Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare has long been heralded as a work of art that possesses a revolutionary view of gender roles within society, especially in relation to the cross-dressing Viola and the intricate love triangles. However, Twelfth Night also questions the way men and women in general were perceived to interact with the world.
The play begins with Countess Olivia’s refusal of Duke Orsino’s love, for “like a cloistress she will veilèd walk” (Shakespeare 1.1.27) for seven years because of her “brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh/And lasting in her sad remembrance” (1.1.30-31). Olivia will not acknowledge nor return Orsino’s attentions out of mourning for her brother with whom she had been close but will instead “water once a day her chamber round/With eye-offending brine” (1.1.28-29). Orsino, instead of understanding or respecting her grief, remarks that she must have a “heart of that fine frame” (1.1.32) which, judging by her love for her brother, would fiercely love the man who won it. Orsino then returns to remarking on the love that he has for her and plotting ways to change her mind, which include sending Viola as Cesario several times to sway Olivia’s stance.
Olivia’s grief for her brother is displayed in perceived feminine ways as she cries, refuses to see anyone, and hides herself away. These behaviors are seen as emotional and celibate, and the male characters take them to be a silly notion or entirely unacceptable. Orsino, in his insistence that Cesario “Be not denied access, stand at her doors.../Till thou have audience” (Shakespeare 1.4.16-18), completely disregards Olivia’s feelings and demonstrates that her wishes are not as important as his. Even Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby complains, “What a plague means my niece to take the death/of her brother thus?” (1.3.1-2). Her grief is shown to be negligible and unimportant to anyone but her.
In contrast, Viola, who thinks that her brother is dead, is not received in quite the same way. She enters the scene claiming, “My brother he is in Elysium” (Shakespeare 1.2.3), and then asks the sailors who saved her what they thought. The Captain then tells her that he saw her brother floating on a piece of the wreckage and may have survived. Viola responds that she hopes “the like of him” (1.2.19) made it to shore safely just as she had; however, it is important to note that Viola does not know for sure, and it isn’t until later in the play that she begins to truly hope that Sebastian is alive until after she runs into Antonio and exclaims, “Prove true, imagination, O, prove true” (4.1.360). With this in mind, it is reasonable to believe that Viola is operating under the assumption that her brother is dead.
Yet, unlike Olivia, Viola does not cloister herself to grieve, she instead focuses on what she should do next and decides to imbed herself in Duke Orsino’s court that she may have access to him and information. Viola commands the Captain to “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid/For such disguise as haply shall become/The form of my intent” (Shakespeare 1.2.51-53). Instead of wasting her time on grief, Viola aggressively throws herself into this role that she has made. In this moment, Viola is more like Orsino than Olivia as she is focused on her actions instead of her emotions. Viola, even before she dresses as a man, displays masculine qualities and attitudes which challenge the ways women are perceived to grieve.
Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. “Twelfth Night.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt and M. H. Abrams, 9th ed., A, W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, pp. 1189–1250.