Discuss the theme of disguise and deception in "Twelfth Night." How do characters like Viola, Sebastian, and Malvolio use disguise, and what are ...Read More
Prompt Examples for "Twelfth Night" Essays
Disguise and Deception
Discuss the theme of disguise and deception in "Twelfth Night." How do characters like Viola, Sebastian, and Malvolio use disguise, and what are the consequences of their actions?
Love and Attraction
Analyze the theme of love and attraction in the play. How do various characters experience love, and how do their romantic interests and affections drive the plot?
Gender Roles and Identity
Examine the portrayal of gender roles and identity in "Twelfth Night." How does Viola's disguise as Cesario challenge traditional gender norms, and what commentary does the play offer on gender ambiguity?
Folly and Mischief
Discuss the role of folly and mischief in the play, particularly through characters like Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. How do their actions contribute to the comedic elements of the story?
Music and Song
Explore the significance of music and song in "Twelfth Night." How do these elements enhance the atmosphere and emotions of the play, and what do they symbolize?
Comedy and Resolution
Analyze the comedic elements of the play and how they lead to resolution and reconciliation among the characters. What role does mistaken identity play in the play's resolution?
Introduction to Shakespeare's Comedies, a comedy does not demand the 'the degree of concentration and belief' required by tragedy. As a result, an audience of a play 'is amusedly aware that it's all a play, a game that they are sharing with the actors'. FN1...
Shakespeare’s classic play, Twelfth Night, tells the story of Viola, a woman who dresses like a man to find a place in Duke Orsino’s court. While working for Orsino, however, Viola falls in love with him, but must hide her feelings in order to protect...
Can't Help Falling in Love, Friendship, Gender and Sexuality, Interpersonal relationship, Intimate relationship, Love, Love and Desire, Romance, Social class, The Play
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Salinger (1974) calls Twelfth Night a “comedy about comedy” in which Shakespeare demonstrates his “fundamental debt to the earlier Renaissance tradition of comic playwriting and his abiding sense of detachment from it” (pg 242), and it is from this point that this essay will discuss...
A Celebration, Audience, Comedy, Disguise and Deception, Love and Desire, Play from scrimmage, Shakespearean comedy, The Celebration, The Comedy of Errors, The Play
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare illustrates love in various forms and suggests that, like beauty, the true meaning of love exists in the eye of the beholder. Love is seen as bordering on insanity, a frivolous game of ever-changing affections, and the cause of bizarre behavior....
“Twelfth Night” is a play written by Shakespeare. This play, mainly based on love, begins with Orsino trying to win Olivia’s love. Viola, who was shipwrecked, assists the Duke by disguising herself as Cesario and ends up falling in love with the Duke. Olivia’s servant,...
2002 albums, Affection, Audience, Disguise and Deception, Identity, Interpersonal attraction, Interpersonal relationship, Love, Love and Desire, Love letter
“Sex is one of the constants in human experience; sexuality, one of the variables.” Made-to-order essay as fast as you need it Each essay is customized to cater to your unique preferences + experts online Get my essay Bruce Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare’s England....
Age of consent, Androgyny, Biology of gender, Bisexuality, English Renaissance theatre, Gender, Gender and Sexuality, Gender differences, Gender identity, Gender identity disorder
It has often been said that “the clothes make the man.” It could never seem truer than in Twelfth Night where disguises and mistaken identities run the gamut of use. The identity of people, things and ideas are swept away under the facade of something...
When Lady Olivia first beseeches Viola, a girl disguised as the male page Cesario, to love her, the two share a repartee that seems to question Cesario’s affection for the countess. But as Viola responds to Olivia, “you do think you are not what you...
Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste — a licensed jester. Yet upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare merely uses Feste as a critic of the comedic disarray in Illyria, which parallels the festival Twelfth Night. The nature of...
In Twelfth Night, it is love’s revolutionary potential to inspire awareness, question authority, and disrupt the anti-comic balance that makes love so powerful allows it to be such an agent of change. Robert Maslen, in Shakespeare and Comedy, describes this as love’s “energy”, comparing love...
Because disguise and mistaken identity is such a central theme in many of Shakespeare’s comedies, so too then is gender ambiguity, with many female characters disguising themselves as men. The fact that young male actors played these characters, making them a boy dressed as a...
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare creates a duality between the worlds of the nobility and its associates and the said “outsiders.” There is a great element of selfishness involved in the actions of the characters deemed “in” as they peruse through the play drunk on love...
In Shakespeare’s Othello, the primary obstacle in Othello and Desdemona’s relationship is Othello’s race, and hence, his status as an outsider. This difference becomes a barrier when Brabantio objects to their marriage, however, it plays much more of a role in facilitating Iago’s manipulation and...
The character of Sebastian in “Twelfth Night” represents the dynamic factor in an otherwise static equation. Illyria is an immutable place, and the people who live and visit the land become ensnared in a stasis. Shakespeare uses the device of twins to resolve the static...
Originally used to signify a shield or a coat of arms, the term ‘blazon’ transformed it meaning through the description of virtues or positive attributes, usually of a woman, in late sixteenth century poetry. ‘Blazon’ can either denote a noun, signifying the actual list of...
In a Shakespearean comic setting where chaos, asininity, and insolence reign, the very qualities of comic irreverence become virtues. A comic hero or side character who relentlessly pranks stooges and straight men for the audience’s enjoyment is likely to win the viewer’s appreciation. Yet it...
Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life situations, which is similar to the...
Although some Shakespearean plays carve out a more passive, male-defined role for women, such as that which is exemplified through Ophelia’s obedience to Polonius in Hamlet, the comedies of As You Like It and Twelfth Night explore women’s potential for unexpected honesty, especially within the...
As You Like It, Courtship, Disguise and Deception, Female, Gender, Gender and Sexuality, Gender role, Interpersonal relationship, Intimate relationship, Love
Theatre began as a presentation of stories and ideas, mostly revolving around festival times in the calendar of the church year. This concept was carried on in Shakespeare’s times and is exemplified in his plays Twelfth Night, or What You Will and A Midsummer Night’s...
Malvolio and Parolles both appear as relatively unlikable characters due to their inflated egos, and convince themselves that they are socially greater than they are in reality. In Twelfth Night, Malvolio, a mere steward, behaves with utter scorn and haughtiness to the nobles whose conduct...
In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there exists a high and a low (or comic) plot. This plot division serves as a parallel – the actions and characters in the low plot coincide with the actions and characters in the high plot. The...
Shakespeare’s comedies are often characterized by mistaken identities, leading to confusion, chaos, and ultimately resolution. One such play that exemplifies this theme is “Twelfth Night,” where the protagonist Viola disguises herself as a man, leading to a series of comedic misunderstandings. In this essay, we...
Introduction In William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” the intricate interplay between characters drives the narrative forward, illuminating themes of love, identity, and disguise. Among these characters, Viola and Orsino stand out for their complex relationship and the evolution of their personas throughout the play. Viola, who...
Love, in its various forms, is a prevalent theme in William Shakespeare’s plays. In “Twelfth Night,” the love triangle between Viola, Orsino, and Olivia takes center stage. While the play initially appears to revolve around Orsino’s infatuation with Olivia, a deeper examination reveals the true...
The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man.
Theme
Twelfth Night's central theme is love, including romantic, platonic, and familial love. Other themes include gender and sexuality, ambition, appearance and reality, disguise and deception, madness, etc.
Style
The play, Twelfth Night, shows the mastery of William Shakespeare in using witty and festive language. The play also shows its language becoming funny and humorous as well as comic and romantic according to the situation and context. At times, Shakespeare has resorted to the use of puns, metaphors, and excessive use of similes that is suitable for prose and verse which reflects the mood of the characters as well as the tone of the play.
Characters
Viola, Sebastian, Duke Orsino, Olivia, Malvolio, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Feste, Fabian, Antonio, Valentine and Curio, A Servant of Olivia, A Sea Captain
Based on
The original source appears to have been the story Apollonius and Silla in Barnabe Riche’s Riche His Farewell to Military Profession (1581), based in turn on a number of Continental versions that included an Italian comedy called Gl’ingannati (1531; “The Deceived”), published anonymously, and a story in Matteo Bandello’s Novelle (1554–73).
Popularity
The play consistently ranks among the greatest plays ever written and has been dubbed as "The Perfect Comedy". It has inspired adaptations and reimaginings for centuries.
Quotes
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”
“Some are born great, others achieve greatness.”
“Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
“Journeys end in lovers meeting.”
