Twelfth Night themes Flashcards
Madness
Context:
-In ancient times, it was often associated with supernatural spirits, but also a response to a bodily illness
-In the roman times, it was also linked to trauma or strong over-powering emotions which can be seen in Malvolio, Olivia and Orsino - could also say Sebastian is mad for marrying Olivia but it is in response to trauma
Love:
-Orsino talks about the faculty of love, producing multiple changing images of the beloved, similar to hallucinations
-Could also mention that Olivia and Sir Toby are mad for wanting to marry servants
Malvolio:
-Trickery arguably taken too far in encouraging Malvolio’s ambition to climb the Great Chain of Being - Maria is similar for she marries Sir Toby
Twelfth Night:
-This night or ritualized chaos and comedy plays a role in the mad decisions and events that occur creating a sense of equality in society in terms of gender and status
-Cyclical structure - everything in end turns back to normal however Malvolio is still in a state of madness and anger
Ilyria:
-This is a foreign country that did not fully exist at the time - Shakespeare didn’t want to relate the uncivilised events to England as it was known as a civilised, ordered but also very powerful country - good reputation
Excess
The night the play is set (Twelfth Night):
-The play is set during a Christian festival on the last night of the twelve days of Christmas
-The night symbolised fun and mischief and general anarchy and chaos and social roles were relaxed on this night
Melancholy (and context):
-During the Renaissance, it was believed that changing moods was caused by an imbalance of the chemicals within the body
-Therefore, Melancholy was known as a sickness which arose from imbalanced, inflated self-love or unrequited love - eg- Orsino and Olivia
-Olivia describes Malvolio as melancholy and blames it on his narcissism
Audience:
-The play highlights aspects of excess by illustrating the way exaggerated grief, vanity and desire can lead to madness
-It is also highlighted for comedic effect which allows the audience to join in and react to the play
Excess:
-Olivia is described as mad through her excessive nature in mourning as it was ‘uncommon’ to have this much emotion
-Orsino shows excess through his music in which he emerges himself in to indulge in his profound amount of melancholy
-Sir Andrew and Sir Toby show a huge amount of excess through their drinking and partying habits which relates to the Twelfth Night
The limits of order:
-The excesses are, for the most part moderated or brought into line by the end of the play
-Orsino is educated by Viola the real nature of women and what it is to love someone, Olivia is jolted out of her dependence on her dead male relatives into sudden, passionate love and Malvolio is humiliated but could argue his sense of sanity is not fully recovered
Appearance and Reality
Elizabethan theatre:
-Men used to play the role of women so Shakespeare subverts the whole tradition of making a woman act like a man - this alteration of reality makes us rethink the whole concept of what is reality and what is an illusion
Superficial love:
-Falling in love based on appearance seems to be a common theme in the play as it is common for characters to submerge and self indulge in their emotions and objectifies the idea of love
Viola:
-Viola is the catalyst of the play and suggests that Viola becomes a man based on appearance though realistically is a woman
-She earns a place at Orsino’s court because she is a man testing the boundaries of social freedom especially within women - she is showing the contrast of inequality between men and woman by her disguise
-She disguises as a man to fit in with society as she feels as a woman that is a lot harder as they are not accepted in the same way
Malvolio:
-Malvolio becomes a laughing stock based on his appearance as he is tricked to become a mockery - he is tricked mainly on his appearance as he wearing out of fashion yellow stockings and cross-garters
Feste:
-He appears himself as a fool but is actually on of the most intelligent characters in the play
Chaos and Order
Context (Twelfth Night):
-The festival of the Twelfth Night is the Roman Saturnalia, the feast of fools
-As Christianity spread across Europe, the church subsumed the old Pagan festivals and replaced them with religious significant celebrations
-It is clear that the Twelfth Night echoes this religious and cultural compromise by highlighting notions of chaos and order
Geographical Significance:
-The world of Twelfth Night is seen to be a utopia of ‘Olde England’ where the old traditions are given free reign and where that elusive ‘happy ever after’ quality can achieved
-Even though Illyria is not England, it still has similar customs and orders within society, but distances itself from England’s good reputation
Chaos:
-This is breeched within society instigated by the theme and the freedom of the Twelfth Night but also within the play, the catalyst of the plot, Viola who exposes Illyria to social abnormalities which causes confusion within the play
-Sir Toby and Andrew’s trickery as well as Maria also create a subplot and expose characters, specifically Malvolio to madness
Viola:
-By cross-dressing adds confusion into the play as its a man acting as a woman who’s pretending to be a man - this adds comedic effect
Love/Self-love
Narcissist story:
-The theme of self-love, specifically linking to the character of Malvolio, is the myth of Echo and Narcissus where Narcissus becomes obsessed with his own reflection in the pool and so wastes away
Orsino:
-Orsino’s love to indulge in his excessive love for music enhances his melancholic sadness
-He is one of a few characters to objectify love and use it as an excuse to be lazy and indulge in his own emotions
-Viola mocks this and eventually teaches Orsino what it is to love a woman
Malvolio:
-At the beginning, Malvolio although a very strict and serious character is loyal, especially to Olivia but is a bit like Narcissus where he believes he can climb the great chain of being
-Once Malvolio is exposed to potential love it almost makes him delirious as he is not used to external attention especially from someone with a higher social status
Olivia:
-Olivia is very much aware of her beauty but believes her feelings and emotions are extremely valid and doesn’t take rejection lightly
Love:
-There is hints of potential homosexuality between ‘Cesario’ and Orsino as it is suggested that Orsino loves Cesario not Viola but obviously at the time was not socially acceptable until she revealed her true identity
-There was unrequited love between Olivia and ‘Cesario’ - but suggested she only liked him for his looks as she married Sebastian
Patriarchal structures in Renaissance England:
-The Patriarchal system in Renaissance families advocated that women were not equal to men
-The Divine Right of Kings placed women on the same social ranking as children
-Viola dresses as a man tricking society - in reality if a woman was caught dressed as man she could go to prison
Deception
Viola’s disguise:
-She crosses gender boundaries by wanting to fit in with society as in this period, it is easier to establish a place in society rather than a woman
-By doing this, she is taking a risk as if she was spotted dressed as a man she could be sent to prison
-This would have been played by a male which would have resulted in comedic effect - the Elizabethan audience liked to feel a part of the play so this comedy would have resulted in a positive reaction from them
-Her disguise creates both ambiguity and confusion
Feste:
-Feste is also a deceiving character, as his job portrays him as a fool but is actually one of the most intelligent characters in the play
Letters:
-Use of letters tricks Malvolio and drives him to a point of madness
-This is done as revenge for Malvolio’s negativity and narcissism but could argue it was taken too far
Twelfth Night:
-This is context of the abnormalities in society
Olivia and Orsino:
-They both question their sexuality as Viola makes them both fall in love with the same person, whereas Orsino only pursues this when deemed socially acceptable whereas Olivia sees it as an honest mistake
Gender
-The play constantly highlights the sexual possibilities throughout the play
-Orsino and Cesario become intimate in the freedom offered by her disguise
-Viola’s disguise suggests that women’s roles are over circumscribed by gender convention and social rules and that genuine affection cannot flourish in such artificial confines
Female roles played by men:
-On the Elizabethan stage, Viola would have been played by a male actor disguising as a male - creates complication and also mocks the system - this occurred until the restoration in 1660 - Shakespeare enjoys playing on the confusion of gender
-Polysemic - Viola’s intimacy with Orsino could suggests that the conventions about courtship are a foolish restriction or that she used her disguise as a man to pursue romance which is called the ‘feminine’ sphere rather than challenging masculine authority instead of reinforcing gender conventions
