"There is much to admire in Viola and much to laugh at in Olivia" Do you agree?
English literature Rachael Ballamy Twelfth Night "There is much to admire in Viola and much to laugh at in Olivia" Do you agree? I do agree with this statement, because the two characters are such a contrast to each other: Viola is the heroine of the play and the focus of the play is on her. She is a very determined character and had a strong personality, which you immediately pick up on. You realise straight from the start that she is very adventurous in what she does, as we see that she disguises herself as a man. She immediately picks up on being male and is quite convincing to other characters. When circumstances turn to love, we see that Viola has a heart capable of deep and pure love, even when she is posing as a man. Her love can also be very gentle and genuine, as in her love for Sebastian, her brother: "My brother is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drowned: what think you sailors?" Olivia, however, is less single minded and more changeable in temper and emotion. She is a perfect match to any man, as she is wealthy, high-ranking and considered to be beautiful by all, as we hear Orsino describing: "Make no compare Between that love a woman can bear me And that I owe Olivia" Viola describes her as: " Truly blent who's red and white nature's Own sweet and cunning hand laid on" We know that Viola is the heroine if the play, but realise that Olivia in
Does Malvolio get what he deserves, or is it a joke gone too far?
Does Malvolio get what he deserves, or is it a joke gone too far? Twelfth Night is one of the great comedy plays by William Shakespeare. The play centres on the character of Viola who is shipwrecked with her twin brother Sebastian off the Illyrian coast. Believing her brother Sebastian to be dead, Viola then disguises herself as a man and becomes known as Cesario, so that she can work for Orsino, the Duke of Illyria as his manservant. Orsino is in love with the rich countess Olivia, Orsino instructs Cesario to explain his love for her, however this plan backfires as Olivia falls in love with the messenger Cesario. To further complicate matters Viola then falls in love with Orsino and a classic Shakespearian love triangle is established. To add to the farce Viola's identical twin, Sebastian who has survived the shipwreck turns up in the duke's court. This leads to much confusion culminating in Olivia asking Sebastian (whom she believes to be Cesario) to marry her. Finally the twins (Sebastian and Viola) appear together and Cesario reveals that he, is really a she. The play finishes with Orsino and Viola declaring they will marry. Much of the play concentrates on a comic sub-plot to bring a comeuppance to Countess Olivia's pompous head steward Malvolio. Living in Olivia's household is her uncle, Sir Toby, who was invited to stay whilst Olivia was mourning the death of her
Act 2 scene 5 of "Twelfth Night" makes for delightfully funny theatre. Give a detailed account of the scene, focussing particularly on its humour.
Act 2 scene 5 of "Twelfth Night" makes for delightfully funny theatre. Give a detailed account of the scene, focussing particularly on its humour. Illyria is William Shakespeare's illusory world of drama and delirium, an impulsive world of mistaken identities and misdirected passions, a world which exists only in the imagination, a world where dreams are realised, fantasies are worked out and lessons are learned. "Twelfth Night", the last of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, takes place in the kingdom of Illyria where almost everyone "noble" has fallen is love with someone inappropriate to their rank and nearly all of the underlings have forgotten their place. It is considered to be one of the most delightful of Shakespeare's comedies. It allows Shakespeare to give "experiences to characters, settings and characterisation, and also reflects on the idea of Twelfth Night." "Twelfth Night" is usually considered to be a reference to epiphany, on the twelfth night after Christmas. In Elizabethan times, this holiday was celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down - much like this upside-down, chaotic world of Illyria in the play. It is against this background that the story is played out and humour is ongoing throughout, Act 2, Scene 5, the scene under discussion, being one of the most humorous scenes in the play. In the garden of Olivia's house, Sir
Discuss the theme of appearance and reality in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'.
Runi Rifaat Twelfth Night Coursework Discuss the theme of appearance and reality in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'. To start of this piece of coursework you need some background information on the 'Twelfth Night'. The twelfth night is the evening of January the 5th, Before the twelfth day which is the day of the Epiphany, on January the 6th, 12 days after Christmas and traditionally marking the end of the Christmas season. The twelfth night in normally celebrated with various festivities. The twelfth night is all about celebration, masquerade, mischief, usurpation, chaos, disorder and festivities. The play was written by Shakespeare and first acted out in 1602. It was first performed in the middle temple. The music that was used in the play was the same as part of the after dinner music provided at the consort. An Elizabethan audience would expect all the actors to be male, with no female actors. Actors such as Olivia and Maria would've also been male. They would appeal to the audience and make the audience interested in the play by using things such as words with hidden meanings, such as world play with Feste. An Elizabethan audience would expect the plays to depict life as it was at that time. We wood be looking at how four characters: Viola who was a twin with Sebastian, who were separated from each other in a shipwreck, and she
If you were asked to direct Act 2 Scene 5 of Twelfth Night, which features and qualities would you try to emphasise and how?
If you were asked to direct Act 2 Scene 5 of Twelfth Night, which features and qualities would you try to emphasise and how? If I were directing Act 2 Scene 5, the feature I would most emphasise is the comic potential that underlies in the script. The immediate slapstick comedy that is noticed by everyone seems to cover up the dark comedy of the scene, which is where the comedy is leading to something nasty. This is particularly mirrored when Malvolio reads the letter, and although it is humorous, everybody knows that it is going to lead to disaster. "M. Malvolio, M. why that begins my name" This is the funniest part of the scene, so if I were directing the scene, this would be one point that I would particularly focus on. The audience play a big part in this scene, as they can see everything that goes on on the stage. When Malvolio reads the letter, the opening words are, "If this fall into thy hand, revolve". By 'revolve', Malvolio is meant to 'think', but he takes it literally and actually turns round. This is a form of irony that is used throughout the scene, when one thing is meant, but another is interpreted. There is a lot of comic potential here as Sir Andrew, Sir Toby and Fabian are lurking and hiding in the bushes behind Malvolio, every time he moves, the other three have to reposition themselves, so not to be seen. If one was to pop their head up, the
After performing a scene from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night I received a much greater insight into some of the characters in the play. I played the character of Sir Toby Belch in Act IV, scene i.
Drama Essay - Twelfth Night: Sir Toby Belch After performing a scene from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night I received a much greater insight into some of the characters in the play. I played the character of Sir Toby Belch in Act IV, scene i. Sir Toby Belch is a drunkard, making what he says and does appear comical, hence the reason we used the wine bottle as a prop which Sir Toby does not stop clutching throughout the whole scene. To show the element of comic in Toby's character we used the sword fight between him and Sebastian accompanied by music. With every pause in the music, Toby would take a swig from the bottle, taking it in turns with Sebastian who would do a flamboyant spin on his heel. I thought this portrayed a good contrast between the two characters, Toby being the drunk, lethargic one, Sebastian being the bold and brave show off. There is also a sly element to Sir Toby. He is often callous towards Sir Andrew Aguecheek and it sometimes seem like Sir Toby is just using the foolish Andrew for his own entrainment, and isn't a true friend to him at all. In the act we performed I tried to convey this by taking a while to break up the fight between Sir Andrew and Sebastian, suggesting my character quite enjoyed, and found it comical, watching Sir Andrew get pummelled by Sebastian, coming across as somewhat of a stirrer. When I played sir Toby, I expressed my voice
Twelfth night course work
Twelfth night course work ACT 2, SCENE 5 Malvolio is Olivia's head servant, and is incharge of all the other servants. He is quite old a wears dark clothing. He wants to marry olivia, is very serious and never ever smiles. He dislikes Sir Toby and Sir Andrew because they do not treat olivia's home with any respect. He often imagines what it would be like to be above of them as at the moment he cannot say anything to them as they are more important than him. He gets angered that he is benief them and often takes it out on Maria who is a servant. When he spots the letter; supposedly from Olivia he becomes overjoyed. In act 2 scene 5 Malvolio should be dressed in dark clothing such as grey or black. He is skinny, has grey hair and a long grey biered. The setting should be in a small garden backing into Olivia's house. There should also be a large box tree in the middle, as this is where Sir Andrew, Sir Toby and Fabian will be hiding. Malvolio should enter the scene day dreaming 'Acting into his own shadow' Says Maria. 'To be Count Malvolio.' Malvolio should say this loudly and proudly. The audience will be surprised at the sentence as he is just a servant, now he is imaging himself as Count Malvolio. They will also be amused by the reaction of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew saying 'Ah, rouge!' And 'pistol him, pistol him.' This will further add to
I agree to a certain extent that twelfth night is a feminist play. What exactly is feminism? It simply means subversion of traditional ideas of gender. This means that men are supposed to be active, rational, wise, perceptive, loyal and trustworthy. On...
Question: "Twelfth Night is a feminist play." Discuss. Answer: I agree to a certain extent that twelfth night is a feminist play. What exactly is feminism? It simply means subversion of traditional ideas of gender. This means that men are supposed to be active, rational, wise, perceptive, loyal and trustworthy. On the other hand, Women are supposed to be passive, emotional, shallow, vain, deceptive and fickle. I agree to a certain extent that "Twelfth Night" is a feminist play [meaning that I agree to it] as the female characters are essentially good and most males in the play have flaws. For example, Sir Andrew is weak, Sir Toby is a drunkard, Orsino is full of self love and Malvolio is extremely egoistic. In addition, apart from Feste, all the males in this play are not really witty unlike the females in this play who are extremely witty. In this play the women are strong and they enjoy challenges. Olivia is a good example of this characteristic. She totally enjoys challenges and does not like a boring life. An evidence to prove my point is when she was having a conversation with Feste in Act One Scene 5, when Feste said, "Good Madonna, give me leave to prove you a fool." And Olivia replies to him by asking him "Can you do it?" When Feste said the above he was being brave and persistent. His ultimate motive was to challenge Olivia and to prove her a fool, Olivia likes
What is Orsino's attitude towards women and how does this change during the course of the play?
Twelfth Night essay Question What is Orsino's attitude towards women and how does this change during the course of the play? Plan Intro- Love in Elizabethan times, 'cortley and romantic' love, Shakespeare's view of love and women. Paragraph 1- Types of love in relation to characters. Paragraph 2-Beginning of play, Orsino's attitude towards love -language, hyperbole and soliloquy. Paragraph 3- Orsino's opinion of himself, fulfilling Olivia, being THE perfect lover. Paragraph 4- Orsino's attitude and behaviour towards women- inferior, less able to love, chauvinist. Paragraph 5- Viola/Cesario's love for Orsino - wooing Olivia, disguise. Paragraph 6- Mistaken identity. Conclusion - topic sentence from question. Answer it fully. In Elizabethan England people who were of nobility or rich families often had their marriages arranged. Personal choice was not seen as a matter of importance. The main reasons for arranged marriages were to extend or maintain wealth, land and power. There were two main types of love, which were often written about and performed in plays. 'Cortley love' was when women were idealised and were worshipped from afar. Men thought that these women were unattainable. It was believed that a man could only win his ideal woman by long devotion and many trials and suffering. These men were not usually in love with the women but were in love with the idea
Twelfth Night - 'How comedy is created through disguise & deception of others'
'How comedy is created through disguise & deception of others' 'Twelfth Night' is the only one of Shakespeare's plays to have an alternative title: the play is actually called 'Twelfth Night', or 'What You Will'. "Twelfth Night" is usually considered to be a reference to Epiphany, or the twelfth night of the Christmas celebration. In the Elizabethan times this holiday was celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down, much like the chaotic world of Illyria in the play. Disguise is crucial to the plot of the play. It is the thread which runs through the play from start to finish and holds it all together. Yet, paradoxically along the way there are many problems, deceptions and illusions, which creates comedy for the audience. Viola's plan for disguising herself in Act 1 scene II introduces one of the central parts of the play: disguise and the identity confusion related to it. Similarly, Orsino's mournful speech in Act 1, scene I lets us know that the play will also concern matters of love: emotion, desire and rejection. Put together, the two scenes suggest the extra twist that is the highlight of 'Twelfth Night', mistaken gender identity and Viola's gender deception leads to all kinds of romantic complications. Meanwhile, Viola's decision to disguise herself as a young man in order to find a job seems somewhat improbable. Surely this isn't necessary;