Introduction to Shakespeare's comedies, a comedy does not require "the degree of concentration and belief" required by tragedy. As a result, the audience of a play “is aware with amusement that all of this is a play, a game that they share with the actors.” FN1 In Twelfth Night, these are the characters, almost without exception, who, to varying degrees, are involved in deception. Swinden says: "Whether we look at the plot which Shakespeare took (indirectly) from the Italian, or at the plot which he invented to put aside, we will discover deception upon deception." FN2 Cesario/Viola deceives Olivia, Orsino, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby, while Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste deceive Malvolio. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay In a complex pattern of “concealment” and “revelation,” the play spins dizzily toward its happy resolution with all the deceptions that have taken place, and had been, hidden and revealed. Is the ending of the play really a happy ending? What dynamic in the process of deception could make Sir Andrew disappear or force Malvolio to declare: "I will take revenge on you all!" ? Are the characters better or changed by their experiences when they reach the end of the fifth act than at the beginning of the first act? Whether a prank or a clever disguise, the games played in Illyria simultaneously result in and protect each character's deception not only of others but also, more importantly, of themselves. The clearest examples are Duke Orsino and Olivia. The games begin with the opening lines of Orsino's play: If music is the food of love, keep playing; Give me too much, this overeating, Appetite can sicken and die. As Orsino continues to become rhetorical and hysterical about being in love. , we quickly realize that he is playing a game with himself, which he will continue throughout the play. He is not in love, but rather in love with love. Olivia is inaccessible and she has told him so several times. Yet Orsino persists in making himself suffer, listening to sad love songs, writing to her, staying up at night and crying into his pillow because he believes that this is how someone who is lover. It's part of the game that even though Orsino seems to be raving about Olivia, he's really focusing on himself. The words "I", "me" and "mine" appear ten times in the opening passage, culminating with: How will she love... When life, brain and heart, these sovereign thrones, are all provided. and filled her sweet perfections with the same king! Shakespeare's use of "self" intensifies not only Orsino's description of Olivia, but also his focus on himself. Throughout these lines, we get the feeling that Orsino's sexual identity, locked in a male body, has not yet been clearly defined, hence his need to adopt what he thinks are the affectations of a successful lover. Orsino begins act two, scene 4 of the film. in the same way he begins the first act: “Give me some music”. Here, however, Orsino asks for a specific song, heard the night before, while Feste, Olivia's fool, was singing it. How Orsino managed to hear Feste's performance is one of the mysteries of the piece, but its effect on Orsino is undeniable "it greatly relieved my passion". The lyrics of the song are most depressing: Come, come, Death, And in a sad cypress let me lie. Trust, trust, breathe, I am killed by a beautiful and cruel servant; My shroudof white, all stuck with yew, O prepare it. My share of death, no one so true has shared it. Not a flower, not a sweet flower On my black coffin, let it be thrown; Not a friend, not a friend greets My poor corpse, where my bones will be thrown. A thousand thousand sighs to save me, where the sad lover will never find my grave to cry. Although Orsino says he only heard a 'piece of song', he also notes that it is an 'old and antique piece of song', indicating that he knows in its entirety. Its melody and feeling are so powerful that they stay with him the next morning. It is possible that the song reminds Orsino that he is no longer young enough to pursue a romantic campaign, and that there will be neither lover nor child to mourn him as Olivia mourns her brother. In modern pop psychology terminology, Orsino appears to be going through a mid-life crisis. Orsino's game reaches a breaking point when Cesario interrupts his rhetoric with: "Yes, but I know...". Orsino is shocked that this young man could have romantic experiences that he was not aware of. He questions what Cesario knows about love and women and is eager to hear the boy's "blank" story. Yet Orsino remains oblivious to Cesario's confession: "I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too." Orsino appears to be uncomfortable with this very personal and very intense revelation from another man since his "Yes, that's the theme" seems to restore his focus on the safety and comfort of pursuing Olivia. Orsino decides to abandon his assignments and goes to speak directly with Olivia. Everything that happened between him and Cesario during their "three months" of silence in acts three and four gave him the strength to declare that he "would be such a sinner to play a double game." Many productions have proposed Orsino to fall. in love with Cesario, like the 1994 RSC version which had the events of 2.4 take place in Orsino's bed. Orsino and Cesario share a passionate kiss that surprises them both, but the kiss also seems to arise from the action and its location. Trevor Nunn's 1996 film shifts the moment of passion to the scene in which Feste sings a love madrigal in a stable. Feste coughing at the critical moment when their lips touch almost breaks the momentum. The interpretation is valid, based on Orsino's usually rhetorical proclamations of love for Cesario: Why shouldn't I... Kill what I love. (5.1.106, 108)... This is your servant... whom, by heaven, I swear to tend tenderly (5.1.114-115)... The lamb that I love (5.1.119)... ). Did Orsino fall out of love and in love with Cesario? His proclamations arise from his anger at Olivia's very public rejection calling them "fat and full to my ear / screaming music" (5.1.98-99), the same music he found so soothing. This anger is not generated by a new awareness. Swinden comments: “He's talking about Cesario, not Olivia... The presence on stage of the two partners during the tirade brings out very delicately the ambiguity of Orsino's change of feeling. He cannot distinguish the object of his anger from the object of his love. FN3Even when Cesario reveals himself to be Viola, his acceptance of "a share of this most happy disaster" seems to depend on seeing her in "the weeds of womanhood." However, it is to Viola, still dressed as Cesario, that Orsino extends his hand, not once but twice. The fact that Orsino will not accept Viola unless she looks like a decent woman and nevertheless reaches out to the male vision suggests that Orsino has not completely abandoned his comfortable sexual cocoon in which he hasonly admitted Cesario and only with restraint. This reluctance is confirmed at the end of the play when Orsino admits:... Cesario come - For thus you will be as long as you are a man, But when in other habits you are seen the mistress of Orsino and the queen of his fantasy. In "The Two Antonios and Homosexual Love in Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice", critic Joseph Pequigney explains that "Orsino's attraction to Olivia, where he is heterosexual, like the other suitors Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Malvolio, is a disaster Cesario's love could not have changed instantly with the revelation of his femininity; if it is erotic, then it would have been erotic before what changes is that the marriage suddenly becomes; possible, hence the immediate proposition". FN4 This proposition is followed by a sad song by Feste on the scenes of a love life, which brings the play back to the beginning. Obviously, Orsino has not changed compared to. the man he was: he will always have his “fantasy”. He is as he was at the beginning of the play: he cannot completely abandon his own sexual game. In all likelihood, Viola will now become the replacement. 'Olivia, "the queen of her fantasies". While Orsino hides behind the game of love, Olivia hides behind the game of grief cut off from love, adopting an Orsino version of mourning behavior. Her entire household is in mourning and she visits her brother's grave daily. As long as she mourns her deceased brother, her sexual desires can be suspended. Grief gives her the perfect excuse to reject Orsino's trial and absolves her from sexually investing in a man until she chooses "the sight/and company of men." Unlike Orsino, Olivia set a limit of seven years to her mourning for her father and brother, of which “twelve months” had already passed when Viola landed in Illyria. Additionally, Olivia differs significantly from Orsino since she can influence his house, command his followers. ,Pick up and return the stuff and ship it with such a gentle, discreet and stable attitude. She is generous and tolerant, taking on board Sir Toby and his guest, Sir Andrew, and positive in her view of the repressed Malvolio. With Feste's logical and systematic removal of her facade, with Olivia's consent, Olivia is free in a way that eludes Orsino. She demonstrates keen judgment about the affectations of love: “This is not the time of the moon for me to make one by skipping a dialogue like that.” She has an agile mind and is able to counter Cesario's metaphors as quickly as he spews them. She is curious and only asks Cesario the necessary questions. She seems realistic, proposing “various schedules of my beauty” in response to Cesario’s lyricism. These qualities refuse to be overwhelmed even if she finds herself in love with Cesario:...Not too quickly! Sweet, sweet!... Even so quickly you can catch the plague. It seems to me that I feel the perfections of this youth With an invisible and subtle stealth Slipping into my eyes. Well, so be it. So Olivia chooses to abandon the security of her game and pursue Cesario with complete abandon and confidence in her femininity. In her quest, freed from her facade, Olivia is naively honest with herself and with Cesario. She admits in 3.1 that she sent "a ring after him." She asks him honestly, “Please tell me what you think of me.” Cesario tries to reward this honesty: “That you think that you are not what you are”. Due to her naivety, Olivia takes the phrase literally and assures Cesario that she is not crazy. However, the line also points out that Olivia, the noblewoman, has fallen in love with a servant, although he is a "gentleman", and that this gentleman is actually a.