Analysis of Shakespeares Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare, arguably the most important writer in all of English literature, is certainly the most influential playwright of the English Renaissance. Born in 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon in rural northern England, he was the son of a middle-class glovemaker. Competing against such illustrious company as Christopher Marlowe and Ben Johnson, Shakespeare quickly became one of the most popular playwrights in the city of London and a favorite of the monarch, the powerful and long-lived Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare wrote thirty-eight plays in the course of his twenty-five-year career; a few of them apparently in collaboration with other people, but most of them solo. Twelfth Night was written near the middle of Shakespeare's career, probably in the year 1601, and most critics consider it one of his greatest comedies. This play's plot of illusions, deceptions, disguises, and the extraordinary things love causes us to do and to see, made it very entertaining for its audience four hundred years ago, and after all this time this comedy still gets some good laughs out of most of us. The story begins when, off the coasts of the
Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria, along with his friend and protector Antonio. Now Viola, who is disguised as Cesario, loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario who is in fact Viola, and everyone is miserable. Viola, the play's protagonist, is swept onto the shores along with the friendly sea captain that saved her life. When he finds out about everything, he storms off leaving the happy couples to their celebration. Olivia's rowdy uncle, Sir Toby Belch; his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia's witty serving-woman, Maria; Fester, the clever clown of the house; and the dour, prudish steward of Olivia's household, Malvolio. But she decides to disguise herself as a man, taking on the name of "Cesario", and goes to work for the Duke. But this is not all, for Lady Olivia falls in love with "Cesario" (Viola), when this one is delivering Orsino's love letters. Viola, dressed as Cesario, becomes a favorite of the Duke and makes him his page. It is important to remember that in Shakespeare's day, all the parts were played by men, so Viola would actually have been a boy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a boy. And it was interesting for the upper class that wanted to observe the characters' moral and intellectual conflicts, like Violas disguising as a guy, and leading the life of a man with woman's feelings and in love with her master. Sir Toby and Maria were also married somewhere private, and finally someone remembers Malvolio who was locked in a dark room under Olivia's order who was lead to believe he was insane by Maria's trick. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's "transvestites comedies", a play that features female protagonists who, for some reason, have to disguise themselves as young men. country of Illyria, a terrible shipwreck is caused by a storm. Orsino realizes that he loves Viola, and now that he knows that she is a woman, he asks her to marry him. It was entertaining for the lower class, whose members loved characters like Maria, Toby and Malvolio playing tricks on each other.
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