Describe the different forms of disguise and deception that feature in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’

For this essay I shall try and describe the different forms of veil and lying which appear in twelfth Night. The elements of both(prenominal) disguise and deception atomic number 18 both very important to the bit, they bring confusion between the fibres which total to the comical tones of the escape. The main thought that we, the reader destine of would be genus Violas forcible disguise as a anthropoid Cesario which is one of the central plots that add up to the comedy of the play. The thought of a male dressing up as a pistillate (and vice versa) is increadibly funny to us today.This would work curiously well on a stage, where the full impact of go overing soul trying to accumulate the characteristics of the opposite gender would hit the consultation. Yet, because in Shakespeargons day, the female subtracts were played by boy actors, the original Elizabethan auditory modality would have make up a special sophistication in the part of Viola which would have been a boy, dressing up as a muliebrity, who in the play dresses up as a man. As confuse as it may seem, it does enable the audience to understand more of the attitude when either Olivia or Orsino are on stage.It is in any case these situations which cause a lot of disruption and confusion which make up the plot. In Twelfth Night disguise and deception are the key feature in the more comical scenes. A heavy use of this is the humiliation of Malvolio, who is unknowingly decieved into thought that Olivia is in love with him by Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The audience would have found this hilarious in Shakespeares day because Malvolio embodied all the attributes of a solem stringent puritan, which the fun loving Elizabethan audience hated.There is no historical sympathy felt for Malvolio at all in the play because of this, and the audience would have seen the mistreatment of Malvolio as their own retribution for how the puritans controlled their lives. Malvolio is f urther humiliated a few scenes later when Feste (The Clown) dresses up as Sir Topaz, the Curate, and taunts the Emotionaly drained and locked up Malvolio. Whilst Malvolio was a good figure for deception, another good example would be Sir Andrew Aguecheek who is tricked both into also believing that he as well has a get with Olivia and also Being tricked into a duel with Cesario by Sir Toby.However when Sebastian comes on the scene, he is mistaken for Cesario by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and un akin Cesario, Sebastian wasnt afraid to affirm him ego, and Sir Tobys plan backfires. While it is easy just to think of how phsyical disguises deceive a persons perception, some of the characters in Twelfth Night are deceived about their true natures. Violas disguise as a male Cesario enables her to work undetected in Duke Orsinos chat up as his messenger. Cesario is drawn into a love triangle and falls in love with Orsinio, yet is somehow happy to Woo Lady Olivia for him regardless of his/h er feelings.However, the play gets even more confusing when Olivia Falls in love with Cesario and begins to actively persue him. Although the possibility that Olivia may be in love with a woman is more upsetting to the tradtional structure. While Shakespeares audience excused it as a case of mistaken identity, a modern audience may think it might have been something more. Olivias attraction lies in the more feminine qualities of Cesario like his Angry lip or Beautiful Scorn. This creates a debate among modern audiences of whether Olivia venture or maybe even knew Cesarios true gender, yet chose to love him/her anyway. present Shakespeare is challenging the status quo as this challenges the traditonal role of the male being preponderating in courtship and shows Olivia obtaining the role of The Woo-er. As a result of this, Viola is unable to express her love for Orsino for fear of rejection and therefore she is now trap in a web of deception. Alternitively Violas Disguise as Cesari o was necessary for her survival of the fittest to pass undetected in Duke Orsinos court. Another example of a character using disguise as a means for survival is Antonio, who is in hiding from his enemy Duke Orsino and risks his life by helping Sebastian.Some Characters in Twelfth Night are deceived about their true natures. A good example of this is how Olivia adopts the pretence of mourning for her brother and fathers death. Although the audience is diffident whether this is actually a pretence because losing close family members is very traumatic, however Olivia takes this trauma to the extreme and vows that she bequeath mourn for seven years and for that clipping no one shall see her face. Alternitively, Her feelings may be a pretence that she feels that mourning for that amount of time is the noble thing to do, or its what is expected of her.Olivias true emotions and intentions are mask arsehole a pretence, outer appearence or attitude. These same feelings, however are soon discarded when she meets Cesario. This kind of extreme emotion links very close to how the Duke Orsino deludes himself that he is in love with Olivia. In the first scene we are introduced to his feelings about Olivia when he is listening to medical specialty in his court If music be the food of love,play on- give me excess of it however his mood soon changes and he makes the music stop.This shows a very fickle side to the Duke and also mirrors how at the end of the play his feelings for Olvivia turn into a murderous religious cult Ill sacrafice the lamb that I do love, To spite a ravens heart within a dove. We believe Orsinos deception of his true nature lies in his self love and he is actually in love with the thought of being in love, rather than for seeking a relationship. Another good example of a character deceiving their true nature is when Malvolio is duped into the role of Olivias suitor and changes from his old overnice self into a smiling courtier.He changes both his appearence and attitude because he thinks he is doing so for Olivia and even Malvolios yellow stockings and cross garters are a masquerade. The dramatic convention of disguise creates uncertainties of the meaning and emotions throughout the play. A good example would be the lovers in Twelfth Night who create two purposes. They first create humourous misunderstandings, but also challenge us as an audience into what we see in appearences, gender roles and platonic same sex feelings.With male actors playing the female parts in the play, the idea of having a inactive identitiy, may seem as misleading as disguises. However these disguised characters provide a wider significance by giving us a deeper meaning to ponder about what our beliefs and others are actually based upon. The play brings out the true natures of Olivia, Orsino and Malvolio to the surface. However, it is only Malvolio at the end who still seems unsure to recognise himself as he is blinded by his overwhelming com pliment and self- righteousness.