Analysis

Twelfth Night is a play about desire’s power to override conventions of class, religion, and
even gender. Several characters begin the play believing they want one thing, only to have
love teach them they actually want something else. Orsino thinks he wants Olivia, until he
falls in love with Viola (dressed as Cesario.) Olivia thinks she wants to be left alone to mourn
her brother, until she also falls in love with Cesario. She then thinks she wants Cesario, until
she meets Sebastian. Malvolio thinks he wants to be a straight-laced Puritan, until the
prospect of Olivia’s favour causes him to act like a fool. As Twelfth Night is a play about
overturning the social order, the most sophisticated characters prove to have the least self-
knowledge, while the least sophisticated characters easily see through the pretensions of their
so-called superiors. Desire acts as a level
ing force, forcing characters to gain self-knowledge. Orsino realizes his love for Olivia is
misguided, Olivia abandons her vow not to love for seven years, and Malvolio is revealed as
the pompous jerk he really is. Feste the Fool has the last word, ending the play with a
bittersweet song suggesting the darker aspects of reality lurk under the frivolity and
merriment of the play.

Because the play is primarily about the power desire has over people, love-struck characters
who cannot come together provide both the forward momentum and the source of conflict
in Twelfth Night’s plot. The first conflict we encounter involves Orsino and Olivia. In the first
scene, we learn that Duke Orsino believes himself very much in love with Olivia. Olivia, on
the other hand, is determined to mourn her brother’s death and has sworn to stay cloistered
for seven years without showing her face. She will therefore not accept the overtures of a
suitor (at least not this one). We immediately suspect the sincerity of the two characters’
decisions. Duke Orsino, for instance, seems enamored more by the idea of pining for Olivia
than the actuality of courting her, and would rather outsource the hard work of his romance to
an emissary like Cesario. Similarly, Olivia’s grief is showy and self-conscious. Both
characters are frozen in their self-regard, and require some external force to activate them.
Viola’s arrival incites change in the other characters. Of the main characters, she is by far the
most willful, and serves as an obvious contrast to Olivia and Orsino. Unlike Orsino and
Olivia, Viola is purposeful and decisive: she knows what she wants and she sets about trying
to get it. Her actions are propulsive, setting the story in motion, whereas the actions of Orsino
and Olivia are reactive. In Act I, scene v, Viola, disguised as Cesario, sets off to woo Olivia
on Orsino’s behalf. The interchange between Orsino, Cesario, and Olivia set up the central
conflict of the rest of the play, and introduce the idea that love and desire can transcend
gender. Olivia believes Cesario is a boy, but as Orsino says, Cesario makes a very feminine
boy: “all is semblative a woman’s part.” Despite (or because of) Cesario’s resemblance to a
woman, Olivia falls in love, while Cesario is developing feelings for Orsino. None of the
lovers’ affections are requited, and Viola’s disguise as Cesario has complicated the plot to the
point that even Viola feels helpless to untangle the mess: “It is too hard a knot for me to
untie!”

In Act II, scene one, Sebastian and Antonio are introduced and the audience learns that, rather
than drowning at sea, Sebastian is alive, and believes his sister, Viola, is dead. Sebastian’s
announcement of his plan to go to Duke Orsino’s court increases the dramatic tension, as the
audience understands a reunion of the siblings is inevitable. Once Sebastian arrives in Illyria,
he lashes out violently against Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, and accepts Olivia’s amorous
advances. The characters think Sebastian is Cesario and treat him accordingly, while
Sebastian has no idea why he is being treated this way. The audience knows the reason
behind the misunderstanding, increasing the tension as we wonder when the plot will finally
untangle. Meanwhile, Viola unwittingly betrays Sebastian’s friend Antonio. The mayhem
increases further with Maria, Toby, and Andrew’s plot to humiliate Malvolio, whose bizarre
behaviour gets him locked up. The riotous pile-up of confusion and mistaken identities
further strains the precarious configuration of love interests and Viola’s struggle to uphold
her identity as Cesario. Something must break and soon, the question is just when and where
this crack will take place.

Once all of the characters are present in one place in Act V, the exposure of identities
becomes both inevitable and imminent. Once Cesario and Sebastian are seen together,
Viola’s disguise is no longer tenable. Rather than being dismayed by the revelation of Viola’s
deception, neither Olivia nor Orsino seems to mind having been fooled by her. Olivia is just
as happy married to Viola’s twin, Sebastian, while Orsino is eager to marry Cesario now that
he knows Cesario is really a woman. Curiously, Orsino seems in no hurry for Cesario to
change back to into a dress. Olivia and Orsino’s ease in switching their emotions (Olivia from
one person to another, Orsino from friendship to romantic love) substantiate our sense from
the beginning that both characters are somewhat shallow and fickle. More importantly, the
play ends happily for Viola, who is reunited with her beloved brother and joined in marriage
with her beloved Orsino. The play ends with a series of marriages (Viola and Orsino, Olivia
and Sebastian, Maria and Sir Toby) that untangle the confusion and restore order and civility
to Illyria.

Characters
 Viola
 Orsino
 Olivia
 Sebastian
 Malvolio
 Feste the fool/clown
 Sir Toby
 Maria
 Sir Andrew Aguecheek
 Antonio

Themes
Love as a Cause of Suffering
Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various
lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows
that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a
kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and disruptively.
The Uncertainty of Gender
Twelfth Night employs cross-dressing as a narrative technique. When
Viola disguises her identity, the situation creates a sexual mess where she
falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him, because he thinks she is a
man, while Olivia falls for Viola in her guise as Cesario.

The Folly of Ambition

The problem of social ambition works itself out largely through the
character of Malvolio, the steward, who seems to be a competent servant,
proves to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to
rise out of his social class.

Love and Desire

Love and desire function as powerful drivers of plot because they seem to
strike suddenly and unpredictably, and because they render characters
helpless to change their feelings.

Disguise and Deception

Viola disguising herself as the page-boy Cesario; Maria and Sir Toby
playing their prank on Malvolio; and Feste dressing up as the scholar, Sir
Topas.

Gender and Sexuality

In the play, gender and sexuality are portrayed as ambiguous, unstable,
and sometimes fluid. When Viola disguises herself as a man, she
stipulates that “thou shall present me as an eunuch (a castrated man; no
penis) to the Duke.