Twelfth Night - Gender Flashcards
Quote for Viola being proactive
“I prithee—and I’ll pay thee bounteously— conceal me what I am, and be my aid”
Quote for Viola being unwilling to fight
“Pray God defend me! [Aside] A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a man.”
Quote for Viola submitting to Orsino
“And I, most jocund, apt, and willingly, to do you rest a thousand deaths would die.”
Quote for Orsino being femme
“my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, ever since pursue me.”
Quote for Orsino being patriarchal
“I’ll sacrifice the lamb that I do love. To spite a raven’s heart within a dove.”
Quote for Viola being a third gender
“Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him.”
Quote for Orsino being attracted to Viola because of her androgyny
“ Diana’s lip is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe is as the maiden’s organ, shrill and sound, and all is semblative a womans part.”
Quote for Olivia being attracted to Viola because of her androgyny
“Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit, do give thee five-fold blazon … methinks I feel this youth’s perfections”
Quote for Sir Andrew being cowardly
” Let him let the matter slip,
and I’ll give him my horse”
“I’ll have an action of battery against
him, if there be any law in Illyria”
Production that shows Orsino’s like of Viola’s androgyny
Peter Gill 1974 - There was also a deliberate suggestion of sexual ambiguity seen in Orsino’s wavering about which twin he preferred at the end.
Critic’s comment on the independence of the female character
‘Olivia is the most independent and powerful woman of the three female characters in the play’
Production that describes Viola’s masculinity
Peter Hall 1958 – Viola was breathlessly boyish
