Twelfth Night

In the opening to this scene Shakespeare creates a comic atmosphere by the use of jovial characters; Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. They are carousing in a drunken, noisy celebration and are shortly joined by Feste. However the merry atmosphere is cut short by the introduction of Feste’s song. The song, despite the fact that it is a love song seems to allude to death with the reference to the lover’s journeys end. This could be Shakespeare’s way of reminding the audience that love will not last for ever, creating a rather dismal mood.

However shortly after, Feste delights in another song which provides the audience with subtle hints of what is to come further in the play. The audience later learn that the song is what sparks Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew’s trick on Malvolio, as it urges that they must live in the present as ‘in delay there lies no plenty’ suggesting that other characters in the play will too realize that time is short and the speed of the plot will start to increase when characters decide to confess their love creating a sense of excitement. Youth’s a stuff will not endure. ’

Suggests to the audience that Olivia’s beauty is fast fading and if she wishes to find love she must come out of her mourning state. It also alludes to Viola as her beauty will too start to fade and she will no longer appeal to the Duke but he will never know that she is a woman unless she removes her disguise. Shakespeare returns the scene to its comical nature with entrance of Malvolio. He is traditionally wearing night attire and as an audience we struggle to take his authority seriously while he looks so ridiculous.

Yet the comical moment is cut short with Malvolio’s reminder to Sir Toby that he can be thrown out of the household if he will not separate himself from his misdemeanours. Sir Toby continues to sing of how he can never change his ways and so therefore must leave, however when probed by Feste that he is too cowardly to stand up to Malvolio social ranks are resumed. We see Sir Toby turn from a merry character to one who can be vicious when he verbally attacks Malvolio addressing the fact that he is in fact nothing more than a steward. Again Shakespeare has changed the mood from humorous to quite serious.

This serious mood continues when Malvolio threatens Maria. Yet it is vital note that it is this threat which too encourages Maria to conjure her plan to destroy Malvolio. This is surprising to the audience as she is the one who is most likely to be affected from the outcome of this trickery as Malvolio is her boss. We are left feeling unsettled as to what the will be the outcome of her physic. Nevertheless Maria reminds the audience that Malvolio is a cheat and fraud who is self-obsessed and we feel less unsettled and more willing for them to follow through with their plan.

Ultimately in the scene Shakespeare has varied the mood greatly. Despite the fact that it is a comedy in this scene a serious note runs throughout. It is also important to note that this scene runs in a cycle as we start with Sir Andrew and Sir Toby wanting to get drunk and the ending of the scene also finishes with them wanting to get drunk suggesting that the play may run as a cycle too. He uses songs to hint to the audience of events to come and also address the fact that time is running out.

In William Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night the character of Feste is a solitary wit surrounded by fools. His occupation is that of Olivia’s paid fool, which she inherited from her father, ‘Feste the jester… a fool that the Lady Olivia’s father took much pleasure in. ‘ This long standing relationship may be the reason he seems to have a status higher than that of a servant within the household, and appears to leave and return at will without fear of punishment, ‘Tell me where thou hast been or my lady will hang thee… Let her hang me.

This may also be because of Elizabethan attitudes towards allowed fools, who had gained popularity due to their presence in many royal courts. Feste`s palpable intelligence is an integral part of his role, as he uses it to communicate the subtext of Shakespeare`s complicated plot to both the other characters and the audience. It is therefore ironic that the fool is so frequently said to be dishonest, ‘Y`are a dry fool: I`ll take no more of you. Besides, you grow dishonest,’ as throughout the play he does nothing but divulge truths.

His cleverness is immediately apparent upon his first appearance for several different reasons. If he were not a fool then he would have no other way of making money, thus his decision to ingratiate himself once more into Olivia’s good graces is a wise one, ‘To be turned away, is that not as good as a hanging to you? ‘ It would also be essential for him to be intelligent to play the role of fool, as he is paid for his acute observation disguised as witty remarks. The most obvious testament to Feste`s intelligence however is his ability to manipulate words.

This ensures he keeps his job in Olivia’s household, as when she asks for the fool to be taken away because he is dry, Feste twists her words around and returns them in the form of a pun, ‘Give the dry fool a drink, then is the fool not dry? ‘ His craftiness amuses Olivia, who allows him to stay. His way with words also allows him to voice his opinions on other characters without fear of retribution. Whilst engaged in idle banter Feste shares his observation of Malvolio and Sir Toby, ‘Sir Toby will be sworn that I am no fox, but he will not pass his word for twopence that you are no fool.

This shows that although Toby is foolish as he cannot perceive Feste`s intellect, Malvolio`s idiocy is so apparent that even a fool such as Toby can see it. Feste later reaffirms his belief that Sir Toby is a fool and also shares his view of Sir Andrew. He greets the pair with the line, ‘Did you never see the picture of We Three? ‘ The painting shows only two fools whilst implying that the viewer is the third, and this comparison suggests he perceives Toby and Andrew to be fools as well as himself. It is in this way that he contributes to the underlying theme of deception that runs through the play.

He deliberately presents himself to others as a mere fool, and despite the fact he is obviously much more than that, he is so proficient at this ruse that the only character to see through it is Viola, ‘This fellow is wise enough to play the fool, And to do that well, craves a kind of wit. ‘ It may be because he not only accepts his role as a fool but uses it to his advantage, accordingly gaining perspective from this self knowledge, that he can differ from the other characters and deceive others instead of himself.

Perhaps it is because Feste`s intellect is so bountiful that he is taken beyond the role of simply a character. Through it he acquires the role of a somewhat omniscient narrator, infesting both the audience and the other characters with a heightened awareness of what is happening around and within them. This is shown during a conversation with Viola, where as thanks for a coin Feste states, ‘Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send thee a beard. ‘ This shows his awareness of her disguise, both to the audience and to Viola herself.

It also shows he must at least be extremely discerning, to deduce such a thing from simply observing the meetings between Orsino and Viola and Olivia and Viola. The primary way he communicates his cryptic messages however is through song. The clown sings no fewer than seven songs throughout the play, and although the other characters see them as nothing more than a convenient source of entertainment, many have an underlying foresight far beyond the grasp of a mere jester. Feste sings his first song upon Sir Toby and Sir Andrews requests for a love song.

The first verse appears to be about Olivia, and demonstrates Feste`s keen perception of the other characters and his uncanny knowledge of future events, ‘O mistress mine, where are you roaming? ‘ This shows Feste`s knowledge of Olivia’s roaming heart, searching for its true love. ‘O stay and hear, your true loves coming. ‘ This line perfectly foreshadows future events, as Olivia finds love not whilst searching for it, but by it finding her in the form of Sebastian.

Feste then proceeds to encapsulate the plays plot within one line of his song, ‘Journeys end in lovers meeting. This suggests that he may be ubiquitous, as his knowledge is not only of the future, but of the past events as well. It could however just be referring to the metaphorical journeys the characters have been on in their search for love, not the literal journey Viola and Sebastian have undertaken to Illyria. The second verse of his song appears to be addressed to Sir Toby, regarding his thus far secret love for Maria.

It shows Feste`s knowledge of their hesitance towards love, ‘What’s to come is still unsure. Entwined with the advice Feste appears to have also interwoven a philosophy for life, ‘Present mirth hath present laughter,’ can be interpreted as carpe diem, fitting counsel for Sir Toby who needs to act upon his love before it is too late, ‘Youth`s a stuff will not endure. ‘ Another of Feste`s songs that has more to it than what appears at first glance is that which he sings at the Duke`s court for Orsino and Viola. Feste tells the sad tale of a boy that died for love, ‘I am slain be a fair cruel maid. ‘ It is a song that Viola and Orsino, both suffering from the pain of unrequited love, can relate to.

The songs ‘fair cruel maid’ for Orsino is Olivia, who knows of his love but does not return it. Viola`s ‘cruel maid’ is Orsino himself, who cannot return her love as he does not know of it and believes her to be a man. The one event that does not concur with the omniscient portrayal of Feste is the arrival of Sebastian. Feste appears to truly believe that Sebastian is Cesario, to the extent that he becomes frustrated and resorts to sarcasm as a defence,’ your name is not Master Cesario; nor this is not my nose either.

This scene suggests that Feste is not as all knowing as he can appear, and is perhaps only a highly perceptive individual, a trait born of his considerable intelligence. Feste is presented as one of the more developed characters in the play, and his multifaceted personality shows in his tormenting of Malvolio. Prior to this Feste`s purpose has been to traverse between the main plot and the subplot (the only character to do so) and though he has passively influenced the events, he has remained very much an observer rather than an actual participant.

The exception to this is his imitating Sir Topas to distress Malvolio, ‘I prithee put on this gown, and this beard; make him believe thou art Sir Topas the curate,’ although his reasons for agreeing to Maria`s request are not entirely clear. He may have done it simply because he is clever enough to know nothing bad will happen to him because of it. He would probably also have recognized that Malvolio is not popular currently with Olivia, ‘O, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite,’ and hence making him suffer would put Feste in a favourable position within the household.

It may also be because he is clearly used to his abilities as a fool endearing him to others, and although the other characters do become annoyed and tired of him at times, Malvolio is the only one that appears to actively dislike him, ‘I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal. ‘ Whatever his reasons are this scene illustrates the more unsavoury aspects of Feste`s personality, but at the same time it also offers a contrast between how Feste and Malvolio are presented.

Due to Malvolio`s self concerned and unpleasant behaviour it seems justifiable that he should be a rather one dimensional character, hampered by his own contemptible qualities. It is for this reason Feste`s superior attitude and actions towards him are understandable, and instead of serving to make the reader dislike Feste, it causes them to empathise with him as it shows his more human side that had previously been hidden beneath his sharp wit. In the style of a true narrator the last word (or indeed words) of Twelfth Night belong to Feste, who merges his dual roles, and delivers them in song format.

It appears to be a rather dismal song for a clown, as it suggests that every day brings misery, ‘For the rain it raineth every day. ‘ This may be because the other characters have gone, leaving him alone with the audience, to whom he can deliver a last message. Feste`s final lesson appears to suggest that life is plagued with misery, therefore, like the characters in Twelfth Night, you should embrace happiness in whatever form it takes because it may not last.

Shakespeare presents the role of Feste as a paradox: the wisest character of the play is the paid fool. Throughout directs, entertains and criticizes the other characters through his revealing songs and witty wordplay, and at the same time makes them reflect on their current circumstances. This is a similar relationship that Shakespeare, as a playwright, would have had with his audience, and it creates a parallel between the writer and his creation.

In the play ‘Twelfth Night’, Shakespeare bases the plot around a variety of different themes. The themes of disguise, music, loss and death are subtly introduced, however, the main theme of love is dramatically introduced by Orsino’s first line;

‘If music be the food of love play on’.

As well as using a variety of themes, ‘Twelfth Night’ incorporates the different kinds of love that can have an effect on people. These types of love range from brotherly love to instantaneous love and from unrequited love to impossible love. The use of the theme of love enables almost everybody to relate to events in the play. Love evokes a number of emotions and is a main ingredient, which brings comedy into the play.

In Act 1:1 we see Olivia’s reaction to the death of her brother. Olivia takes grieving very seriously;

‘…she hath abjured herself from the sight and company of men’,

and takes a vow of chastity. She plans to mourn her brother for seven years and she hides herself from the world;

‘But like a cloisters she will veil�d walk’.

Olivia chooses to dwell on her loss and her strict mourning period could be seen as selfish as life must go on. However, Olivia uses her brother’s death to shut herself away from life.

In Act 1:5 Feste tries to prove Olivia a fool for taking her mourning period to such an extent. Feste cleverly tells Olivia that her brother’s soul is in hell. She protests and insists that his soul is in heaven; Feste then uses his quick-witted nature and says; ‘The more fool madonna, to mourn for your brother’s soul being in heaven…’

Another example of brotherly love is shown when we meet Viola after the shipwreck in Act 1:2. She too ‘suffers the loss’ of a beloved brother but unlike Olivia, Viola takes decisive action following his apparent death. She reacts sensibly and practically to a traumatic situation.

She desperately wants her brother to be alive;

‘O my poor brother! And so perchance may he be!’.

However she realises that she must react calmly and productively to get by in life; ‘I’ll serve this Duke….’. Viola’s love for Sebastian makes her determined and persistent to carry on.

In Act 2:1 we see Sebastian’s caring nature and his mourning for his sister; ‘She is drown�d already, sir, with salt water though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more’.

Sebastian shows intense feelings of love and the desire to be reunited with his sister. When he sees Viola dressed as Cesario, he says if she were a woman;

‘I should let tears fall upon your cheek, And say, ‘Thrice welcome, drown�d Viola’.

Viola’s determination and Sebastian’s deeply affectionate feelings towards his sister depict the closeness between he siblings.

Instantaneous love is the most frequent type of love experienced by the characters throughout the play.

In Act 1:1 we learn how Orsino fell in love with Olivia from a distance; ‘When mine eyes did first see Olivia first, me thought she purged the air of pestilence’.

This sighting of Olivia puts Orsino in a melodramatic, melancholy, lovesick mood. These feelings, however, start to eat away at him. Here he uses food imagery,

‘If music be the food of love play on’

and also shows his changeable fickle character when he says,

‘Enough; no more. ‘Tis not so sweet now as it was before.’

This could also mean that if he has too much of a good thing, i.e. love, he will become sick of it and stop loving Olivia.

Orsino can’t express his feelings for Olivia and it is not long before we find that Olivia is actually in love with Viola/Cesario. We know that this is instantaneous love because Viola is dressed as a man, and she has fallen for his appearance.

It is evident that Olivia likes Viola/Cesario because she takes off her veil, ‘…in the sight and company’ of a ‘man’, when he/she comes to woo her for Orsino. She tells Viola/Cesario that she cannot love Orsino and says,

‘Let him no more-unless you come to me again.’

Here she tells Orsino to stop wooing her, unless he is to send Viola/Cesario to do so.

Olivia does not comprehend how it is possible to fall in love so quickly;

‘Even so quickly may one catch the plague?’.

‘To creep in at mine eyes’ could also indicate love at first sight.

Desperate to see Viola/Cesario again, Olivia sends Malvolio after the youth, telling him;

‘He left this ring behind him’.

It is in Act 2:2when Malvolio confronts Viola with the ring, Viola realises that Olivia loves her;

‘She loves me sure; the cunning of her passion, Invites me in this churlish messenger.’

Instantaneous love is also introduced when Olivia and Sebastian meet, when she tries to prevent Sir Toby from drawing sword on whom she believes to be Cesario. Sebastian immediately falls in love with Olivia;

‘If it be thus a dream, still let me sleep!’

and despite her calling him Cesario, agrees to marry her.

Although Orsino loves Olivia for her outward appearance he also falls for Cesario’s inner character. He appreciates Viola/Cersario’s trustworthy character and after only a short period of time a strong bond ahs between the two;

‘I have unclasped to thee my secret soul’.

In Act 1:5 Orsino comments on Viola’s womanly attributes and nature; ‘Diana’s lip is not more smooth and rubious; thy small pipe is as the maiden’s organ shrill and sound’.

This is a good example of irony as Orsino is not yet aware that Viola/Cesario is actually a woman.

After spending much time alone with Orsino, Viola falls in love. Her feelings start to fester, as she can’t express her love due to her disguise;

‘But let concealment like a worm i’th’ bud Feed on her damask cheek’.

Viola is very subtle about her feelings towards Orsino yet she cleverly and indirectly tells him that she loves him;

‘As it may be perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship.’

It is in Act 5:1 that Viola openly declares her love for Orsino. Orsino angrily leaves and Viola follows telling Olivia that she is going;

‘After him I love, more than I love these eyes, more than my life. ‘

This explicit declaration of love comes despite Viola being disguised as a man. She also declares her love implicitly in the ‘willow cabin’ speech in Act 1:5 during, which she expresses the passion and rawness in the love that she has for Orsino.

Impossible/forbidden love is also featured in the play. In Act 1:3 Sir Andrew tells of how he plans to woo Olivia but worries;

‘Your niece will not be seen, or if she be, it’s four to one, she’ll none of me’.

Sir Toby, then, misleadingly says to Sir Andrew;

‘Tut there’s life in’t man.’

Here Sit Toby is telling Sir Andrew where there is life there is hope. Sir Andrew does not realise when people are taking advantage of his gullibility to make him the butt of their jokes.

In Act 3:2 Sir Toby persuades Sir Andrew to challenge Viols/Cesario to a duel in order to impress Olivia;

‘there is no love-broker in the world can more prevail in mans commendation with woman that report valour.’

In a final attempt to woo Olivia Sir Andrew agrees to the duel with Cesario. This is an example of irony, as we know his attempts will not be triumphant as Olivia is in love with Cesario.

Malvolio also has feelings for Olivia but his feelings are for selfish motives; ‘To be count Malvolio!’

Here Malvolio dreams of marrying Olivia even though he is merely a steward. He then says ;’There is example for it: the Lady of the Strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe.’

He says this to justify his dreams and to make himself believe that he will have a chance of ‘love’ with Olivia.

He is gulled into feeling that he in fact does have a chance with Olivia when Maria leaves a fraudulent letter ‘from Olivia’. Malvolio’s self-love allows him to assure himself that Olivia did in fact write the letter and that she does love him.

Malvolio doesn’t need much persuading and he immediately sets about following the letters instructions;

‘He’s in yellow stockings’ which are ‘most villainously cross gartered.’

It seems that Malvolio ‘does obey every point of the letter’, showing his foolish, self-absorbed nature.

We, again, know that Malvolio doesn’t have a chance of happiness with Olivia, not only because she is in love with Cesario but also because he is ‘merely a steward’.

One of the more successful relationships that develops from friendship to love is that between Sir Toby and Maria. In the earlier scenes of the play we see the flourishing relationship between the two. They subtly show their feelings to one another throughout the play. This is evident whilst they indulge in verbal banter. Maria makes their early friendship obvious when she tells how she worries about Toby’s luxurious lifestyle;

‘That drinking and quaffing will undo you’.

Toby, however, expresses his feelings in a more crude way;

‘board her, woe her, assail her’.

The formulating plan to ‘gull’ Malvolio strengthens Maria and Toby’s relationship;

‘I could marry that wench for this device’.

Toby refers to Maria using comic comparisons, ‘she is a beagle true bred’ and ‘good night Penthesila’, commenting on her diminutive size.

In Act 2:5 Toby greet Maria with;

‘How now, my metal of India?’

proving that he thinks highly of her, comparing her to pure gold. We see how far their relationship has progressed when in Act 5:1 Fabian informs the characters; ‘Maria writ the letter, at Sir Toby’s great importance, In recompense whereof he hath married her’.

The most memorable example of love in the play is that of Orsino’s for Viola. Not only does the idea of a man falling for ‘another man’ add comedy value to the play, it also provides some touching heart rendering scenes. Many of these scenes evoke sympathy towards Viola as she can’t express her returned feeling for Orsino due to her disguise;

‘my father had a daughter loved a man as it might be perhaps, where I a woman I should your lordship’.

In Twelfth Night the theme of love brings comedy to the play and evokes a number of feelings such a sympathy, wonder, confusion and of course laughter. It also confronts issues, which many people can relate to, making Twelfth Night a fun and memorable play.

The fluidity and ambiguity with which Viola presents gender is central to the drama of Twelfth Night. But to what extent are Viola’s gender roles essential to the comedy of the play? The arrivals of Viola and Sebastian in Illyria serve as the catalysts for drama in Twelfth Night. The presence of twins of different sexes yet identical in appearance is a dramaturgical device crucial to the comic resolution, whilst being somewhat farcical.

It is the misunderstandings which Viola’s cross-dressing inevitably causes which make her inverted gender roles so essential to the comedy of the play. Through her disguise, she assumes typically male roles such as of the ‘fool’, and the comic value of her double identity is heightened through the questioning of the gender conventions of Shakespearean theatre.

Yet, Viola’s disguise brings with it a strain of melancholy, lessening her assumed gender roles’ comic impact on the play. Viola’s cross-dressing subverts normality in the respect that she abruptly assumes typically male roles such as that of the Fool. Her first meeting with Olivia as a messenger of Orsino’s love is marked by her different approach to courtship.

She launches into a preprepared speech of compliments with a poetic apostrophe: ‘most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty’, only to break into prose to check that she is indeed speaking to Olivia. Viola’s repeatedly her speech as conventionally courtly, as it is ‘excellently well penned’ and ‘tis poetical’; yet, these comments essentially refer to its artificiality.

In fact, juxtaposed to the opening of the play, this whole meeting is a parody of Orsino’s cliché approach and indeed the conventions of courtly love. Viola deflates the romantic pretensions of Orsino’s embassy, and such ridicule of the ‘male archetype’ by a woman is highly comical for its suspension of the accepted inferiority of women in society.

Yet, somewhat more absurd is the fact she has also unintentionally assumed his positions of Olivia’s courtier and indeed of a character of great power and superiority, as her actions free both Orsino and Olivia of their rigidity. Furthermore, it is such witty manipulations of others that prove her to be a kind of fool.

Act Three Scene One is marked by Viola and Feste’s repartee of attempts to surpass each other’s wit; Viola’s reply to Feste’s comment ‘Now Jove in his next commodity send thee a beard’ is ‘I am almost sick for one, though I would not have it grow on my chin’. Both comments are pointed references to gender and are thus dramatic irony;

Feste’s taunting of Cesario’s lack of virility may also serve as a comical meta-theatrical reference to the boy actor playing Viola. However, there is a degree of pathos to Viola’s admission, as the beard she desires if not her own is surely that of Orsino; thereby, she emphasises the complications of her disguise in pursuing her love interest.

Yet, most prominent is Viola’s parallel to Feste as a Fool. They have a mutual appreciation of each other’s wit, as Feste comments: ‘I think I saw your wisdom there’, whilst Viola appreciates the intelligence behind his foolery: ‘for folly that he wisely shows is fit…’ She realises the irrationality around her and employs it to her advantage in choosing to cross-dress. Certainly, the whole nature of her disguise itself questions the gaps of seeming, being and knowing, of which the Fool typically explores. Such challenges to male roles make her gender ambiguity amplify the comedy of the play.

Viola was played by a boy actor under the conventions of Shakespearean theatre, and this physical fact adds a level of confusion heightening the comedy of her gender roles. Such misplacement is denounced by Olivia’s remark in Act One: ‘you are now out of your text / but we will draw the curtain and show you the picture’ and certainly by the repeated allusions to Cesario’s femininity, such as Orsino’s remark on her appearance: ‘all is semblative a woman’s part’.

Olivia’s unveiling is a pivotal moment as it represents the end of the mourning for her dead brother and essentially ‘allows’ the comedy to commence for the audience. It is an ironic act to a character ‘veiled’ herself, and meta-theatrical reference of ‘curtain’ indicates the misplacement of the actor of Viola as much as the character.

For as much as her disguise is her own ploy, it is Shakespeare’s dramatic device. Orsino taunts Cesario for his lack of virility, yet he may also be commenting on the male actor’s credibility for the ‘part’ of a woman. No matter how convincing the boy actor was playing Viola, the audience is continually aware that there is a male body under the disguise of a woman and thus a double sex reversal is taking place in Viola’s disguise.

Yet, the ‘curtain’ could be symbolic of the uncovering of much more radical approaches than the conformities of Elizabethan theatre. Much of the play’s comedy comes from Shakespeare’s trifling with homosexuality. In Elizabethan England, the idea of such relationships would have been unusual and considerably more absurd than a modern audience may appreciate.

The misunderstandings caused by Viola’s cross-dressing are the root of what audiences of the day would have seen as comic ambiguity. The audience knows Olivia unwittingly desires a woman when she is drawn to the young servant, and we see the relationship between Orsino and Cesario develop throughout the course of the play; indeed, some modern productions show the bond between them in overtly homosexual terms to heighten the comedy. In keeping with the conventions of Elizabethan comedy as a whole, the play resolves in heterosexual marriage; yet, despite references to Viola in female clothing, this never actually happens.

Orsino’s parting lines are: ‘Cesario, come – / For so shall you be while you are a man’. Distinct references to her male alias yet none of her feminine form still denote a comic male to male relationship. For, whilst the fact the use of a male actor for Viola is humorous in itself, it is the radical implications of this role which make Viola’s character so vital to the comedy of Twelfth Night. However, despite the obvious comic implications of her disguise, from Viola’s double identity arises sexual conflict and the potential for tragedy.

In her aside at the end of Act 2 Scene 2, she sympathises with Olivia, remarking ‘poor lady, she were better love a dream’, emphasising that as an object of Olivia’s desire she is unattainable. She understands because as Cesario her love for Orsino cannot be reciprocated. He insinuates her gender ambiguity in the previous act: ‘For they shall yet belie thy happy years, / That say thou art a man’. For whilst the disguise grants her access to both parties, the price she pays is the loss of any gender identity, as she cannot be a woman to Orsino or a man to Olivia .

She frequently alludes to her gender disparity, such as when Olivia confesses her love in Act Three Scene One, as Viola’s reply is: ‘I am not what I am.’ Her response is dramatic irony at its most explicit and effectively summarises the extent of her travesty in inciting Olivia’s affections. However, this statement is typical of her expression throughout the play; such evasions and wordplay are because she cannot speak of her real self.

To the audience, it is somewhat striking that her real name is not pronounced until the very last scene, when Sebastian greets her: ‘Thrice welcome, drowned Viola.’ The play’s resolution aligns with the conventions of comedy in settling misunderstandings and proving a ‘happy ending’; there is no sense of Viola’s individual identity until the reunion with her brother, when correct gender roles are asserted.

However, the tragedy of her character is heightened further by the fact Orsino does not even mention her real name in his parting line. Overall, while some critics argue Viola is the most developed of the characters in Twelfth Night, for she is not constrained to a stock character, this inevitably adds an oblique side.

Her gender roles may heighten the comedy, but the emotional toll of the disguise which she calls a ‘wickedness’ should not be ignored, and detract her from the role as a simple asset in the play’s comedy.

To conclude, the inversion of her gender roles is radiant of the ‘carnival spirit’ so prevalent in Twelfth Night. We see that the play’s comedy is very much enhanced by Viola’s cross-dressing, in as much the gender conventions her masquerade breaks as the inevitable misunderstandings.

However, we see also that cross-dressing has certain tragic implications, true to the nature of comedy harbouring a dark underside. Thus, her gender roles are to a limited extent essential to the comedy of the play.