Describe the different forms of disguise and deception that feature in Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’

For this essay I shall try and describe the different forms of inter and thaumaturgy which appear in Twelfth Night. The elements of both disguise and deception are both very important to the sport, they bring confusion between the characters which add to the comical t angiotensin converting enzymes of the play. The main(prenominal) thought that we, the reader think of would be Violas physical disguise as a phallic Cesario which is one of the central plots that contribute to the comedy of the play. The thought of a male dressing up as a feminine (and vice versa) is increadibly funny to us today.This would work especially well on a stage, where the across-the-board impact of seeing someone trying to accumulate the characteristics of the opposite gender would hit the audience. Yet, because in Shakespeares day, the female parts were played by boy actors, the original Elizabethan audience would have plunge a special sophistication in the part of Viola which would have been a boy, dressing up as a woman, who in the play dresses up as a man. As confusing as it may seem, it does enable the audience to understand more of the situation when either Olivia or Orsino are on stage.It is too these situations which cause a lot of disruption and confusion which make up the plot. In Twelfth Night disguise and deception are the key feature in the more comical scenes. A good character of this is the humiliation of Malvolio, who is unknowingly decieved into thinking that Olivia is in hump with him by Maria, Sir toby fillpot jug and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. The audience would have found this hilarious in Shakespeares day because Malvolio embodied all the attributes of a solem strict puritan, which the fun loving Elizabethan audience hated.There is no real sympathy felt for Malvolio at all in the play because of this, and the audience would have seen the mistreatment of Malvolio as their own retribution for how the puritans controlled their lives. Malvolio is further humi liated a few scenes later when Feste (The Clown) dresses up as Sir Topaz, the Curate, and taunts the Emotionaly drained and locked up Malvolio. Whilst Malvolio was a good figure for deception, another good subject would be Sir Andrew Aguecheek who is tricked both into as well believing that he as well has a chance with Olivia and as well as Being tricked into a duel with Cesario by Sir Toby.However when Sebastian comes on the scene, he is mistaken for Cesario by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and unlike Cesario, Sebastian wasnt afraid to defend himself, and Sir Tobys plan backfires. While it is easy just to think of how phsyical disguises deceive a persons perception, some of the characters in Twelfth Night are deceived active their admittedly natures. Violas disguise as a male Cesario enables her to work undetected in Duke Orsinos Court as his messenger. Cesario is drawn into a love triangle and fall in love with Orsinio, yet is somehow happy to Woo Lady Olivia for him regardless of his/her feelings.However, the play gets even more confusing when Olivia Falls in love with Cesario and begins to actively persue him. Although the possibility that Olivia may be in love with a woman is more upsetting to the tradtional structure. While Shakespeares audience excused it as a issue of mistaken identity, a modern audience may think it might have been something more. Olivias attraction lies in the more feminine qualities of Cesario like his Angry lip or Beautiful Scorn. This creates a debate among modern audiences of whether Olivia surmise or maybe even knew Cesarios true gender, yet chose to love him/her anyway.Here Shakespeare is challenging the status quo as this challenges the traditonal role of the male being dominant in courtship and shows Olivia obtaining the role of The Woo-er. As a will of this, Viola is unable to express her love for Orsino for fear of rejection and therefore she is now trapped in a web of deception. Alternitively Violas Disguise as Cesar io was necessary for her survival to pass undetected in Duke Orsinos court. Another archetype of a character using disguise as a means for survival is Antonio, who is in secrecy from his enemy Duke Orsino and risks his life by helping Sebastian.Some Characters in Twelfth Night are deceived about their true natures. A good example of this is how Olivia adopts the pretence of mourning for her brother and fathers death. Although the audience is unsure whether this is in truth a pretence because losing close family members is very traumatic, however Olivia takes this trauma to the extreme and vows that she will mourn for seven long time and for that time no one shall see her face. Alternitively, Her feelings may be a pretence that she feels that mourning for that totality of time is the noble thing to do, or its what is expected of her.Olivias true emotions and intentions are disguised behind a pretence, satellite appearence or attitude. These same feelings, however are soon discard ed when she meets Cesario. This kind of extreme emotion tie in very closely to how the Duke Orsino deludes himself that he is in love with Olivia. In the first scene we are introduced to his feelings about Olivia when he is listening to music in his court If music be the food of love,play on- give me overabundance of it however his mood soon changes and he makes the music stop.This shows a very fickle side to the Duke and also mirrors how at the end of the play his feelings for Olvivia turn into a murderous rage Ill sacrafice the lamb that I do love, To spite a ravens heart within a dove. We believe Orsinos deception of his true nature lies in his self love and he is actually in love with the thought of being in love, rather than for seeking a relationship. Another good example of a character deceiving their true nature is when Malvolio is duped into the role of Olivias wooer and changes from his old puritanical self into a smiling courtier.He changes both his appearence and att itude because he thinks he is doing so for Olivia and even Malvolios yellow stockings and cross garters are a masquerade. The dramatic convention of disguise creates uncertainties of the centre and emotions throughout the play. A good example would be the lovers in Twelfth Night who create two purposes. They first create humourous misunderstandings, but also challenge us as an audience into what we see in appearences, gender roles and platonic same sex feelings.With male actors playing the female parts in the play, the idea of having a stable identitiy, may seem as misleading as disguises. However these disguised characters provide a wider significance by giving us a deeper meaning to ponder about what our beliefs and others are actually based upon. The play brings out the true natures of Olivia, Orsino and Malvolio to the surface. However, it is only Malvolio at the end who still seems unsure to fill out himself as he is blinded by his overwhelming pride and self- righteousness.