Twelfth Night Essays (667 words) - Twelfth Night, Theatre

Twelfth Night Respond to each of the items below. 1. In your own words, provide a brief summary of the play in 200 words or less. Viola and Sebastian are twins but think each other is dead. Viola dresses like a man and begins to work for Orsino and tries to help him court Lady Olivia but Viola falls in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with Viola ("Cesario"), and then Sebastian shows up (with his friend Antonio) and Olivia thinks HE is Cesario and asks him to marry her. Antonio thinks Viola (as Cesario) is Sebastian and now everyone is very confused. Meanwhile, a bunch of people are playing a joke on Malvolio by making him believe that Olivia is in love with him causing him to act crazy. At the end, everything comes out. The siblings are reunited, Orsino falls in love with Viola, Sebastian and Olivia do get married, Toby and Maria get married, and finally Malvolio is let out of the room he was kept in while "being treated for his madness". Twelfth Night involves mistaken identities and disguise. Summarize each of these, and explain the reason for each. Viola disguised herself as a man so she could find work in Duke Orsino's house (originally she wanted to work in Olivia's house but couldn't because she was a stranger). Sebastian is mistaken for "Cesario" by Olivia, who has fallen in love with "Cesario", and Sebastian is attracted to Olivia so he doesn't question anything. Antonio mistakes Viola (as "Cesario") for Sebastian which is actually a good thing because it's at this point that Viola realizes that her brother might be alive. How is the concept of love portrayed in this play? Love is a major point in the plot of Twelfth Night. With the exception of Viola (towards Orsino), all romantic love is portrayed in a rather absurd way. Orsino seems to be infatuated with Olivia in the beginning but switches his passions to Viola pretty quickly. Olivia falls in love with Cesario but Cesario doesn't exist, he's just Viola in disguise. Malvolio's love for Olivia doesn't seem to feel true love for her and is more in love with the idea of "upgrading" his social status. Viola's and Sebastian's familial love is taken seriously as is Antonio's love (romantic or otherwise) for Sebastian. What do you predict for the relationships for each of the three couples at the end of the play? Will each live happily ever after, or could there be some challenges ahead? Explain. I predict that Viola and Orsino will live happily. Toby and Maria's relationship, I feel, will fizzle out and they'll just go back to being friends. Olivia and Sebastian will learn to love each other. They really didn't know each other at all before rushing into commitment but I think their personalities are compatible enough that they'd get along. In the days of Shakespeare, girls/women did not tend to act. Considering that the actors were probably all male, what special challenged did Shakespeare have with producing this play in a manner where the audience would not be confused? I forgot this. Shakespeare would have had to find actors who looked similar (to pass as twins) or actual twins, but there would have to be some kind of distinction so they could be told apart on stage. Clothing wouldn't be enough because there's so much mistaken identity and switching around that the audience would get very confused. 6. The play's title refers to a holiday that is known for "things being topsy-turvy", for festivities, and for celebrating the three wise men finding the "true king." With these things in mind, explain how this title appropriate for this play. This is something that I never knew. Well, then the play perfectly describes the topsy-turvy of the holiday. In this play, everything seems to be out of order. Viola and Sebastian think each other is dead, when they aren't. Viola dresses up as a man and Olivia falls in love with her/"him". Sebastian shows up and Olivia thinks he's the same man as before. Malvolio is just extremely confused and crazy. However, I don't see the connection to the three wise men and the king.