Twelfth Night
Lola Adegbesan, Ana Manchala
Viola/Cesario in Twelfth night
Viola is one of the most likeable characters in twelfth night. She has a lot of power and gains some sympathy, as the play progresses. I am going to tell you a very brief summary about Viola's role in twelfth night.
She got shipwreckedand lost her brother and everyone else on the ship, or so she thought. She disguised herself as a man called Cesario, with the help of a sea captain. He told her about the lady Olivia and her big loss. She decided to work in Duke Orsino's court, it doesn't say why in the play. She serves him and he sends her to go to the lady Olivia and woo her for him, thinking that Viola is a man. Viola goes many times and eventually Olivia falls in love with her. Viola now loves Orsino, but Orsino loves Olivia. Near to the end she goes through some confusions. For example people mistaking her for Sebastien who is her twin brother, that she thought had died in the shipwreck. In the end everyone happens to meet, and Viola happily finds out that Sebastien is alive after all. Viola marries Orsino when he sees that she is a girl, and they live very happily.If you want to know more about 'Olivia,' go to twelfth night character information, and then click on Olivia. Discover her secrets, and her own personal story in Twelfth night.
Moving on to the next thing that we are going to talk about! Is Viola likeable, and how does Shakespeare describe her?
She is very likeable and Shakespeare makes her seem so. She is a strong willed independant and beautiful woman. She makes descisions for herself, such as her idea to desguise herself. She is shipwrecked, thinks she has lost her brother and suffering a lot of loss, and she still wants to serve Orsino and help Olivia with her sufferings. She faced a lot of hardship, but must have pleased the readers near to the end when she is happy. Women mainly.
Another pressing question that has come up, is why did Viola dress up as Cesario in the first place? There could be many possible reasons for this decision. We will debate about all of them.
She might have wanted to help Olivia deal with her loss. A quote from Act 1 scene 2 to show that she is indeed sorry for her,'O that I served that lady, and might not be delivered to the world, Till I had made mine own occasion mellow, What my estate is!' The only way to get to Olivia is by Orsino, because Viola heard from the Captain, that Orsino wants Olivia's love.
Shakespeare might have influenced this decision as well.
We are now going to talk about Viola in the book of twelfth night. Why did she disguise herself as Cesario? Was she likeable?
In his plays, men used to play the role of women instead of women playing woman which was only introduced in the late 1660's.
The last and final reason, might be that Olivia might not have wanted to stay inside all the time mourning her brother. She might have needed a distraction. Women didn't get paid as much as men in those times. If she could dress herself up as a man, there would be more jobs available to her.
To conclude, Viola is likeable and smart, but why she disguised herself as Cesario still remains a mystery.
By Damilola Adegbesan and Anahita Manchala