Topic > Love and Mistaken Identity in Twelfth Night, a Play by William Shakespeare

“Twelfth Night” is a play written by Shakespeare. This comedy, based mainly on love, begins with Orsino trying to win Olivia's love. Viola, shipwrecked, assists the Duke by disguising herself as Cesario and ends up falling in love with the Duke. Olivia's servant Maria plays a prank on Malvolio. Maria sends love letters to Malvolio as if they were written by Olivia, leading Malvolio to believe that Olivia loves him but instead makes a fool of himself. The Duke wants Cesario to win Olivia's love for him, however Olivia confesses her love for Cesario. One of Olivia's men, Sir Andrew, challenges Cesario to fight but he refuses. Sebastian, Viola's twin brother, also a shipwreck, makes his appearance and is taken to the wedding by Olivia who mistakes him for Cesario. Cesario turns out to be Viola, and the Duke asks her to marry him, meanwhile Sir Toby and Maria get married. The central idea is that everyone often falls in love. To understand “Twelfth Night,” you need to know how mistaken identities create humor, how love influences conflict, and the opposites that Malvolio and Sir Toby represent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Shakespeare uses mistaken identities to create humor. The humor arises when Viola asks the captain to "hide her of what she is" "to ensure her own protection" (Roberts). The audience knows well that Cesario is a woman but the other characters in the play do not know this. This fact entertains the audience in many scenes. For example, when Cesario is asked to win Olivia's love for the Duke, Olivia falls in love with Cesario instead. It is known to the audience that Olivia is falling in love with a woman, but she is not well aware of this, which creates entertainment. When Sir Toby creates a feud between Cesario and Sir Andrew over an argument, little does Sir Toby know that Cesario is a woman. This fact unknown to the characters enlightens the audience to anticipate what will happen in the fight. Viola being disguised to look a lot like her brother increases the tension when Antonio mistakes Cesario for Sebastian. Humor is also created when Olivia marries Sebastian instead of Cesario and the Duke's love shifts from Olivia to Viola. Viola disguised as Cesario creates dramatic irony and entertains readers with the humor created in the scenes. The theme of love influences the conflict in a couple of ways, Viola's love for Orsino and Olivia's love for Cesario. Viola's love for Orsino is true love. She immediately falls in love with him but can't do anything about it because she is still disguised as Cesario. Although she pretends to be a man and is not known to the people of Illyria, she "would like to be his wife" and hopes that he will be "constant to her" and "inconstant in his affection for Olivia" (Roberts). The Duke and Cesario become very close and have a great bond working together, so when Cesario reveals himself as Viola, it is easy for them to get married. In another love scenario, Olivia loves Cesario but he doesn't love her back. While Cesario tries to win Olivia's love for the Duke, Olivia falls in love with Cesario because he knows exactly what a woman would like to hear. Love plays an important role in this play. The theme of love influences the conflict because the other characters fall in love with each other, but when the true colors are revealed at the end of the play, the characters' love for each other changes. Malvolio and Sir Toby Belch get opposite characteristics in this work. Malvolio is Olivia's steward and is lower class. He is very strict and hates almost everyone. Criticize everything and what everyone does. Malvolio is the opposite of happy. He likes to keep his manners but loses them when he tries to impress Olivia..