Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Essay on Love and Gender in Twelfth Night - 1551 Words
Love and Gender in Twelfth Night Shakespeares Twelfth Night examines patterns of love and courtship through a twisting of gender roles. In Act 3, scene 1, Olivia displays the confusion created for both characters and audience as she takes on the traditionally male role of wooer in an attempt to win the disguised Viola, or Cesario. Olivia praises Cesarios beauty and then addresses him with the belief that his scorn (3.1.134) only reveals his hidden love. However, Olivias mistaken interpretation of Cesarios manner is only the surface problem presented by her speech. The reality of Cesarios gender, the active role Olivia takes in pursuing him/her, and the duality of word meanings in this passage threaten to turn the†¦show more content†¦When Olivia declares that not even wit nor reason(143) can hide her passion, she suggests that she would love Cesario even if it were against logic, as a same sex couple would be. Despite the unacceptability of a same sex romance in Shakespeares time, the hints toward this read ing seem visible enough to have been thought of then as well as today. Although probably not intended to the extent of a lesbian courtship, the situation of a woman wooing another woman presents a comical picture for the audience, perhaps even more so in the Elizabethan era with two male actors wooing each other as women. Shakespeare is able to pose the question of homosexual love by using Cesario as a shield to protect both the characters within the play and the audience from having to deal with the question directly. Although he avoids denying the Elizabethan romantic conventions with an openly homosexual plot, Shakespeare does upset the norm by having Olivia act as suitor and having the man act as the object of desire. This role reversal is not hidden since Olivia plainly says I woo(145) as she addresses Cesario. The way in which she speaks to Cesario mimics the contemporary traditions perfectly. Cesarios refusal sets up the classic situation of the beloved as an object of unattainable perfection for the lover to praise. Olivias speech is in rhymed couplets separating it, along with Violas response, from the typical blank verse of the rest of the playShow MoreRelatedtwelfth night Essay952 Words  | 4 Pages Twelfth Night Essay While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. 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