Twelfth Night

Hello friend!

I have brought you a new blog post today which is about Twelfth Night, one of my favourite plays.

[WARNING: This contains MAJOR spoilers]

Twelfth Night, or What You Will, is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been penned around 1601-1602. It’s highly critically acclaimed because of the effortless way in which Shakespeare entwines and connects characters to churn out an incredibly well-thought of plot; this is my third favourite play [the first is Merchant of Venice and the second is Hamlet.] The lead female, Viola, is my favourite character! She’s smart, beautiful, sassy, clear-headed, gentle, and brave in her own quiet, unobtrusive way.  She is a gem among women, indeed! Her character is in stark contrast to another female character, Olivia [while Viola is humble and gracious, Olivia is proud and her bearing is cold. She’s aware of her beauty and is somewhat vain. Little peacock!] Two of Shakespeare’s favourite themes—cross-dressing [as in Merchant of Venice and As You Like It] and siblings being mistaken for each other [as in Comedy of Errors] feature prominently in this play. Love and infatuation also play a major part in the plot; I believe that Shakespeare is trying to pass on a profound message to the audience—infatuation is fleeting, illusionary; it cannot last. When Cupid’s arrow strikes you—well, that’s when you can call it ‘love’.   Well, I’d better get on with the story!

A young noblewoman, Viola, is shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria. She believes that her twin brother, Sebastian, has drowned; however, a kindly Captain [with whose help she came ashore] assures her that he saw Sebastian tie himself to the ship’s mast just before the ship was rent asunder by the raging storm. He believes that Sebastian might still be alive [he is. Sebastian isn’t exactly the brightest person in the play—he’s rather daft, actually—but he’s tenacious. He’s not going to surrender his life to a storm without making sure of his sister’s safety.] Viola is well aware of the fact that she is an unprotected woman; it wouldn’t be safe for her to wander around alone. The Captain provides her with a bundle of men’s clothes, suggesting that she disguise herself and seek the protection of Duke Orsino, the Duke of Illyria; he is known as a good, honourable man. Viola accepts his suggestion without hesitation. Now disguised as a young man, she names herself ‘Cesario’, and enters the service of Duke Orsino as a pageboy [she quickly becomes his closest advisor and confidant. She impresses him with her ready wit and level-headed behaviour. She plays her part so well, no one— least of all the duke—realise that she is actually a woman.] Viola begins falling in love with the Duke, finding him to be a man of highly reputable character [these two can be seen as contrasting characters to an extent—his moodiness is in sharp contrast to her cheerfulness.] She was initially just intrigued by him, but the bud blossomed into a flower [of love, that is.] Orsino, for his part, is “in love” with a noblewoman called Olivia [oh, sure. He doesn’t really love her; he’s just infatuated with her. The fool can’t even tell the difference!] Viola keeps her feelings to herself, biding her time.  Olivia is aware of Orsino’s infatuation with her, but she does not reciprocate these feelings; that’s one thing I like about her—she’s candid. No means NO! Her brother passed away recently, and she loved him dearly; so she refuses to see the face of an outsider—especially a man—for seven years, and keeps her face veiled.  Orsino is unwilling to give up on her [ this play’s men sure are strong-willed, huh? Still, they can’t compete with the one and only Viola!].

Believing that ‘Cesario’ will be able to convince Olivia, Orsino sends Viola to Olivia’s house. Olivia reluctantly lets her in after she causes a ruckus at the gates; well, what do you suppose happens next?  Olivia, charmed by Viola’s sweet-talk, ends up falling head-over-heels for ‘Cesario’.  She’s such a hypocrite, isn’t she? She rejected Orsino several times, stating that she will not break her vow, but once a charming young man shows up on her doorstep and makes a speech about how beautiful she is, she fancies herself in love with him? When Viola discovers that the lady of the house has such feelings for her, she is understandably shocked [in a comical fashion, actually] and excuses herself. There’s a love triangle among Orsino, Olivia and Viola: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Viola disguised as Cesario. [Humph. I know that Viola is disguised very well, but even so—can’t anyone tell she’s a woman? Argh, they’re all fools.] Several characters are used solely for comic effect—particularly Malvolio, Olivia’s pompous steward; he’s really uptight and a so-called “goody-two-shoes”, so Olivia’s lady-in-waiting, Maria [she is not an important character, but I sorta like her. She’s smart and quick-witted] hatches a plot to put him in his place. Long story short, Malvolio ends up getting locked up and denounced as a madman [he tried to woo Olivia after supposedly receiving a letter in her handwriting; that was, as you’ve probably guessed, Maria’s doing. He is sufficiently humbled later, and is freed by Orsino.  Oh my god, this subplot was really hilarious! I loved it! It doesn’t really contribute to the plot, but well, that’s the reason it’s a sub-plot. Right?!]

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Sebastian was rescued by a kind sea-captain, Antonio, who accompanies Sebastian to Illyria, despite having fought and wounded Orsino’s nephew in a vicious duel a while back. Sebastian looks so much like his disguised sister that people start mistaking him for ‘Cesario’. Olivia, running into him on the streets, drags him to her house, intending to marry him. Sebastian’s response? You’d expect him to refuse, wouldn’t you; a strange woman gets in his face, declares her love for him and insists that they get married? He’s never met her before! However, he does not refuse; she’s beautiful and apparently quite rich, so he goes along with her readily [… I don’t like him much. If it was me, I’d have tried to clear up the lady’s confusion.] Fate reunites the long-suffering twins; eventually, both ‘Cesario’ and Sebastian appear before Orsino and Olivia; the two marvel at the twins’ physical similarity. At this juncture, Viola reveals her true identity, much to her brother’s joy; Olivia is revealed that she married the brother, not the sister [everyone laughs at her.] When Orsino looks at Viola, resplendent in her feminine beauty, he ruminates over every conversation they had; ‘Cesario’ had always seemed like an extraordinarily clever young man [and pretty in a feminine way, too.] Realising that he was only infatuated with Olivia, and decides to marry Viola—with her consent, of course. She happily agrees. The play, which began with a dismal scene, ends with wedding confetti!  That’s all for now. See you next time…

Thank you! I hope you liked my article!