Twelfth Night Characters Dramatic Conventions and Techniques Conflict

Twelfth Night Characters

Dramatic Conventions and Techniques • Conflict: external & internal • Soliloquy: A speech delivered by a character while alone on stage. Provides insight into the character’s thoughts, emotions, and motives. • Aside: words spoken by a character on stage that are meant to be heard by the audience only. • Situational Irony: when a situation has results contrary to those expected. • Dramatic Irony: when the audience is aware of something the characters don’t know.

Twelfth Night Characters

Relationships for Twelfth Night

Orsino, Duke of Illyria • A powerful nobleman in the country of Illyria. Orsino is lovesick for the beautiful Lady Olivia, but becomes more and more fond of his handsome new page boy, Cesario, who is actually a woman—Viola. • Orsino is used by the play to explore the absurdity of love. • A supreme egotist, Orsino lies around complaining how heartsick he is over Olivia, when it is clear that he is chiefly in love with the idea of being in love and enjoys drawing attention to himself. • When Shakespeare wrote the play, Twelfth Night, the Spanish Ambassador was named Orsino. Given the enmity between England Spain at the time, it makes it much more fun to mock a foolish character who is named for Orsino, a Spaniard of high rank.

Orsino, Duke of Illyria

Orsino, Duke of Illyria • The duke is basically characterized by the first line that he utters — "If music be the food of love, play on" — that is, he is one of the most melancholy characters that Shakespeare ever created. • He has seen Olivia, and the very sight of her has fascinated him to such an extent that his romantic imagination convinces him that he will die if she does not consent to be his wife. • The duke is, however, according to Olivia and others, a perfect gentleman. He is handsome, brave, courtly, virtuous, noble, wealthy, gracious, loyal and devoted — in short, he is everything a young lady could wish for in a husband. • This is ultimately what makes it believable that Viola does fall in love with him immediately.

Lady Olivia • A wealthy, beautiful, and noble Illyrian lady, Olivia is courted by Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, but to each of them she insists that she is in mourning for her brother, who has recently died, and will not marry for seven years. • She and Orsino are similar characters in that each seems to enjoy his or her own misery. • Viola’s arrival in the masculine guise of Cesario enables Olivia to break free of her self-indulgent melancholy. • Olivia seems to have no difficulty transferring her affections from one love to the next, suggesting that her romantic feelings—like most emotions in the play—do not run deep.

Lady Olivia

Lady Olivia • The comedy opens with music being played to remind the duke of Olivia; the first scene discusses the lady's beauty; and she is mentioned in the second scene as having lost a brother. In the fourth scene, Olivia is again the central subject of discussion. Thus, we hear a great deal about this important lady before we actually meet her. • Other than the melodramatic pose that Olivia is assuming at the beginning of the play (we know it to be false because she is willing to immediately forget it in order to flirt with Cesario), Olivia is presented as being essentially an intelligent woman with a number of good qualities. – Her intelligence is constantly seen in the many household matters that she has to attend to. – She has to contend with her drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch – When Malvolio presents himself in his mad garb, she feels compassion for her foolish steward. – Yet, earlier when Feste made fun of Malvolio, the over-serious steward, Olivia was fully capable of appreciating the clown's joke.

Lady Olivia • The single quality that characterizes Olivia best is perhaps her impetuous love and her assertion of it. • She is much more aggressive in the pursuit of her love than is Duke Orsino in his pursuit of Olivia. • While she recognizes the duke's good qualities and acknowledges them, she is adamant in her refusals, and, thus, it is part of the comedy that the lady who has no sympathy for the duke falls so irrationally in love with a young girl disguised as a young boy. • When she discovers that she has actually married young Sebastian, Viola's twin, she quickly transfers her love to him, just as Duke Orsino is able to transfer his love to Viola.

Orsino and Olivia • Orsino and Olivia are worth discussing together, because they have similar personalities. Both claim to have strong emotions, but both ultimately seem to be self-indulgent individuals who enjoy melodrama and self-involvement more than anything. – When we first meet them, Orsino is pining away for love of Olivia, while Olivia pines away for her dead brother. They show no interest in relating to the outside world, preferring to lock themselves up with their sorrows and mope around their homes. • Ultimately, Orsino and Olivia seem to be out of touch with real emotion, as demonstrated by the ease with which they shift their affections in the final scene. • The similarity between Orsino and Olivia does not diminish with the end of the play, since the audience realizes that by marrying Viola and Sebastian, respectively, Orsino and Olivia are essentially marrying female and male versions of the same person.

Viola • A young woman of aristocratic birth, and the play’s protagonist. Washed up on the shore of Illyria when her ship is wrecked in a storm, Viola decides to make her own way in the world. • She disguises herself as a young man, calling herself "Cesario, " and becomes a page to Duke Orsino. She ends up falling in love with Orsino—even as Olivia, the woman Orsino is courting, falls in love with Cesario. • Viola finds that her clever disguise has entrapped her: she cannot tell Orsino that she loves him, and she cannot tell Olivia why she, as Cesario, cannot love her. Her poignant plight is the central conflict in the play. • Viola also has a native intelligence, an engaging wit, and an immense amount of charm

Viola

Viola • Due to her circumstances, she is, first of all, a very practical and resourceful person. As a shipwrecked orphan who has no one to protect her, she must resort to some means whereby her safety is assured. She knows that a single woman unattended in a foreign land would be in an extremely dangerous position. She disguises herself as a boy so that she will be safe and have a man's freedom to move about without protection. Consequently, Viola is immediately seen to be quick-witted enough to evaluate her situation, of sound enough judgment to recognize the captain's integrity, resourceful enough to conceive of the disguise, and practical enough to carry out this design.

Viola • Like most of Shakespeare’s heroines, Viola is a tremendously likable figure. She has no serious faults, and we can easily discount the peculiarity of her decision to dress as a man, since it sets the entire plot in motion. She is the character whose love seems the purest. The other characters’ passions are indecisive: Orsino jumps from Olivia to Viola, Olivia jumps from Viola to Sebastian, and Sir Toby and Maria’s marriage seems more a matter of whim than an expression of deep and abiding passion. Only Viola seems to be truly, passionately in love as opposed to being selfindulgently lovesick.

Viola • Viola’s chief problem throughout the play is one of identity. Because of her disguise, she must be both herself and Cesario. • This mounting identity crisis culminates in the final scene, when Viola finds herself surrounded by people who each have a different idea of who she is and are unaware of who she actually is. • Sebastian’s appearance at this point, however, effectively saves Viola by allowing her to be herself again. • Thus liberated by her brother, Viola is free to shed the roles that she has accumulated throughout the play, and she can return to being Viola, the woman who has loved and won Orsino.

Viola & Lady Olivia • • The play's two leading ladies, Viola and Olivia, display many of the same characteristics. The combination of Olivia and Viola in Twelfth Night can be analyzed on many levels. On the outer most layer, obvious comparisons can be formulated. – Both characters are strong females who hold true to their convictions. – They are not easily influenced by other characters and pursue what they wish to within their boundaries. – In keeping with society, however, both women maintain their limits and know them well. • Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, but does not pursue his love as she is in disguise. She knows better than to act on her impulses because ulterior forces are at hand. • • Viola demonstrates her inner strength when taking the job as Orsino's workman. She is determined to keep on with her life despite the problems she has previously experienced. Within the same theme, Olivia also displays her strength as a woman in a society driven by men. – Unlike Viola, she has the power to do as she wishes and needs not to maintain any type of alternate identity. • However, she is quick to brush off Orsino's love and declare her admiration for Cesario. Olivia is simply a privileged version of Viola who is able to see her desires through.

Viola & Lady Olivia • Within the first few pages of reading the play, it becomes apparent that many similarities can be drawn between Viola and Olivia. The first inkling is suggested from their names. • The women's names are composed of all of the same letters simply arranged in a different order. • Viola's positive and enlightening influence on Olivia allows her to open up, express her emotions and free herself of her mourning. She inspires her to find love wherever it may lie and to pursue it as she wishes (however, just not with her). • Olivia befriends and eventually falls in love with Viola, who then in turn becomes a respected and admired member of the small community, both as Cesario and as herself. • Each woman gives a bit of herself to the other and the final result is two women, alike in their convictions and inspired in their ways.

Viola & Lady Olivia • Olivia and Viola are also quite distinguishably different in many ways when analyzed on the surface. • Both characters have suffered great familial loss - Viola believes she has lost her brother, Sebastian, while Olivia seems intent on mourning her late brother and father - yet each woman addresses the situation quite differently. – Viola, after a short stint of welled emotion, decides to pick up a new life and get on the best she can. She does not wish to dwell on her brother's death but rather assumes his identity to keep his legacy alive. In this, Viola pays a moving homage to her brother through a tribute of life and survival. – Olivia, on the other hand, believes seven years of mourning are the only ways to pay respects to her. As a member of a high-class society, Olivia's actions are nearly expected due to her circumstance, and she is solely convinced that wearing black for years on end will somehow bring respect to her family. • Each woman is mourning her loved ones, but the contrast between their approaches reveals both the women's backgrounds as well as their survival skills.

Sebastian • Viola’s lost twin brother. When he arrives in Illyria, traveling with Antonio, his close friend and protector, Sebastian discovers that many people think that they know him. Furthermore, the beautiful Lady Olivia, whom he has never met, wants to marry him. Sebastian is not as well rounded a character as his sister. He seems to exist to take on the role that Viola fills while disguised as Cesario—namely, the mate for Olivia. ) Sebastian, who, independent of his sister, is not much of a character, takes over the aspects of Viola’s disguise that she no longer wishes to maintain.

Sir Toby Belch • Olivia’s uncle. Olivia lets Sir Toby Belch live with her, but she does not approve of his rowdy behavior, practical jokes, heavy drinking, latenight carousing, or friends (specifically the idiotic Sir Andrew). Sir Toby also earns the ire of Malvolio. But Sir Toby has an ally, and eventually a mate, in Olivia’s sharp-witted waitinggentlewoman, Maria. Together they bring about the triumph of chaotic spirit, which Sir Toby embodies, and the ruin of the controlling, selfrighteous Malvolio.

Sir Toby Belch • Sir Toby Belch, as his name indicates, is earthy, crude, very fat, and jolly. • Sir Toby is also the opposite to Sir Andrew in intellect. Sir Toby is actually a sharp, witty person who, even when he is drunk, is capable of making a good pun or of creating an ingenious and humorous plot complication. – For example, he appreciates Maria not for her looks or for romantic matters, but because she is capable of contriving such a good joke against Malvolio. We are not surprised, at the end of the play, when he marries her. • While Sir Toby is a knight (high rank), he is still a rather corrupt individual. • The only reason he keeps Sir Andrew Aguecheek around is to trick him out of his money. • The fact that he can tease and play jokes on Sir Andrew is secondary to his primary purpose of using Sir Andrew's money to continue drinking. • He is indeed guilty of misusing his niece's house and of abusing her servants; yet in spite of all of his faults, Sir Toby is, perhaps, Shakespeare's most delightful comic creation.

Sir Andrew Auguecheek • A friend of Sir Toby’s. Sir Andrew Aguecheek attempts to court Olivia, but he doesn’t stand a chance. He thinks that he is witty, brave, young, and good at languages and dancing, but he is actually an idiot. • Sir Andrew Aguecheek, as his name might indicate, is tall, thin, and balding.

Sir Andrew Auguecheek • Sir Andrew Aguecheek is merely a foolish fellow who is easily tricked and who does not realize that he has been cheated. • It would take a very foolish fellow to think that such a rich and beautiful lady as Olivia would seriously consider skinny, balding, and ugly man as a possible suitor. In addition, he is a coward, and a good deal of the humor surrounding him comes from how he is tricked into fighting with Cesario, and then later, what happens when he encounters Sebastian. • Sir Andrew is a mere echo and shadow of the heroes of his admiration, born to be the sport of his associates, their puppet, and the butt of their jokes; and while he is so brainless as to think it possible he may win the love of the beautiful Olivia, he has at the same time an inward suspicion of his own stupidity which now and then comes in refreshingly: "Methinks some times I have no more wit than a Christian ordinary man has; but I am a great eater of beef, and, I believe, that does harm to my wit. "

Feste • The clown, or fool, of Olivia’s household, Feste moves between Olivia’s and Orsino’s homes. He earns his living by making pointed jokes, singing old songs, being generally witty, and offering good advice cloaked under a layer of foolishness. In spite of being a professional fool, Feste often seems the wisest character in the play.

Malvolio • The straitlaced steward—or head servant— in the household of Lady Olivia. Malvolio is very efficient but also very self-righteous, and he has a poor opinion of drinking, singing, and fun. His priggishness and haughty attitude earn him the enmity of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria, who play a cruel trick on him, making him believe that Olivia is in love with him. In his fantasies about marrying his mistress, he reveals a powerful ambition to rise above his social class. • Early in the play, Maria characterizes him as a puritan. He is always dressed in the black costume of the puritan of that time — a person whom most people in this play would despise. Yet he is respected by Olivia, and she does wish to retain his good services.

Malvolio • Malvolio's functions as a contrast to the merrymakers, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew; he is a somber shadow of the aristocratic world and a sober reminder to Feste that the world is a serious place. • While the other characters are almost always happy, Malvolio is grave. • He emphasizes the importance of dignity, decency, decorum and "good order"; yet when he thinks he sees a chance for advancement with Olivia, he abandons all such proper conduct and behaves like an utter fool. • It is Malvolio's ultimate egotism which makes him an easy prey for the pranksters. Before they leave the forged, fake letter from Olivia for him, he is walking in the garden, daydreaming about the pleasures and the powers he would have if he were married to Olivia. • Thus, his own sense of conceit makes him an easy dupe for the trick that is played upon him. Even though the ruse is rather harsh, the audience dislikes anyone so opposed to having a good time.

Maria • Olivia’s clever, daring young waiting-gentlewoman. • Maria is remarkably similar to her antagonist, Malvolio, who harbors aspirations of rising in the world through marriage. • Maria succeeds where Malvolio fails —perhaps because she is a woman, but, more likely, because she is more in tune than Malvolio with the anarchic, topsy-turvy spirit that animates the play. • Maria fits in with Sir Toby Belch's view of the world, and it is no surprise that she later married him. They are both opposed to Malvolio because they represent the joy in life of which, because he was a virtuous puritan, Malvolio so disapproved.

Antonio • Antonio is the sea captain who rescues Sebastian and is more of a full-fledged character than Viola's twin, Sebastian. Antonio is a helping character who demonstrates the Christian quality of placing his own life in danger for the sake of his friend. He becomes Sebastian's devoted friend after rescuing him from a shipwreck. Antonio's discussion with his new friend in II. i introduces the fact that Sebastian and his sister, Viola, are twins who were "born [with] in an hour" of one another (II. i. 19).

Meaning of Character Names • The names of several characters appear to be metaphors or symbols: – Malvolio means bad desires or bad intentions. (The prefix Mal means bad or evil, as in malicious; volio means I wish or I desire, from the Latin volo. ) – Sir Toby Belch is a mug of beer given to burping. (A toby is a jug or mug resembling a fat man; a belch is an expulsion of gas from the mouth. ) – Feste is jolly, festive, celebrating the joy of the moment. – Viola, who disguises herself as a man, is the name of a musical instrument with a deeper tone than a violin's—in other words, a more masculine tone. Sebastian could be named after Saint Sebastian, who was ordered killed. However, after archers filled him with arrows and abandoned him, he remained alive and was nursed back to health. In Twelfth Night, Sebastian is presumed dead after a shipwreck but, like Saint Sebastian, survives. – The name Aguecheek is a combination of ague, meaning fever, and cheek, making Sir Andrew Aguecheek a wine-drinking, red-cheeked fellow. – Olivia may represent the olive tree, famous for its exquisite beauty.

Useful website for the plot • http: //waltz-forest. blogspot. com/2012/06/twelfth-night-1996 -movie-review. html

• You can find a very detailed analysis of the characters on this site: GCSE REVISION NOTES "Twelfth Night" - William Shakespeare CHARACTER ANALYSIS http: //homepage. ntlworld. com/bradsweb/12 nig ht. htm