Characters from shakesperes tw

genus genus genus Viola Viola is peerless of Shakespe ars hygienic-nigh appropriateing and admir fitted heroines, and sure liberal the most sympathetic of the major veritable examples (Orsino, Olivia, and herself) in twelfth Night. though shes forced to disguise herself as a pageboy, for safetys sake, shes on the type of it as puff up-born as Olivia is - the daughter of Sebastian of Messaline, a graduate(prenominal)ly-placed fearfulman in his testify land. Shes similarly precise mesmerizing purgative sever e very(prenominal)y(prenominal)y - which sight be inferred from the accompaniment that level arrive at in male raiment shes graceful enough for Orsino to description on her rock-steady looks. scarce perhaps the most attractive aspect of Viola - to a modern audience, at to the utmost degree - is her vigorous, correct-huto a greater extentd, unpretentious temperament. Un deal Olivia, whose counter pop out and oppo mounte she is, she makes no me lodramatic plans to mourn her companions app argonnt devastation with sp arvagant gestures. Instead, her mourning is quiet, incomprehensible, sincere - and tinged with hope that Sebastian whitethorn let stumble be a come through. Further to a greater extent(prenominal), finding herself in a adeptrous, perhaps whippy position in a antic coun soften, she sp curiositys minor term bemoaning the harshness of her fate, except immediately sets to puzzle out with slipistic applicatory energy to figure out a instruction to emend her situation. When she enters Orsinos service, her natural endowment, wit, and good looks loy tot allyy captivate him, reasonable as, shortly after, when shes displace to woo Olivia, these qualities also entrance the Countess. Indeed, in erect about both(prenominal) scene in which she appears - whether shes jesting with Feste, softly philosophise with Orsino, or gracefully flattering Olivia-Violas substantially-be affordd skill and sureistic charm are clearly evident. Most o! f all, when she herself travel deeply, and evidently hope microscopically, in shaft with Orsino, though she feels very powerfully the frustration and aggravator of her position (disguised as a boy, unless short able to love identical a woman) her estimableifiable melancholy is neither extravagant, like Olivias, nor egotistical, like Orsinos. She does her scoop out at all clipping to conceal it, and we good dealt help respecting her for her determination to sit like patience on a monument, always set the best face on things and always, whe neer possible, smiling at mourning. Olivia Though fundamentally a noble, generous, passionate woman, Olivia has m whatever frequently faults than Viola has. Indeed, Shakespeare probably meant us to regard the two as emotional opposites, or at least as counterparts of each new(prenominal), Thus Olivias name may be considered an anagram (rearrangement) of Violas, since it contains all the very(prenominal) letters (with an extra i), and Olivias problems (the loss of a brother, an un pauperismed courtroomship, and unre preferablyd love) are also the same as Violas. further the Illyrian noblewomans re live up to to these difficulties is very variant from the energetic young pages. Olivia seems to disturb been often more than fumble than Viola, and as Viola herself points out, she is V as intumescehead as proud, as well as as well extravagant by constitution. She melodramatically resolves to mourn her brothers death for septet years - and in that space of cartridge clip, never to leave the house. Viola, on the other hand, reacts more calmly and sensibly, though no less sorrowfully, to the possibility that Sebastian may dumbfound been killed. She c onetime(a)ly, and kind of unsympathetically rejects Orsinos proposals of marriage, but Viola is a lesser more compassionate in her re implement to Olivias own avowals of love. Finally, she falls passionately and wholeheartedly in love with Ces ario, and is unable to bind herself from impulsively! declaring her feelings for the spring chicken almost at the branch opportunity. (Viola, in contrast, comes c miss to confessing her love for Orsino, but her press out self-control doesnt weaken in the end.) Despite all her faults, however, Olivia has m whatever redeeming good qualities. Shes undeniably pulchritudinous and intelligent. more than important, shes generous and saucy in the rule of her dwelling house, as her basically physique interference of both the drunken toby fillpot jug fillpot jug and the gaga Malvolio attests. Furthermore, though she herself is basically spartan - and passim duodecimal Night, tribulation - she has a sense of humor and hind end appreciate aline wit wherever she finds it, whether in the page Cesario, or in Feste, the fall guy. In sum, shes a original aristocrat: polished and noble in her bearing; a little self-absorbed, spoiled and proud, because of the splendour of her position; but beneath a haughty outside generous, gu iltless and of free disposition. distaff horse Olivias clever, witty servingwoman - really a winning of lady-in-waiting - is suppose to be exceptionally small, and as spry and sharp infher movements as in her ideas. Were informed about her summit and her delicacy by a number of references. For instance, Sir toby fillpot jug describes her as the youngest wren of nine, and as a little villain. In some other place, he ironically calls her Penthesilea (the Queen of the Amazons, and Viola, with the same ironic intention, calls her giant. just in addition existence small and shrewd, maria is fun-loving and frolicsome, almost as ready as Sir toby (on whom she has marital designs) to make merry, though with much more of a regard for the proprieties. Indeed, passim the sport shes torn among her loyalty to Olivia and her sense of the dignity of the househ aged (the judge By my troth, Sir toby, you must come in primitively o nights! is her foremost line in the play) an d her fondness for toby and appetite to gratify hi! m. The latter rely-probably fortified by a bemoan sideline in the zippy knights money and social position-wins out, and mare invents the anti-Malvolio plot, the antique suspicious action of the play, at least in part to make toby happy. Of pedigree, the wonderful sport of gulling Malvolio (for whom shes conceived an implacable despise) makes maria herself happy as well as, and in the end, having made her choice among Olivia and toby, she gets her reward-Olivias very small displeasure, and Tobys hand in marriage. Orsino Orsino is the unaccompanied serious male eccentric whom we get to admit at all well. The others - Sebastian, Antonio, the sea Captain, and so forth - are all sooner shadowy. alone Orsino is a very real and realistic person, any(prenominal)thing but the handsome, idealised monarch of a fairytale kingdom. He is handsome, of course, and as Olivia says I suppose him virtuous, fare him noble,/ Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth;/ In voice s - [languages] well divulged [well-educated], free, subscribeed, and valiant; And in dimension and the set of nature,/ A decent person. It is, in event, these qualities which make it possible for Viola to fall in love with the Duke so quickly and so irrevocably. Yet plane so, they arent the most important part of his face-to-faceity, forF Orsino, more than cosmos a festal man or a handsome or a learned man, is a young, egotistical and rather impact man. In this sense, hes much like Olivia: just as she nurses her grief for her brother, he nurses his infatuation for her. This love of his, of course, is no more lawful love, like Violas than Romeos love for Rosalind was true love. Romeo had to run Juliet to feel the real thing, and so Orsino is fated not to know the meaning of love until he really meets his page, Cesario, as Viola, her real self. In the meantime, however, like all idle, extravagant, passionate young men, he spends much time sighing windily for an unattainab le beloved, and again, like Olivia, hes consumed with! the crystallize of melancholy that was old-time among aristrocrats in Shakespeares day. Indeed, perhaps purge more than Olivia, Orsino is a act of an aristocrat, with his languid craving for music, his fanciful philosophizing on the nature of love, and rase his spiteful, despotic allowingness to sacrifice the honey that I do love (Cesario) to revenge himself on Olivia for rejecting him. on the whole this, like Olivias way, is meant to contrast with Violas true nobility, level-headedness and self-restraint. alone at least in the end Orsino, again like Olivia, recovers a kind of balance, and in his dealings with Malvolio and his quick acceptance of Viola as a bride (hed loved her all along, anyway, in her guise of a page) he shows a basic strain of good leave alone and good sense. Sebastian Sebastian is essentially a male version of Viola, with all the distinctions in their personalities stemming from the difference in their sex. For one thing, of course, hes her twin, and so hes both(prenominal) bout as physically attractive as she is-which dope be seen not only from the fact that Olivia loves him as passionately as she does Cesario (thinking, in fact, that he is Cesario) but also from the comments Antonio makes about his good looks. Second, and perhaps even more important, hes just as charming, with as much personal magnetism, as Viola, which freighter also be seen from his relationship with Antonio. Further, hes as loyal as she is (both to Antonio and to Olivia, as well as, by nature, to Viola herself), and as practical, energetic and high school-spirited, which can be seen from his passionate desire to do the town as soon as he arrives in Illyria. As for the differences between sister and brother: Sebastian is, of course, much fiercer and more aggressive-e.g. in his duel with Andrew and Toby. And, course, hes able to serve with only masculine delight (as Viola sure could not) to the beautiful Olivias amatory advances. In short, th ough Sebastian is really a secondary character, we l! earn a good deal about him in the course of the play, partly through his own actions and partly from the way in which his personality reflects Violas. Antonio Loyal, generous, impulsive and courageous are the quaternary adjectives which best describe Sebastians rescuer, the good-hearted, brawling sea-captain Antonio. Hes loyal throughout to his young friend, Sebastian, and generous, too, in his treatment of the boy-lending him his purse when he thinks he may be in need, besides apparently having maintained the youth at his own expense for several months after rescuing him from drowning. His impulsiveness shows both in the quick and deep affection he conceives for the boy, and in his loyally followers Sebastian to Illyria, even against the young mans wishes. His courage, of course, is clear from the fact that hed brave such(prenominal) hostile territory to join his friend, as well as from his ready intercession in the duel between Viola and Andrew. Finally, his courage may be in ferred from his outstanding feats in the sea-fight against Illyria, even though Orsino accuses him (whether rightly or wrongly we dont know) of having been a plagiarizer and a saltwater thief, on that occasion. In any case, we can be sure that because of his kindness to Sebastian - and, even more, because of his (unwitting) kindliness to Orsinos future(a) Queen, hell be quickly enough forgiven for whatever his yesteryear transgressions may throw off been. Feste Feste has been called Shakespeares most musical make. Less witty than measurement in As You Like It and less profound, perhaps, than the fool in King Lear, hes nevertheless a highly elegant jester-clever, lithesome and perceptive enough for Viola to remark of him that This cranny is wise enough to play the fool,/ And to do that well, craves a kind of wit./ He must observe their moods on whom he jests,/ The case of persons, and the time. Shakespeare is theme to have written the part for Robert Armin, a far-fam ed comic of the day whod recently joined the playwri! ghts acting troupe. Armin was more musical and, in certain respects, more serious than the jester he succeeded, and hence the musical quality of Festes part. Still, Festes comic accomplishments are legion(predicate) too. His fussy parodies of learning make even the melancholy Olivia laugh, and his talent for mimicry (in the Sir Topas scene) convulses Maria and Toby, and completely deceives Malvolio. But besides universe musical, shrewd and funny, Feste is shown to have a real personality of his own. His abomination for Malvolio, conceived when the steward insults him in act 1, scene 5, motivates much of the comic subplot, and even by the end of the play he hasnt quite rid himself of the desire for revenge-as his last taunting dustup to Malvolio reveal. Indeed, throughout the play, like any good fool, Feste is all things to all men, besides seeming to be, literally, everywhere-singing songs for the Duke, cheering up Olivia when shes sad, plotting with Toby and his friends, squab bling with Malvolio, and even disinterestedly commenting to the audience, in his final song, on the silliness of it all. Because of this, he acts as a perfect link between the serious characters, Orsino, Olivia and Viola, for whom he performs, and the comic characters, Toby, Andrew and Maria, with whom he carouses. Sir Toby Belch Sir Toby Belch, Olivias debauched relative (really her uncle, though hes often called cousin in the command fashion of the day) is the capitulum comic character and certainly the chief comic conspirator in duodecimal Night. The Elizabethan duodecimal Night celebration, which corresponded to the feast of the Epiphany, coming twelve long time after Christmas, was often organized and dominated by a pretty person called the Lord of Misrule, who was in charge of the frolics and pranks that were so popular at this time of year. Many modern critics have quite naturally seen in Sir Toby Shakespeares embodiment, in a play written expressly for the Twelfth Night festivities, of this same Lord of Misrule. Cert! ainly Toby fits all the requirements of the part exactly.

Hard-drinking, healthy, strong-willed, awake(p) and fond of every kind of merrymaking-plots, puns and brawls as well as wine, women and song-hes equalled among Shakespeares own creations only by Sir John Falstaff, that similarly jolly loose-liver who was so popular in the Henry IV plays that Shakespeare wrote other whole play (The Merry Wives of Windsor) just for him. Perhaps, indeed, the playwright was difficult once again to recapture his success with Falstaff in Twelfth Nights Lord of Misrule. In any case, Tobys antics are always a hit with audiences, th ough an Elizabethan audience probably grasp them even more than we do today. Of course, Toby has many faults, too. For one thing, his treatment of poor Sir Andrew Aguecheek is notably unscrupulous: he keeps the empty knight around primarily to have the use of his money, and secondarily to tease and gull him (as in the first scene with Maria, or, more, in the duel episode.) Further, he is undoubtedly a sot (drunkard) and a noisy, rather boorish individual. He does, as Malvolio accuses him of doing, make an alehouse of Olivias house, prop late hours and violating the peace of the establishment with his tinkers catches and drinking songs bawled at the pinnacle of his lungs at three in the morning. His feelings for Maria, too, are not very romantic: hes more pleased by her cleverness as a comic co-worker than by any womanlike attractions she may have. Still, hes a cheerful enough - and certainly an fly-by-night enough-old souse, quite suited, with his high spirits and his co nspiratorial energy, to act as Twelfth Nights Lord of! Misrule.. And as Mark Van Doren has pointed out, old households harbor such old men. They are nuisances to be endured because they are symbols of enduringness, signs of the familys great age. The aristocratic Olivia would no more turn her insubordinate uncle out, as Malvolio threatens she would, than shed put down the effectual steward himself. Sir Andrew Aguecheek Sir Andrew is perhaps the easiest character in Twelfth Night to understand, and the one, indeed, who is most a jeering and least an individualized character. Quite simply, he is a fool-not a fool in the sense of jester, like Feste, but a fool in the modern sense of an idiot. Hes attached himself to Sir Toby for various reasons-mainly because he believes in Tobys unscrupulous encouragement of his downhearted courtship of Olivia. But further, he quite reasonably admires Tobys high spirits and noisy courage-qualities which he himself emphatically lacks. For besides being stupid, Sir Andrew is a coward: in the due l scene he behaves with every bit as much cowardice as the naturally shrinking, feminine Viola, despite all his boasted training as a knight. Only when he realizes that Cesario is a coward too, does he begin to lose some of his fear. Finally, Andrew is an egotist-as much of an egotist, as much deluded by conceit and self-love, as those other notable egotists, Malvolio and Orsino. It is his egotism which lets Toby switch over him that Olivia will have him; his vanity which is piqued with jealousy at Violas elegant skill; and his shallow self-love which enables him to write his silly, puffed-up challenge to Cesario. In short, as Toby at last brutally tells him, he is an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave; a thin-faced knave, a gull. Malvolio As Maria notes fairly early in the play, Malvolio, Olivias coldly effective steward, is a kind of Puritan. Indeed, like the other comic characters, he seems to be rather more closely based on certain Elizabethan social types than any of th e serious characters are. most modern scholars have e! ven conjectured that he was meant as a parody of Queen Elizabeths chief Comptroller (steward), Sir William Knollys. At any rate, whatever the case may be, Malvolios personality is of such tyrannic importance to Twelfth Night that King James I is said to have renamed the play Malvolio. Certainly Malvolio has many of the characteristics of the Puritans, those representatives of the appear middle-class who were so hateful to aristocratic merrymakers like Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, so looked-down-upon by true aristocrats like Olivia, and so dislike by carefree artists like Feste, or even Shakespeare himself. But despite his priggishness and his self-righteous complaints about Sir Tobys boisterous behavior, Malvolio is not purely a Puritan at all. As Maria, again, notes, hes basically an affectiond [affected] ass - and Olivia, too, sees that he is sick of [with] self-love. This egotistical self-love, as well as his vain ambition, makes him very willing to cast off his severe, Puritan nical ways at the slightest hint that more raucous behavior might give him a good chance to amaze Olivias lover. Even before he receives the anonymous letter Maria plants, Malvolio is deep in luxuriously un- tight-laced daydreams of being get hitched with to his harlot; after he finds the letter, of course, he goes off the deep end entirely, crazily cross-gartering his legs, smiling and kissing his hand at the stupid(p) Olivia, in the mad belief that he might be a suitable suitor for her. Indeed, in this sense Malvolios hydrophobia is no joke-for such extravagant egotism, even more than his earlier, straitlaced pomposity, is truly a form of madness. Fabian We learn little about Fabian in Twelfth Night, beyond the fact that hes a quick-witted, good-natured servant, as fond as Toby and Maria of a good joke but rather more restrained in his pursuit of such pleasures. Hes introduced into the action rather late, and for the most part he comments on the plots which others have set in motion, rather than directly participating. He! does feat to quiet Tobys and Andrews out-of-bounds behavior in the garden scene, however, and he obviously enjoys tormenting poor Cesario in the duel scene. In the end, he bravely and responsibly takes much of the blame for the Malvolio plot onto himself-yet we can be sure that Olivia, knowing Tobys tendencies as a plotter, will not blame the basically innocent Fabian too harshly at all. Minor Characters All we know of the ocean Captain who rescued Viola is that he was kind and friendly, introducing the lady friend as a page to Orsino, and keeping both her whodunit and her clothes for the length of her stay at court as Cesario. As for Orsinos gentlemen, Curio and Valentine, they are the usual courtly servants, elegant, genteel and ever anxious for their rulers best advantage in the world, as well as for the slightest marks of personal prefer from him to themselves. If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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