Love in Disguise-Analysis of a Shakespearean Comedy

Love in Disguise: Analysis of a Shakespearean Comedy

Throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare uses the art of disguise to complicate the relationships formed between the characters of the play. The first character to assume a disguise was Viola who disguised herself as a man in order to get a good job for the count. Other examples of disguise include Malvolio who dresses in cross-garters in order to try and impress Olivia and Feste who pretends to be Sir Topas while Malvolio is locked in the dark room. All of these disguises cause tension between all of the characters involved, whether it is sexual tension or frustration and anger. These disguises as the play progresses also result in mistaken identities. In several instances throughout the text, Sebastian is confused for Cesario by Olivia and vice versa when Viola as Cesario is mistaken by Antonio for Sebastian. Of course none of these problems with disguise and identity can be resolved until Viola and Sebastian are finally reunited.

The role of the fool is an interesting one in Shakespearean comedies. In this play Feste also wears a sort of disguise. He is a witty and sometimes wise character who profits “…in the knowledge of myself” (V.i.18) and wears the costume, or disguise if you will, of a fool for he says “Better a witty fool than a foolish wit” (I.v.33-34). Feste is the source of many a memorable quote in Twelfth Night such as “Nothing that is so is so” (IV.i.8) and “That that is is” (IV.ii.14).

Being a romantic comedy, the main focus of this play is, of course, romance and love. However, the reader finds that love is not always rainbows and butterflies in this particular play. For several of the characters, love actually becomes painful. Characters like Orsino, who describes love as “cruel” (I.i.23) and Olivia who uses “plague” (I.v.284) as a metaphor for love, are both examples of characters who experience pain and suffering as a result of their love. Most of the pain that comes as a result of love is because of the many disguises throughout the play. Olivia’s love for Cesario is complicated by the fact that Cesario is really Viola and Viola’s love for Orsino is in turn complicated by the fact that as far as Orsino is concerned, Viola is Cesario. Viola however is the only character throughout the story whose love remains consistent for one person though her pain is intensified as the object of her affection pursues another while she is forced to sit back and watch though “my state is desperate for my master’s love” (II.ii.37). The other characters at the end of the play, after the many disguises are discovered, change the objects of their desire. Orsino jumps from Olivia to Viola and as Olivia jumps from Viola to Sebastian. These situations leave the reader to wonder just how pure their love was in the first place or if it was rather lust instead of love. A perfect example of a couple that more than likely had fallen in lust rather than love was Sir Toby and Maria, whose marriage was a spontaneous result of Maria impressing Sir Toby with her cleverness when trying to deceive Malvolio. Though the ending of the play is happy for some and filled with weddings, not all the characters are left with the fairytale ending that they might have hoped for. Malvolio, for example, who pursued Olivia to the extent of making himself appear insane in front of her when she