Gender and Love Confusion
Act 2 of The Twelfth Night is full of events in which the behaviors of both the male and female characters seem quite odd. It is strange enough that a love triangle between Viola (Cesario), Olivia, and Orsino exists where…
Women projected by men
In Act 2, Scene 2, we see Viola, who at the time is still disguised as a man, professing her worries about Olivia’s mistaken affections for her. In this long speech, we hear Viola, a woman, proclaiming how foolish women…
Chaos of Love and Identity in Twelfth Night
In 2:5, the joke Maria, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew played on Malvolio gives full rise to the theme of “identity instability” because they are acting as though they are Olivia sending a love letter to him. This was present…