Brenda Lopez
Professor Flack
AE Project First Draft
Eng. 6
In
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,
characters Viola and Antonio are reasonably two of the most controversial characters
throughout the play as they exemplify: social disorder, gender identity, and social
class. Shakespeare portrayed such themes in this play to highlight the essence
of breaking through his reserved society. Not only are such themes repeated in his
other works, but are also important because modern society can connect with the
issues that he mentions in his work. Viola, the protagonist, disguises herself
as Cesario, a male who serves the Duke of Illyeria, in order to get closer to a
powerful woman Olivia who is rather similar to her. Antonio, a banned and
wanted pirate in Illyeria, saves Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, whom he also
has homosexual feeling for. Although Viola disguises her gender identity, and
Antonio explores his, they are both imperative examples of confident identity,
which can be defined as being exceptive of any identity. In other words, those that
fear going against social order and the typical norm, are ones that can be
easily influenced by societal rules. Essentially, Shakespeare wrote about such
opposing themes to expose his world as one full of contradiction, and those
people in the high social order hide their true intentions because opposition
represents the false society in which they reside in. Overall, people that defy
the normal society are ones that are emotionally and mentally capable of
surpassing the stereotypes of rebels.
To
begin with, character’s Viola and Antonio in Twelfth Night are presented in a contentious matter, which of
course leads us to believe that Shakespeare’s intentions were to get the
audience to critically think of the impact society has on one’s beliefs and
actions. Viola’s purpose at first was to get closer to Olivia, but she ends up being
Orsino’s counter partner as she tries to show him a different perspective on
women. In this attempt, she tries to reason with him and his anti-feminist
views. For example, Orsino tells viola, “Alas, their love may be called
appetite / No motion of the liver, but the palate” (2.4. 96-97). Orsino insults
the way in which women love, and compares it to an appetite, as it is empty and
does not move. Cesario quickly rebuttals his claim, by declares, “We men may
say more, swear more, but indeed / Our shows are more than will; for still we
prove / Much in our vows but little in our love” (2.4. 116-118). Cesario
replies with creating a clever story of a woman that she knew and how she was able
of loving. In saying this, Cesario has put himself at risk because men during
this time believed that women were the ones whom were inept of loving. Although,
Cesario/Viola has herself in a precarious situation, she says that men are
better at displaying their interest of love instead of expressing their true
feelings. The significance of this is that regardless of Viola’s disguise, she
is still more confident with her identity as she can act bravely and portray
her thoughts of women, while Orsino has difficulty showing Olivia how he truly feels, therefore has an identity
that is focused too much on perception.
Body
Paragraph 2: Discuss the difference between Viola and Olivia as far as their intentions.
Olivia does not want society to know that she is using her brother’s death as a
scapegoat because she does not want to commit herself to a man.
Body
Paragraph 3: Discuss Antonio and why Shakespeare included him in Twelfth Night.
Antonoio is open about his attraction towards Sebastian and this shows how his confidence
in his identity can overcome societal norms, while other characters are
insecure of their identities. People in society are afraid of being themselves
because opposition is all around and most people do not adapt to change well.
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