The characters of Viola and Olivia are used by Shakespeare to explore the position and rights of the female in society, in comparison to their male counterparts. Viola especially is used to illustrate this comparison. Stranded on the shores of Illyria, a land she does not know, with no means of support, and no one to assist her, she devises a plan to dress as a man and seek employment with the Duke Orsino. It is when she is dressed in her male attire, posing as the eunuch Cesario, that comparisons between male and female independence are made.
Dressed as a man, the character Viola has freedom as a man that she could not possibly display when she reverts to her female self in act 5 of the play. When dressed as Cesario, Viola is able to speak her mind freely and speak to both Orsino and Olivia, both socially superior to Cesario (but not Viola) as equals, without fear of repercussion, a privilege certainly not extended to women. An example of Viola taking advantage of her ‘male’ right to speak freely and without consequence appears in Act 2 Scene 5, when Orsino tells Cesario that men’s love is more intense than women’s:
Viola: Ay, But I know-
Orsino: What dost thou know?
Viola: Too well what love women to men may owe:
In faith, they are as true of heart as we.
(II.iv 103-106)
As Cesario, Viola is able to argue with Orsino, a liberty that would have been unacceptable for a woman to take. (Alternative Shakespeares- John Drakakis 186-187) Viola’s inferiority as a woman is perhaps best exemplified throughout the play by the fact that when first presented to the audience, She is not named to the audience. They find out about her situation, but she remains anonymous until the final scenes of the play, when she is revealed to Orsino as a woman. When she is presented as Cesario, however, her character is immediately addressed by name, another example of male dominance and superiority in the play. (Playing the Wo/Man’s Part: Gender Roles in Shakespeare http://www.satexas.com/~smootsg/genderroles.html)
While seemingly more independent than Viola, Olivia, a woman of noble birth, and the original object of Orsino’s affections, is also dependant on males, and does not have the freedom displayed by males. While she lives a seemingly independent lifestyle, which is unusual for a woman of the time, and is more forthright in expressing her opinion, she is not free from the influence of men. It is her devotion to mourning the loss of her dead brother that illustrates Olivia’s dependence on males. (ClassicNote on Twelfth Night. http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/twelfth/fullsumm.html. ) Upon his death, Olivia pledged to mourn him for 7 years, evidently expressing how influential a part of her life he was, and also demonstrating that her position in society, despite her apparent independence, is still overshadowed by a male presence, allowing her life to be controlled unnecessarily, an irony which Feste, the fool of the play, brings to the attention of the audience:
Feste: Good madonna, why mournest thou?
Olivia: Good fool, for my brother’s death.
Feste: I think his soul is in hell, madonna.
Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
Feste: The More fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brother’s soul
being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.
(I.v 61-67)
The ending of the play truly accentuates the positions of both female characters, as they each become involved romantically: Viola to Orsino, and Olivia to Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. The positions of both women change, as they both lose the limited freedom they previously had. As a married woman, Olivia loses the freedom she had when living alone. It is Viola’s change in situation that most blatantly exemplifies the female’s independence in contrast to a male’s. Once revealed to Orsino as a woman, his treatment of Viola changes immediately. When Orsino spoke to ‘Cesario’, he spoke to him as an equal, whereas once the truth about Viola’s identity is revealed, Orsino’s tone and manner towards her changes immediately:
Orsino: Your master quits you; and for your service done to him,
So much against the mettle of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And since you called me master for so long,
Here is my hand, you shall from this time be
Your master’s mistress.
(V.i. 315-320)
Orsino, upon discovering that Viola is a woman, immediately begins to condescend to Viola, referring to himself as her ‘master’ and giving her orders. Previously treated as Orsino’s equal, it is obvious that Viola is now viewed as inferior to her beloved, a change of status that can only be attributed to her transformation from a man to her true female self.
Olivia too forfeits a significant part of her independence at the conclusion of the play. When she discovers that she has not, in fact, married Cesario, whom she loved, but in fact instead wed Viola’s identical twin brother, a stranger, she chooses to remain married to him. This action accentuates the fact that marriage is of extreme importance in society. Also highlighted is the reality that Olivia’s apparent ‘independence’ was only ever an illusion; she sought marriage and a male presence in her life so keenly that she consented to pursue a marriage to a stranger. (ClassicNote on Twelfth Night. http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/twelfth/fullsumm.html.)
Through Twelfth Night’s female protagonists Viola, a woman shipwrecked who masquerades as a man to ensure her own survival, and Olivia, a noblewoman who presents a façade of independence, both demonstrate throughout the play that the independence of the female characters is virtually nonexistent, when compared to their dominant, male counterparts. In order to effectively convey this injustice, Shakespeare makes use of the romantic comedy genre. The conventions of strong themes of love, a series of obstacles and a harmonious ending, all of which are features of the romantic comedy, combined with the audiences preconceived expectations of the genre create an ideal situation to explore the gender issues in Shakespearean society.
Bibliography
ClassicNote on Twelfth Night. . 20th April, 2004
Hotson, Leslie. The First Night of Twelfth Night. London: Rupert Hart-Davis, 1955.
Playing the Wo/Man’s Part: Gender Roles in Shakespeare. . 20th April, 2004-04-29
Tamed Shrews and Twelfth Nights: the Role of Women in Shakespeare. . 24th April, 2004
White, R.S. Shakespeare and the Romance Ending. Newcastle:Tyneside Free Press, 1981
