The main plot as you call it revolves around the group of people who are also socially most important: the Duke, Lady Olivia and Viola (she and her twin brother Sebastian are from a well-to-do family). There is more than one 'side' or sub-plot: - you have the troubled relationship between Toby and Olivia - Sir Andrew's ill-fated attempts to woo Olivia - Toby's efforts to fleece Andrew - Feste's precarious position as Olivia's clown - and one of the most important of the subplots, the war between Malvolio, Olivia's steward, and the rest of her household.
The final sub-plot is closely related to the main plot. This concerns the fate of Sebastian, who Viola believes has died. To protect herself in a strange country, Viola pretends that she's a boy - Cesario. But in her boy's clothes she looks just like Sebastian, and when he turns up with his new friend Antonio (who is in trouble in Illyria and so there illegally), everyone thinks that he is Cesario. Ultimately this leads to his marriage to Olivia, who has fallen in love with Cesario (not realising 'he' is Viola) while Cesario has been taking messages of love from the Duke to Olivia. Fortunately, the Duke has also fallen in love with Cesario, (he is, of course, relieved to discover that Cesario is really a girl - Viola), so all's well in the end for this group of characters
Shakespeare creates works of art in which you may find things out for yourself. Orsino plays the role of a 'romantic lover'; Olivia that of a mourning lady', withdrawn from the challenges offered by love. Both of them are rather self-centred and egotistical. They require an agent - Viola - to open them up to the potential of real love. But what does Viola understand love to be herself? She submits to it, but she has great difficulty in controlling it or foreseeing its outcome. There are other forms of love, less successful - perhaps all forms of self-love: Malvolio (self-infatuated); Sir Toby, addicted to his habits and the hospitality of others, and like his friend Sir Andrew, interested in a profitable match rather than love itself.
Viola is the hero of the story. After all, she is really tested by the events in which she is caught up and I feel she’s more resourceful that Olivia. Olivia is more in love with herself than with anyone else. She accuses Malvolio of being ‘sick of self-love’ but I think she suffers from the same complaint. She moves from playing the part of the tragic young woman mourning the death of her twin brother, to playing a woman in love. But, she’s ‘in love’ with a girl disguised as a boy. The appeal is that this love is unattainable.
Malvolio is a busybody, a fool and above all else, he is intolerant and a hypocrite. However, while I agree that his punishment by Sir Toby and the others is cruel and bullying, to a large extent he brings the ridicule upon himself. The treatment of Malvolio gets out of control, but it stems largely from his own behaviour and attitudes. Malvolio had his pride and self-esteem so violently attacked that all his failings had been shown up so openly
In Shakespeare’s mind Mari loves Sir Toby before the play starts. She is certainly attracted by being ‘Lady Maria’. For him, Maria is someone he likes ('a true-bred beagle') and he enjoys her wit and scheming. He marries her because he just can't think of anything else to do.
A girl pretends to be a boy, infatuation pretends to be love, self love is claimed as real love, a puritan pretends to be a smiling lover, a clown pretends to be a priest, mourning is 'put on', letters deceive, cowards pretend bravery, a brother is mistaken for a lover, a drunk is a 'gentleman' ... And above all, words slip and slide, having a meaning beyond their surface.
In Twelfth Night you will find characters in disguise, including disguises which involve cross-dressing; mistaken identity; romantic misunderstandings - all of which are successfully resolved, so that the play can conclude with a triple wedding.
The whole play, of course, is about the transition of the innocents (Viola and Sebastian) from the unmarried to the married state, and the more, and less, successful quests for marriage of other more worldly characters.
Theme of love in Twelfth Night and how it is not particularly selective of gender. The writer argues that the play is Shakespeare's attempt to show us "what we are versus what we think we are." Specific examples relevant to Orsino, Olivia, and Viola, are used to illustrate points made.
The most notable differences between these earlier versions of the tale and Shakespeare's lie, obviously, in the Viola character. Shakespeare's heroine has no previous relationship with her love Orsino; she has only "heard [her] father name him" (I.ii.28). There is a lack of prior attachment.
Those critics who paint Twelfth Night as a darker, almost "problem" play often question Viola's motives, pointing to the theme of social advancement typified by Viola's marriage to Orsino, Sebastian's to Olivia, Maria's to Sir Toby Belch, and Malvolio's attempt at achieving a "Lady of the Strachy" situation for himself. Yet Viola's spontaneous and selfless love for Orsino, sets her firmly in the position of romantic heroine
Shipwrecked Viola has no father, and thinks she has lost her brother, so we must admire her brave attempts to make her own way in the world.
The infamous sexual ambiguity of Shakespeare's disguised heroines makes its appearance in his sources as well. As often in Shakespeare, gender boundaries are matters of society and attitude, not inborn equipment.
Viola and Sebastian are each a mix of traditional sex characteristics and are twins that are forced to face separation. We first see Viola as a shipwreck survivor, unsure of her location, let alone her place in the world ("What country, friends, is this...? And what should I do in Illyria?" I.ii.1-3). Yet she soon establishes herself and gathers information. She makes her plans and rapidly recovers from her mourning and grief over her brother in what we might describe as a business-like, "masculine" fashion. Sebastian, on the other hand, displays much of the feminine in his first appearance: he weeps ("She is drowned already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more." (II.i.26-8)) Sebastian describes himself as "near the manners of my mother" (II.i.36), and spends much of the scene affected by his sister's fate. Yet he proves a competent fighter -- "the very devil incardinate" (V.i.174) -- often even quarrelsome, as when he threatens Feste ("If you tarry longer, I shall give worse payment." (IV.i.18-9)) and lashes out at Andrew's incompetent attack. Viola and Sebastian need to imitate each other and their roles match this mingling of genders. The two go together, "an apple cleft in two" (V.i.215), shipwrecked together
Olivia begins more subtly, with the ring she sends via Malvolio. Shakespeare's Olivia, is capable of managing her own affairs, though eventually she is overcome by the power of love.
Twelfth Night is a play of reversals and wish fulfillment. In the main plot, sister is mistaken for brother, and brother for sister. Viola tells Olivia `That you do think you are not what you are' -- and admits the same holds true of herself.
And with that aid, Twelfth Night can more fully realize Feste's parting claim,
"And we'll strive to please you every day." (V.i.397)
