Twelfth Night Critical Views Flashcards
Susan Fischer says:
“The costume that Viola wears only causes confusion for others outside the costume, never for Viola who is in it. “
Why might this view be challenged?
-This view may be challenged because towards the climax of the play, Viola becomes confused as Antonio mistakes her for Sebastian and Sebastian is mistaken for Cesario.
Complete Carol Neely’s view on Viola’s disguise:
“It was important for Viola to assume a (1) _____ role if she wanted to successfully break the (2) _________ that Elizabethan society had (3) _____ upon her sex.”
1) Male
2) Barriers
3) Forced
Complete Northrop Fry’s view on the characters:
“Both Orsino and Olivia are… (1)_________ for something that they can never have. These characters temporarily lose their (2)________ in order to achieve a sense of self-knowledge.”
1) longing
2) identity
What does Larry Champion say about Viola’s role in the play?
“Viola gains self-knowledge through a change in identity. Changing surface appearance gave Viola a chance to see the world through a different lens.”
Complete Robert Kimbrough’s view of the play:
“Fueled by constant sexual (1) ______ in the media, a modern contemporary (2) _______ cannot help but notice the (3) _________ ________ that occurs between Olivia and Viola.”
1) Agendas
2) Audience
3) Sexual attraction
Complete Stephen Greenblatt’s view of the love triangle in the play?
“The coupling of Orsino and Cesario is (1) __________; the coupling of Olivia and Cesario is impossible. Viola’s disguise has not only created (2) ________ __________, but Elizabethan conservatism is being (3)_________ as well.”
1) Impossible
2) Sexual confusion
3) Challenged
A homosexual relationship was impossible in this time period but Viola cannot reveal her true identity until her goal is achieved. Sebastian fulfils that.
Complete Terry Eagleton’s view of the play’s resolution
“(1) _________ helps to solve any sexual issues that arise during the play. (2) ________ is found in marriage and it is what the characters desperately (3) _______.”
1) Marriage
2) Stability
3) Need
C.L Barber says:
“At the end, the characters are perfectly willing to return to their prior states. They want ‘normalcy’, not ‘newness’.”
How could this view be challenged?
- This view could be argued because all of the characters that end with love, start without it.
- However, social positions are restored, Viola no longer has to be a servant because when her disguise is removed, she becomes an important figure just as she was before the shipwreck.
Complete the quotation about Viola:
“[Viola] is a (1)______________ because she has been able to successfully (2) __________ the male characters by wearing a male costume.”
Who says this and what themes can this link to in the play?
1) Commander
2) Deceive
Lisa Jardine says this- it can link to the themes of gender, deception and also challenges to Elizabethan conventions and conservatism.
Jardine also believes that “Elizabethan values can be satisfied” by the end of the play though.
She claims that “[Sebastian] breaks the deception of the play”.
Complete Joseph Summer’s view on Orsino:
“[Orsino’s] mask is a (1)______________ sense of love and is fed by (2) _____________, lack of physical love and excessive (3)___________.”
What does Summers also say about Olivia’s pursuit of love?
1) Distorted
2) Boredom
3) Imagination
Summers states that “Olivia becomes aggressive in her pursuit of Cesario”.
Why was Samuel Johnson critical of Twelfth Night’s conclusion?
Johnson claimed that the sudden marriages at the end of the play “[Exhibited] no just picture of life”- he believed that drama should provide moral instruction through the truthful representation of life.
He described the marriages as “[Failure] to produce the proper instruction required in the drama”.
Complete William Hazlitt’s view on the play:
“[The play as a whole] makes us laugh at the (1)__________ of mankind, not despise them.”
What were 19th and early 20th century criticisms focused on?
1) Follies
19th and early 20th century criticisms were focused on character criticisms, talking about them as if they were real people.
Hazlitt also believed that Viola was the most compelling character.
How does Harold Jenkins see the play?
Harold Jenkins described the play as “a path through danger to enlightenment”.
He also went on to say:
“For a comedy, as everyone knows, is a play in which the situation holds some threat of disaster but issues in the achievement of happiness.”
“Danger is averted and happiness is achieved through something which takes place within the characters.”
1960s onwards criticism reflects a modern culture which is sceptical and questioning of political structures and established ideas.
Modern critics commented on the darker elements of the play and its ability to disturb.
What are the two other points that this group of critics have questioned?
- They have questioned whether love in the play is some kind of illusion.
- They also questioned whether the sudden marriages will actually promise a stable future and whether it is infatuation or love that the characters feel.
Complete Jean Howard’s belief:
“Viola has no (1)__________________ to be of masculine (2)_______________ despite her attire and the confusion that it causes.”
Some critics disagree, why is this?
1) Aspirations
2) Privileges
Many modern critics think that the cross-dressing plot could be seen as a representation of how arbitrary ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ attributes are.
Debates on gender aspects of the play are continuously ongoing and modern critics are now open to suggesting doubt and ambiguity in Shakespeare’s work whereas older critics believed in bardolatry.
