a great lens to dive into to find what really influenced the great ideas of William Shakespeare as he wrote Hamlet including the role gender plays, the comparison of Elizabeth Tudor, and the religious incorporation throughout the play. First, we can take the Historical Lens and dive into the idea of how gender roles were highly represented in Hamlet
The Secret Life Of Bees Coming Of Age Essay
2539 Words | 11 PagesShe is mourning the loss of her cousin Tybalt, but also being separated from her husband, Romeo. Although her cousin died, she does feel much more passionate about not being able to see Romeo. Without his presence and support from him, she feels isolated from everyone. Almost immediately after losing Romeo, her parents tried to force her into a marriage with
Homosexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
1112 Words | 5 PagesTwelfth Night seems to present gender as a mask to be worn and taken off at will, a fluid concept that changes to suit one’s needs and emotions. By playing Cesario, Viola partly becomes this version of herself, so Olivia, by loving Cesario, has feelings for Viola by extension. When Sebastian makes his reveal, Olivia marries him for two reasons. The first is an external piece of reasoning, being that in Elizabethan comedies such as this, heterosexual pairings must happen for the play to follow the fairly strict expectations of a comedy. The second falls to Sebastian’s demeanor.
She's The Man Movie Vs Play Analysis
623 Words | 3 PagesLastly the movie in the play both reacted very weirdly to viola coming out they didn't freak out like was expected in both Twelfth night and She's the Man. The movie and the play are pretty much based off the same thing love, but the movie started off with soccer, where the play was just mainly about love and the shipwreck. Most parts in the movie and play have the same concept. There is a difference between the way they spoke back then versus how they speak right now. The play was written in more Shakespearean text like it was when the play was written and the movie has more modern language more like how people speak now.
Deception And Dishonesty In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
508 Words | 3 PagesIn his play, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare has his characters participate in the practice of deception and dishonesty of others - after all, the foundation of Shakespeare’s play resides within a lie. One of the major deceptions in the play is executed by the Illyrian countess, Olivia, as she repeatedly claims to need solitude to mourn her brother’s death in order to avoid Duke Orsino and his obsession towards her. This deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole by adding the thematic message, deception and dishonesty is sometimes the better option when it comes to love. From the beginning of the play, Olivia is introduced as the grieving countess that has recently lost a brother.
Twelfth Night Narcissism Analysis
984 Words | 4 PagesVanity, one of Twelfth Night 's major concerns, is displayed throughout the play by characters who are plagued with emotional conditions which prevent them from loving others. The lives of Illyria 's Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia, for example, remain circumscribed by vanity and narcissism. Similarly, Olivia 's steward, Malvolio, remains encumbered by vanity and narcissism, while Olivia 's Uncle Toby shows himself to be selfish, and his drinking partner, Sir Andrew, stands as a caricature of vanity. In contrast, Viola, an outsider shipwrecked upon Illyria 's shore, suffers solely from grief for her sea-drowned twin brother. In further contrast, Olivia 's lady-in-waiting, Maria, displays none of these characteristics, but instead operates as the play
Men And Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream
1205 Words | 5 PagesThe male roles in the family seem to be above females’ because they get to make decisions for girls. Men feel dominant to women, so the same behaviors as the women are acceptable for them. Along with these, the ladies are not expected to crave love and affection like the gentlemen do. The gender issue of men being dominant and women being submissive used in the drama, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, shows the differences in the roles, behaviors, and expectations appropriate for each gender and is an example of an outdated stereotype. Unlike the time frame of this literature, women in the present are valued equal to men.
Essay On Gender Roles In Twelfth Night
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.
Romeo And Juliet And Twelfth Night Comparison
795 Words | 4 PagesIn the story it shows a love triangle between Orsino, Cesario (Viola), and Olivia. Cesario falls in love with Orsino, Viola is in love with Cesario, and Orsino is still in love with Olivia. The characters in the story all show happiness and joy throughout because it’s a story that ends in love unlike Romeo and Juliet where it ends in a tragedy. As said in Twelfth Night, “Its central plot concerns a love triangle between the Illyrian nobleman Orsino, his beloved but unattainable Olivia, and the shipwrecked Viola.” (Lee
Viola's Disguise In Twelfth Night
929 Words | 4 PagesNumerous events and conflicts from Twelfth Night are dependant on Viola’s disguise, as she is caught in between Olivia and Orsino’s affection due to her disguise. In the beginning of the play, she dresses up as a male in order to conceal her identity and to get a job at Orsino’s court. In doing so, she is able to gain more of his trust than she would have if she was a female. By disguising herself as a man Viola is able attract his attention and appreciation to ultimately prove her worth to him as a woman. Moreover, Viola's disguise also allows Orsino to respect her intelligence which causes her to win his love.
Relationships In Twelfth Night
1209 Words | 5 PagesThe first instance which supports the notion that a lapse of communication is responsible for the unsuccessful nature of heterosexual relationships is the case of Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia’s relationship. Both start the play preoccupied with their own concerns, Orsino is worried about finding love, specifically with Olivia, meanwhile she is busy mourning the death of her brother by refusing to marry anyone for seven years. However, it is Orsino’s obsession with seeking love and how he goes about pursuing Olivia that best exemplifies the problematic nature of a male and female’s relationship. Orsino opened the play by saying of love, “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die” (1.1.1-3), essentially saying that he so badly craves the feeling being in love gives him, that he would like in so great a quantity that it would end his life.
Theme Of Disguise In Twelfth Night
1043 Words | 5 PagesIn the play Twelfth Night, through the depiction of Orsino’s and Viola’s desires for romantic love, Shakespeare portrays how adjustable and self-delusional human romantic attraction can be, especially when blinded by wants and needs. Viola, who puts on the appearance of a man, makes everybody think she is a male. Her disguise becomes a sexual confusion throughout the play for several characters, creating an odd love triangle where Viola loves Duke Orsino, who loves Oliva, which then on the other hand loves Viola, in disguise as Cesario. On the other hand, Malvolio dreams of marrying his beloved Olivia, and gaining authority over his superiors, like Sir Toby. Shakespeare uses disguise in the play to show several confusions and internal conflicts between the characters, proving how malleable and deluded some human attractions can be.
More about Viola And Olivia In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
Viola And Sabastian Hastings: Their Identities On The Cornwall Soccer Team
624 Words | 3 PagesViolas In Tim O Brien's The Answers
807 Words | 4 PagesExamples Of Sexualtiy In The 1600's
1963 Words | 8 PagesHamlet Critical Lens Analysis
1249 Words | 5 PagesThe Secret Life Of Bees Coming Of Age Essay
2539 Words | 11 PagesHomosexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
1112 Words | 5 PagesShe's The Man Movie Vs Play Analysis
623 Words | 3 PagesDeception And Dishonesty In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
508 Words | 3 PagesTwelfth Night Narcissism Analysis
984 Words | 4 PagesMen And Women In A Midsummer Night's Dream
1205 Words | 5 PagesEssay On Gender Roles In Twelfth Night
713 Words | 3 PagesRomeo And Juliet And Twelfth Night Comparison
795 Words | 4 PagesViola's Disguise In Twelfth Night
929 Words | 4 PagesRelationships In Twelfth Night
1209 Words | 5 PagesTheme Of Disguise In Twelfth Night
1043 Words | 5 Pages