Examine the Levels of Deception in The Twelfth Night

Probably the most obvious purposeful deception in the play is the character of Cesario, who is not at all what “he” seems. In fact Cesario is actually Viola who disguises herself as a man for most of the play not only to protect herself, but also in order to preserve her state of free will. I think that by placing the heroine in this situation Shakespeare is using Viola as a means for examining female capabilities and instincts. The shipwreck has left her in an unprecedented, indeterminate state: she has no one to connect with at all. Lacking anyone to provide for her, she is forced to take measures to protect herself so that the understood reason for her deception is to insure herself against immediate danger but also to retain her prospects and status for the kind of future that she would like to have. She is unwilling to accept the female role of complete obedience to a male, just as Olivia is unwilling to submit to Orsino's advances because she enjoys playing her role as 'lady of the manor'. The portrayal of a woman successfully imitating a man is obviously an attempt to demean the so called “roles” of gender that existed at the time of Shakespeare.

………………

Almost everyone in Twelfth. Night is at some point under an illusion: Orsino that he is in love with Olivia; Olivia that she is married to the memory of her late brother; Viola that her brother is dead; Sebastian that Viola has perished; Malvolio that Olivia is in love with him; Sir Andrew that Olivia is in love with him; Antonio that Viola-Cesario is Sebastian; Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria and Feste that Sebastian is Viola-Cesario, and so on. These illusions succeed not because they are skilfully and convincingly maintained, but because the people who apprehend them are all too easily taken in by fictions. Not only are people deceived by outward appearances, but also, and much more significantly, they are often self deceived.