Disguises and Miscommunication in the Twelfth Night
Taylor Thompson
Ms. Wright
English 111/4
15 October 2012
In Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, he uses disguises, miscommunication, and mistaken identity to bring the three main couples of the play together in unusual ways. Miscommunication is used in many ways throughout the play. Little does the audience know, miscommunication will bring six of the main characters together at the end of the play.
There is more than enough miscommunication between Sir Toby and Maria. Throughout the play, it is made clear that Maria is young and pretty while Sir Toby is an arrogant, irresponsible drunk. From the beginning of the play, anyone can tell that Maria is in love with Sir Toby. For example, she even watches after him when he gets drunk. She is never far behind to pick him up when he falls. The emotions she has for Sir Toby are strong and she is trying to keep him out of trouble, until they decide to play a cruel joke on Malvolio. This attracts Sir Toby to Maria even though there is the vibe that they have already has some sort of relationship previous to the play. At one point of the play, Sir Toby even states, “I could marry this wench for this device.” (2.5.172)This quote talks about the note that Maria writes for Malvolio to find from “Olivia”. Sir Toby and Maria have strong emotions for one another until the end of the play. After Malvolio reads the note that he trusts is from Lady Olivia, he says “Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants. Let thy tongue tang arguments of state. Put thyself into the trick of singularity. She thus advises thee that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings and wished to see the ever cross-gartered. I say remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desir’st to be so; if not, let me see thee steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch Fortune’s fingers. Farewell.” (2.5.140-148) Malvolio is tricked into thinking that Olivia loves him and wants him to wear his yellow stockings, which she hates. Her trickery and his drunken, neediness attracts them to each other. At the end of the play Sir Toby and Maria do get married. The marriage was not very surprising because of all of the clues that are given throughout the play that the two are in love with each other and no one else.
Viola and Orsino are two of the characters who deal with a great deal of mistaken identity. Viola, also known as Cesario, who has taken on the disguise of a man in search for her lost brother, becomes a page in Duke Orsino, the head of Illyria’s, house. He is not married but he is love sick over Lady Olivia who does not love him back. The opening quote of the play, “If music be the food of love, plays on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again- it had a dying fall. Oh it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets, stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more. Tis’ not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, that, notwithstanding thy capacity recieveth as the sea, naught enters there, of what validity and pitch soe’er but falls into abatement and low price even in a minute. So full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical” (1.1.1-15) explains how unfortunate Orsino is because his love, Olivia, does not love him back. Olivia is the woman Orsino wants and if he cannot have her he does not want anyone else; until Cesario comes along.
While Viola is roleplaying as a man, she gets the chance to get to know the real side of a man before she completely falls in love with him. If Viola had not dressed up as Cesario she would never had been treated the way she was because she was only ranked highly by the people that knew who she was. She certainly would not have been allowed to speak to Orsino and find out what he was all about before she fell in love. On top of all of the miscommunication, Viola has to play the confusing role of a man when she is still learning how to become a young woman. The situation Viola puts herself in is tough; she is so young and she does not know what she is getting herself into. She thinks that she will just go back and forth for a few days as a man, find her brother and go home safe and sound but it has gotten a little more complicated than that. She has fallen in love with a man of high rank, like her, but he cannot accept the love because he believes Viola is Cesario.
At the same time, Orsino sends Cesario to Lady Olivia’s house to try to convince Olivia to love Orsino back but Olivia will not have it. Cesario presents a speech to Olivia saying, “Make me a willow cabin at your gate and call my soul within the house, write loyal cantons of contemned love, and sing them loud and even in the dead of night; Hallow your name to the reverberate hills”, which is really from Viola’s point of view of what she would do if Orsino was in love with her. Instead of making Olivia fall in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with Cesario.
Cesario and Orsino become very close and he feels like the can tell Cesario anything. He is able to do this because he does not know Cesario is really a woman. Viola’s heart is breaking as she goes back and forth to the houses to express her secret lover’s feelings to Lady Olivia. How would any person feel if they had to try to persuade someone to love the person they are in love with? Even though Orsino does not act on it, he feels that strong connection between himself and Cesario. Orsino is prohibited to be in love with Cesario because of the male disguise that Viola puts on. Viola cannot simply show her face and say that she is a woman just so she and Orsino can be together because she will never know if her brother is safe.
Even though there is all of this talk about how in love Orsino is with Olivia, Olivia does not feel the same. Olivia does not want to be with a man that is the same rank or higher rank than her. The first time Orsino sends Cesario with a message of his love to Olivia, she is told that there is a young man that needs to speak to her. This sparks her interest and she allows Cesario to come in. The first time she takes a look at Cesario, she is fascinated with him because he is so young and beautiful. Viola is able to connect with Olivia because they are both in love.
In the midst of all of the comedy in Illyria, Sebastian is saved by a man named Antonio after the shipwreck. Antonio lets him stay with him until Sebastian decides to leave and go search for Viola. Antonio wants to go with him because he has gotten so close with Sebastian which has led to the strong feelings he has towards him. Even though there is the passionate love on Antonio’s side, Sebastian seems to feel nothing for him. He just wants to explore and look for his sister just like Viola has set out to do.
At the end of the play, Sebastian travels and shows up in Illyria. Sebastian and Olivia run into each other and she mistakes him for Cesario, considering they look exactly alike. Olivia expresses her love to Sebastian that she has for Cesario. He is very confused and doesn’t understand but he feels this sort of “love at first sight” feeling. It might have been an “anything goes” feeling but whatever it was made him okay with the situation. Viola see’s Sebastian with Olivia and now knows that she can reveal the truth and take off her mask she has been wearing.
All in all, lack of communication plays a large part in this text. All of the characters have a strong yearning to love a person and make them aware of it but did not want to make the wrong decision. Take Malvolio for example, he has such a strong love for Lady Olivia that he obeys to the letter he found to try and win her over. There is also a lack of communication with Sebastian and Antonio. Antonio anonymously loves Sebastian and does not act on that love he feels. Antonio saves Sebastian after the shipwreck and feels a connection between the two from the start. Sebastian shacks up with Antonio for a few months and this is when he learns that what he feels is real. Antonio tells Sebastian when he is leaving out on his journey, “The gentleness of all the gods go with thee! I have many enemies in Orsino’s court; else would I very shortly see thee there. But come what may, I do adore thee so that danger shall seem sport, and I will go” (2.1.39-43), states Antonio is concerned for Sebastian’s well-being if he goes off without him. Antonio has enemies in Orsino’s court but he is willing to put that hatred and danger aside so that he can join his love, Sebastian. Finally, when Antonio meets up with Sebastian again, he tells him, “I could not stay behind you. My desire, more sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth and not all love to see you, though so much as might have drawn one to a longer voyage, but jealousy what might befall your travel, being skilless in these parts, which to a stranger, unguided and unfriended, often prove rough and unhospitable” (3.3.4-11). This quote shows the “sharp” desire that Antonio has for Sebastian. Antonio had a longing to see Sebastian and make sure that he is okay, considering he is a stranger and does not know his way around Illyria.
The Twelfth Night uses disguises, miscommunication, and mistaken identity with characters to bring couples together at the end of the play. Understanding the couples and how they come to be together helps to form an opinion on if the characters found happiness or if they settle with what they were given. The audience would not have been allowed to see how the characters really felt and who they really were until all of the masks and disguises were taken off, which is accomplished at the end of the play.
Ms. Wright
English 111/4
15 October 2012
In Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, he uses disguises, miscommunication, and mistaken identity to bring the three main couples of the play together in unusual ways. Miscommunication is used in many ways throughout the play. Little does the audience know, miscommunication will bring six of the main characters together at the end of the play.
There is more than enough miscommunication between Sir Toby and Maria. Throughout the play, it is made clear that Maria is young and pretty while Sir Toby is an arrogant, irresponsible drunk. From the beginning of the play, anyone can tell that Maria is in love with Sir Toby. For example, she even watches after him when he gets drunk. She is never far behind to pick him up when he falls. The emotions she has for Sir Toby are strong and she is trying to keep him out of trouble, until they decide to play a cruel joke on Malvolio. This attracts Sir Toby to Maria even though there is the vibe that they have already has some sort of relationship previous to the play. At one point of the play, Sir Toby even states, “I could marry this wench for this device.” (2.5.172)This quote talks about the note that Maria writes for Malvolio to find from “Olivia”. Sir Toby and Maria have strong emotions for one another until the end of the play. After Malvolio reads the note that he trusts is from Lady Olivia, he says “Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants. Let thy tongue tang arguments of state. Put thyself into the trick of singularity. She thus advises thee that sighs for thee. Remember who commended thy yellow stockings and wished to see the ever cross-gartered. I say remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desir’st to be so; if not, let me see thee steward still, the fellow of servants, and not worthy to touch Fortune’s fingers. Farewell.” (2.5.140-148) Malvolio is tricked into thinking that Olivia loves him and wants him to wear his yellow stockings, which she hates. Her trickery and his drunken, neediness attracts them to each other. At the end of the play Sir Toby and Maria do get married. The marriage was not very surprising because of all of the clues that are given throughout the play that the two are in love with each other and no one else.
Viola and Orsino are two of the characters who deal with a great deal of mistaken identity. Viola, also known as Cesario, who has taken on the disguise of a man in search for her lost brother, becomes a page in Duke Orsino, the head of Illyria’s, house. He is not married but he is love sick over Lady Olivia who does not love him back. The opening quote of the play, “If music be the food of love, plays on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again- it had a dying fall. Oh it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets, stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more. Tis’ not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, that, notwithstanding thy capacity recieveth as the sea, naught enters there, of what validity and pitch soe’er but falls into abatement and low price even in a minute. So full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical” (1.1.1-15) explains how unfortunate Orsino is because his love, Olivia, does not love him back. Olivia is the woman Orsino wants and if he cannot have her he does not want anyone else; until Cesario comes along.
While Viola is roleplaying as a man, she gets the chance to get to know the real side of a man before she completely falls in love with him. If Viola had not dressed up as Cesario she would never had been treated the way she was because she was only ranked highly by the people that knew who she was. She certainly would not have been allowed to speak to Orsino and find out what he was all about before she fell in love. On top of all of the miscommunication, Viola has to play the confusing role of a man when she is still learning how to become a young woman. The situation Viola puts herself in is tough; she is so young and she does not know what she is getting herself into. She thinks that she will just go back and forth for a few days as a man, find her brother and go home safe and sound but it has gotten a little more complicated than that. She has fallen in love with a man of high rank, like her, but he cannot accept the love because he believes Viola is Cesario.
At the same time, Orsino sends Cesario to Lady Olivia’s house to try to convince Olivia to love Orsino back but Olivia will not have it. Cesario presents a speech to Olivia saying, “Make me a willow cabin at your gate and call my soul within the house, write loyal cantons of contemned love, and sing them loud and even in the dead of night; Hallow your name to the reverberate hills”, which is really from Viola’s point of view of what she would do if Orsino was in love with her. Instead of making Olivia fall in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with Cesario.
Cesario and Orsino become very close and he feels like the can tell Cesario anything. He is able to do this because he does not know Cesario is really a woman. Viola’s heart is breaking as she goes back and forth to the houses to express her secret lover’s feelings to Lady Olivia. How would any person feel if they had to try to persuade someone to love the person they are in love with? Even though Orsino does not act on it, he feels that strong connection between himself and Cesario. Orsino is prohibited to be in love with Cesario because of the male disguise that Viola puts on. Viola cannot simply show her face and say that she is a woman just so she and Orsino can be together because she will never know if her brother is safe.
Even though there is all of this talk about how in love Orsino is with Olivia, Olivia does not feel the same. Olivia does not want to be with a man that is the same rank or higher rank than her. The first time Orsino sends Cesario with a message of his love to Olivia, she is told that there is a young man that needs to speak to her. This sparks her interest and she allows Cesario to come in. The first time she takes a look at Cesario, she is fascinated with him because he is so young and beautiful. Viola is able to connect with Olivia because they are both in love.
In the midst of all of the comedy in Illyria, Sebastian is saved by a man named Antonio after the shipwreck. Antonio lets him stay with him until Sebastian decides to leave and go search for Viola. Antonio wants to go with him because he has gotten so close with Sebastian which has led to the strong feelings he has towards him. Even though there is the passionate love on Antonio’s side, Sebastian seems to feel nothing for him. He just wants to explore and look for his sister just like Viola has set out to do.
At the end of the play, Sebastian travels and shows up in Illyria. Sebastian and Olivia run into each other and she mistakes him for Cesario, considering they look exactly alike. Olivia expresses her love to Sebastian that she has for Cesario. He is very confused and doesn’t understand but he feels this sort of “love at first sight” feeling. It might have been an “anything goes” feeling but whatever it was made him okay with the situation. Viola see’s Sebastian with Olivia and now knows that she can reveal the truth and take off her mask she has been wearing.
All in all, lack of communication plays a large part in this text. All of the characters have a strong yearning to love a person and make them aware of it but did not want to make the wrong decision. Take Malvolio for example, he has such a strong love for Lady Olivia that he obeys to the letter he found to try and win her over. There is also a lack of communication with Sebastian and Antonio. Antonio anonymously loves Sebastian and does not act on that love he feels. Antonio saves Sebastian after the shipwreck and feels a connection between the two from the start. Sebastian shacks up with Antonio for a few months and this is when he learns that what he feels is real. Antonio tells Sebastian when he is leaving out on his journey, “The gentleness of all the gods go with thee! I have many enemies in Orsino’s court; else would I very shortly see thee there. But come what may, I do adore thee so that danger shall seem sport, and I will go” (2.1.39-43), states Antonio is concerned for Sebastian’s well-being if he goes off without him. Antonio has enemies in Orsino’s court but he is willing to put that hatred and danger aside so that he can join his love, Sebastian. Finally, when Antonio meets up with Sebastian again, he tells him, “I could not stay behind you. My desire, more sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth and not all love to see you, though so much as might have drawn one to a longer voyage, but jealousy what might befall your travel, being skilless in these parts, which to a stranger, unguided and unfriended, often prove rough and unhospitable” (3.3.4-11). This quote shows the “sharp” desire that Antonio has for Sebastian. Antonio had a longing to see Sebastian and make sure that he is okay, considering he is a stranger and does not know his way around Illyria.
The Twelfth Night uses disguises, miscommunication, and mistaken identity with characters to bring couples together at the end of the play. Understanding the couples and how they come to be together helps to form an opinion on if the characters found happiness or if they settle with what they were given. The audience would not have been allowed to see how the characters really felt and who they really were until all of the masks and disguises were taken off, which is accomplished at the end of the play.