Using the text to support your ideas investigate the importance of "madness" as a theme in Twelfth night
Using the text to support your ideas investigate the importance of "madness" as a theme in 12th night The theme of madness is often used in Shakespeare's play "twelfth night". It seems that the whole play revolves around this theme. Throughout the play we discover many kinds of madness. The main type of madness is love. Love is intertwined in the story lines and causes confusion and chaos. Each character seems to be involved with this one feeling - love. Orsino appears to be madly in love with Olivia and with the idea of love for its own sake. Malvolio acts madly because of his love for Olivia and Olivia loves Viola/Cesario whom she then mistakes for Sebastian and marries. Most of the chaos and confusion revolves around this one idea; Orsino loves Olivia, who loves Viola/Cesario but Viola/Cesario loves Orsino. Then, Sir Andrew loves Olivia and so does Malvolio. There is also the love of Antonio for Sebastian. Even though, it seems the causes of this confusion are appearance and reality as Viola is disguised as a man. Viola says to Olivia when Olivia hints of her love for Viola 'I am not what I am.' Then, when Sebastian suddenly appears the chaos begins as everyone confuses Viola and Sebastian. Sir Toby who thinks Sebastian is Viola attacks him. Then Olivia invites Sebastian to marry her and Sebastian has no idea what is happening so he thinks he must be mad or in a dream,
Do you agree with Olivia when she says that Malvolio
Do you agree with Olivia when she says that Malvolio "has been most notoriously abused"? Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most famous comedies, involving complex plots, which result in hilarious outcomes. The main plot of Twelfth Night tells of Count Orsino's efforts to woo the Lady Olivia who does not return his affection. Instead, Olivia is smitten with Orsino's servant Cesario, unaware of his true identity. Cesario is actually shipwrecked Viola who, believing her brother has drowned, dresses up as a man to work for Orsino. Viola consequently falls in love with Orsino who believes her to be Cesario. In addition, Shakespeare has created an equally confusing sub-plot involving Olivia's servant Malvolio and the other members of Olivia's household. The main plot and subplot are linked as they both examine the manifestations of love. The sub-plot involves the members of Olivia's household playing a trick on Malvolio due to his treatment of them earlier in the play. It has long been debated whether Malvolio's treatment was justified by his earlier behaviour or the actions of the members of Olivia's household are unpleasant, malicious and unnecessarily drawn out. This question forces audiences of Twelfth Night to balance Malvolio's crimes with their sympathy for him. In order to achieve a satisfactory conclusion, both Malvolio's behaviour and treatment must be considered as
Twelfth Night - What are your impressions of Malvolio? Do you think he is treated too harshly.
Maniel Bains, Page 1 of 1 Twelfth Night : Coursework Essay What are your impressions of Malvolio? Do you think he is treated too harshly The problem involving Malvolio in Twelfth Night has been known for a long time but still very difficult. The gist of it is this. A lot of modern readers or spectators feel that the way in which Malvolio is treated is extremely bad. We expect him to become the centre of humour; we know that in the business of comedy, a very puritanical and rather joyless figure is likely to receive comedic humiliation; but in this case the humiliation that Malvolio gets, seems protracted and harsh. The harshness of Malvolio's treatment seemed to also have a negative effect on the ending, his attitude seemed to cloud the joyful atmosphere. We could argue that Malvolio bought this mistreatment on himself and perhaps deserved it after his bad treatment of the other characters; In some way Malvolio thought that he had superiority over Feste and as a result treated him unsympathetically and intolerantly. He also put Feste down repeatedly. Malvolio was also a killjoy and during the play he gave the impression that he enjoyed spoiling fun. On a positive note Malvolio seemed dignified and when he threatened Maria, he also puts across an air of stupidity. Malvolio is a time pleaser and is full of
What are the contrasted attitudes to love in Twelfth Night and how are they linked to social class and social climbing?
Hassan Daoud Y10A 8/3/2004 English Coursework What are the contrasted attitudes to love in Twelfth Night and how are they linked to social class and social climbing? In the play, Twelfth Night, Shakespeare shows two main attitudes to love. The courtly, fairy tale love among people of high social class, for example Duke Orsino's attitude to love, and there is the 'earthy', realistic and physical love among the middle and lower class, like the love between Sir Toby and Maria. Shakespeare parallels the idealized love with earthy love, and between these are expressed the attitudes to love of Olivia, Viola and Feste. Duke Orsino's opening speech to the play is all four legs that make the 'throne' of courtly love. This paragraph explains the whole of Orsino's personality; very romantic, madly in love, but the ironic thing is that he does not mention who he loves, not even the sex or creation of the person he loves. This only proves that Orsino is in love with love itself. We can also tell that Orsino's love is unhealthy, but in Orsino's favour, he is trying to end his love. This is pointed out from the first line of his speech, 'If music be the food of love, play on' line 1, 1:1. Actually this line seems very romantic and that he truly loves a beautiful goddess by describing music as being the 'food' that his
Analysis of Comedy in Act 3 Scene 4 of Twelfth Night
Analyse the comedy in Act 3 Scene 4 of 'Twelfth Night' Shakespeare's romantic comedy 'Twelfth Night' involves deception, trickery and love, typical themes in Elizabethan drama. This theme of romance intertwined with comedy is suggested by the title which implies that a play set in the Christmas season is going to be full of love, happiness and celebration. The literary tradition of an Elizabethan comedy would involve many techniques to make the audience laugh, such as a convoluted plot, mistaken identity, disguise, comic characters and verbal humour. 'Twelfth Night' is no exception to this. Its main theme is love but the path to true love is not simple for any of the characters and involves certain 'love triangles', where Orsino thinks he loves Olivia, who loves Cesario (Viola), who is in love with Orsino. Added to all this is the complication of Sir Andrew Aguecheek being spurred on by Sir Toby to woo Olivia and Malvolio having a trick played on him which makes him believe that his mistress, Olivia loves him. Many of these plots and sub-plots come to a head in Act3 Scene 4 in a very comic manner. Malvolio provides much of the visual humour in this scene. Olivia sends for him on a serious matter, saying: 'Where's Malvolio? He is sad and civil, And suits well for a servant with my fortunes:' The audience would be full of anticipation at this point as Malvolio has been
How much knowledge do the characters in Twelfth Night, show about what they are? How they think? What they do?
How much knowledge do the characters in Twelfth Night, show about what they are? How they think? What they do? The title "What you Will" is a perfect summary of the whole play. This story is about deception in character, being something you are not; whether it being disguising gender, true feelings or beliefs. We never no the real to why Viola chose to disguise her gender. We must assume that she wants to conceal her identity until she has gathered enough information about where she is and maybe feels safer dressed as a boy. He is resourceful and does not take pity on herself, despite the fact she thinks she has lost her brother she quickly moves on and tries to make do with the situation. Her brother describes her as "beautiful with a mind that envy could not call for." Sebastian is expressing that she is beautiful yet clever and level-headed. Her eloquence and integrity in which she conducts herself catches Olivia's attention, resulting into some seriously difficult situations. Viola is also selfless, accepting fate and the limitations it places upon her. She knew she had fallen in love with Duke Orsino and had the perfect opportunity to come clean and express how she felt when he asked her about what she thought women should be like. She did not lie to him nor did she tell him the truth her ability to manipulate language saved her from revealing her true
Twelfth night - Describe the character of Viola in Act 3 Scene 1, by what she does, says and what other people think about her.
Twelfth Night I am writing about a play called the Twelfth Night. A famous play writer called William Shakespeare who lived from 1564-1616 wrote this play. There was a group of Christians called the puritans who were against entertainment and they tried to close down the Globe theatre. This is shown in the play as Shakespeare makes fun of a puritan who is Malvolio. In this period of time, women were not as free as men. Women did not have the same power as men at this time so they were the weaker out of the two; they needed protection from men. Also, women at this time weren't supposed to work. This was particularly in the case of rich women who could be kidnapped for money, raped and even killed. This is shown in a big part of the play. In this essay, I am going to describe the character of Viola in Act 3 Scene 1, by what she does, says and what other people think about her. Et vous aussi; votre serviteur This is French for "And you too: at your service". This indicates to us that Viola is a very well educated lady, as she knows some French, which at this time, was very rare especially for women. Education for women was only for well off and rich families so we can conclude that she is very rich. Using what Viola says to other people and by what she talks about, we can describe her character in many ways. One of the characteristics is being serious. This is made clear in
Was Malvolio mistreated in Twelfth Night?
Was Malvolio mistreated in Twelfth Night? Although Malvolio is a pompous, arrogant, and vain character, I still think he was mistreated because he didn't deserve what he got from sir Toby, sir Andrew, Fabian, and Maria. What they did was too harsh on Malvolio and he didn't deserve it. Malvolio's soaring high opinion of himself makes him believe what he wants to, because of this he misunderstands everything Olivia says. When she orders him to 'go to bed' to sleep off his madness he believes she means to go to bed with her, 'I'll come to thee.' Olivia shows concern for her loyal servant and asks for 'special care' of her 'fellow.' Malvolio is a very bigheaded character. This means that he considers other people to be of a lower standard than himself. "Some are born great, some have greatness and some greatness thrust upon." (2.5). Malvolio here believes, very proudly, that he is a great man and that he would have 'greatness thrust upon him'. In my point of view he is also quite a loyal person to his lady Olivia. He quotes "Do ye make an ale-house out of my lady's house?" this is showing that he does not want to make Olivia angry or upset in any way. However what he said would sound very patronizing to sir Toby who is Olivia's uncle. I think that Olivia was the only one who really did not mistreat him I think this because she appreciates him as she always asks for his advice;
Twelfth Night - How does Act 1 prepare the Elizabethan audience for the rest of the play?
English - Twelfth Night First Coursework Essay How does Act 1 prepare the Elizabethan audience for the rest of the play? Act one is the first act of the play. It is very important to understand it as a basis to understand the following acts. It is divided into five scenes. Each scene has its own main theme, which is very important for the rest of the play. In scene one, although the scene is short, it tells the Elizabethan audience that the Duke of Illyria, Orsino is madly in love with a beautiful countess, Olivia. He is so madly in love that he cannot concentrate on anything. His page, Curio, tries to distract him and asks him if he would like to go hunting. But Orsino is so much in love with Olivia, as he said 'O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence'. Afterwards, his messenger, Valentine comes back with bad news. He couldn't get in to see her. This scene brings out some important characters, like Orsino and Olivia who are the main characters in the play. The other main character, Viola (Cesario) has been shipwrecked near Illyria in scene2. She is worried that her brother might have drowned. The captain tells Viola that Duke Orsino rules the area of Illyria. He also tells her about Duke Orsino's love for Olivia. The other important thing is that Viola decided to disguise herself as a man. She asked the captain to help
Explain How Shakespeare Explores The Dangers Of The Dark Side Of Love In Twelfth Night, And Support Your Answer With References From Acts 1 And 2.
Explain How Shakespeare Explores The Dangers Of The Dark Side Of Love In Twelfth Night, And Support Your Answer With References From Acts 1 And 2. The name of this play, Twelfth Night, is a holiday after Christmas, in which things are said to be turned upside down. Because of the nature of the plot of the play, this title seems fitting. Twelfth Night is set in an imaginary country called Illyria. The scenes occur mostly at Duke Orsino's Court and the house of Countess Olivia. A few scenes are also in the streets of the capital city of Illyria. Twelfth Night is what we call a romantic comedy, a happy Shakespearean play. Twelfth Night is a story of cross dressing and mistaken identity. It is filled with sexual tension between the characters and poetic words on love. The play is meant to bring laughter to the audience while touching their hearts. The main story is of a girl, named Viola, who dresses as a boy so she can have employment in a noble household. She quickly comes to be favoured by him, and falls in love with the noble lord, Orsino. Even though she loves him, she keeps her disguised identity as a boy and delivers his messages of love to the other woman, Olivia. As well as this there are many subplots throughout the play, some of which are not romantic or comic at all. A good example of this is Malvolio, who is locked up in a mad house unfairly by other