In 'Twelfth Night' disguise and deception are the key feature in the more comical scenes. A good example of this is the humiliation of Malvolio, who is unknowingly decieved into thinking that Olivia is in love with him by Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The audience would have found this hilarious in Shakespeare's day because Malvolio embodied all the attributes of a solem strict puritan, which the fun loving Elizabethan audience hated. There is no real sympathy felt for Malvolio at all in the play because of this, and the audience would have seen the mistreatment of Malvolio as their own retribution for how the puritans controlled their lives. Malvolio is further humiliated a few scenes later when Feste (The Clown) dresses up as Sir Topaz, the Curate, and taunts the Emotionaly drained and locked up Malvolio. Whilst Malvolio was a good figure for deception, another good example would be Sir Andrew Aguecheek who is tricked both into also believing that he as well has a chance with Olivia and also Being tricked into a duel with 'Cesario' by Sir Toby. However when Sebastian comes on the scene, he is mistaken for 'Cesario' by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and unlike 'Cesario', Sebastian wasn't afraid to defend himself, and Sir Toby's plan backfires.
While it is easy just to think of how phsyical disguises deceive a person's perception, some of the character's in 'Twelfth Night' are deceived about their true natures.
Viola's disguise as a male 'Cesario' enables her to work undetected in Duke Orsino's Court as his messenger. 'Cesario' is drawn into a love triangle and falls in love with Orsinio, yet is somehow happy to 'Woo' Lady Olivia for him regardless of his/her feelings. However, the play gets even more confusing when Olivia Falls in love with 'Cesario' and begins to actively persue him. Although the possibility that Olivia may be in love with a woman is more upsetting to the tradtional structure. While Shakespeare's audience excused it as a case of mistaken identity, a modern audience may think it might have been something more. Olivia's attraction lies in the more feminine qualities of 'Cesario' like his 'Angry lip' or 'Beautiful Scorn'. This creates a debate among modern audiences of whether Olivia suspected or maybe even knew 'Cesario's' true gender, yet chose to love him/her anyway. Here Shakespeare is challenging the status quo as this challenges the traditonal role of the male being dominant in courtship and shows Olivia obtaining the role of 'The Woo-er'. As a result of this, Viola is unable to express her love for Orsino - for fear of rejection and therefore she is now trapped in a web of deception. Alternitively Viola's Disguise as 'Cesario' was necessary for her survival to pass undetected in Duke Orsino's court. Another example of a character using disguise as a means for survival is Antonio, who is in hiding from his enemy Duke Orsino and risks his life by helping Sebastian.
Some Characters in 'Twelfth Night' are deceived about their true natures. A good example of this is how Olivia adopts the pretence of mourning for her brother and father's death. Although the audience is unsure whether this is actually a pretence because losing close family members is very traumatic, however Olivia takes this trauma to the extreme and vows that she will mourn for seven years and for that time no one shall see her face. Alternitively, Her feelings may be a pretence that she feels that mourning for that amount of time is the 'noble' thing to do, or it's what is expected of her. Olivia's true emotions and intentions are disguised behind a pretence, outer appearence or attitude. These same feelings, however are soon discarded when she meets 'Cesario'. This kind of extreme emotion links very closely to how the Duke Orsino deludes himself that he is in love with Olivia. In the first scene we are introduced to his feelings about Olivia when he is listening to music in his court 'If music be the food of love,play on- give me excess of it' however his mood soon changes and he makes the music stop. This shows a very fickle side to the Duke and also mirrors how at the end of the play his feelings for Olvivia turn into a murderous rage 'I'll sacrafice the lamb that I do love, To spite a raven's heart within a dove.' We believe Orsino's deception of his true nature lies in his 'self love' and he is actually in love with the thought of being in love, rather than for seeking a relationship.
Another good example of a character deceiving their true nature is when Malvolio is duped into the role of Olivia's suitor and changes from his old puritanical self into a smiling 'courtier'. He changes both his appearence and attitude because he thinks he is doing so for Olivia and even Malvolio's yellow stockings and cross garters are a masquerade.
The dramatic convention of disguise creates uncertainties of the meaning and emotions throughout the play. A good example would be the lover's in 'Twelfth Night' who create two purposes. They firstly create humourous misunderstandings, but also challenge us as an audience into what we see in appearences, gender roles and 'platonic' same sex feelings. With male actors playing the female parts in the play, the idea of having a stable identitiy, may seem as misleading as disguises. However these disguised characters provide a wider significance by giving us a deeper meaning to ponder about what our beliefs and others are actually based upon. The play brings out the true natures of Olivia, Orsino and Malvolio to the surface. However, it is only Malvolio at the end who still seems unsure to recognise himself as he is blinded by his overwhelming pride and self- righteousness.
