LIT-319-X6962 Shakespeare 20EW6
August 16, 2020
Twelfth Night: Masks and Deception
Through life, so many people wear masks, figuratively, when they communicate with others. Many times, they feel like they can’t show their true selves, even to those closest to them, as they don’t want judgments to be made. It is easier to hide the flaws than admit they are there. In Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare uses masking and disguises to illustrate the idea that people are not always what they appear to be, whether it is purposely hiding their appearance, or hiding their true personality.
William Shakespeare uses deception, disguises, and trickery throughout the play by various characters. Besides the literal masking of disguising herself as a man, Viola also hides her feelings towards Orsino, the Duke, for whom she works. Another character who is deceptive is the fool, Feste. His deception is that he is wiser than he comes across. He even says to Lady Olivia not to judge a book by its cover:
Misprision in the highest degree! Lady, cucullus
non facit monachum. That’s as much to say as, I
wear not motley in my brain. Good madonna, give
me leave to prove you a fool.
(Shakespeare. Twelfth Night 1.5.53 – 56)
Besides the hiding behind costumes, other characters cling to versions of themselves that aren’t real. They have a self-deception such as Sir Andrew believing he is a stately gentleman, but he is more of a drunk (Scott 22). There is also Malvolio, who thinks he is above the other servants, when he is their equal. His arrogance is shown especially after he found the note that several others planted, insinuating that Lady Olivia was in love with him (Atkin 85).
In the Elizabethan period, ‘Twelfth Night’, the traditional last day of Christmas parties, was a festival celebrated with music, masked balls, and chaos. Twelfth Night is very much a play about the potential hazards of dressing up, and with its dramatization of the antagonism between the hedonistic, alcoholic and gluttonous Sir Toby Belch and the puritanical steward who longs to discipline him, it is also very much a play about the social implications of festivity (Dobson). During this festival, masks, witty dialogue, drinking, and chaos are parts of the celebration. In the holiday, as well as the play, there are the tricksters who submit their victims to abuse based on their personalities. Festive abuse is a satiric device that characters such as Sir Toby, Fabian and Maria used to play tricks on Sir Andrew and Malvolio (Labriola). Malvolio is pretentious, pompous, and overbearing. He is tricked by Maria into believing Olivia has fallen for him and he will soon become a nobleman through a romance with her (2.3.854-860). Sir Andrew is put into circumstances that highlight his weaknesses. Sir Toby and Fabian convince Sir Andrew that Olivia was trying to make him jealous when she was talking to Cesario (3.2.1420-31). They also pressured him into a confrontation with Cesario for honor reasons (3.2.1435-40).
Twelfth Night influenced Elizabethan culture as it showed how the elements of the Twelfth Night celebration could be construed in a negative manner. Even though the play Twelfth Night is not specifically about the actual celebration, it does represent the idea of how disguises, lying, and deceitfulness of some of the characters can cause physical and mental anguish. Twelfth Night also introduced unfamiliar words to the language during its timeframe, such as lustrous, hob nob, and the phrase ‘to be in stitches’. Lustrous, meaning reflecting light evenly (McQuain, and Malless 134), was used by Festes, disguised as Sir Tobas, while describing a made-up room that Malvolio was prisoner in (4.2.40). Derived from the older hab nab, hob nob is affiliated with the phrase ‘to have or have not’ (McQuain, and Malless 96). Sir Toby said it to Viola/Cesario while discussing Sir Andrew and a duel that Sir Andrew wants (3.4.248 – 49). ‘To be in stitches’, implying laughing uproariously (Martin), is a phrase that is commonly used when describing comedians. When Maria saw that Malvolio took to heart the suggestions in the forged letter to wear yellow cross-gartered stockings, she had to share her delight with Sir Toby and Fabian. She exclaimed to them that in they saw Malvolio, they would be in stitches (3.2.66 – 71).
Considering William Shakespeare wrote Olivia’s character to have a resemblance to Queen Elizabeth, the play should have received rave reviews from her Majesty and the Court. Olivia is a romanticized version of a young Queen Elizabeth (Hotson 132). Both came into power after the deaths of their fathers and brothers. They are strong, independent women in charge of their households. He also wrote the play to please her Majesty, as she desired a play with a variety of music and dances (Hotson 223). Shakespeare’s work began during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but during the time Twelfth Night was being performed, after the Queen’s death, King James I came into power. He was a lover of arts. Within ten days of arriving in London, James insisted that Shakespeare’s troupe come under his own patronage. They were granted a Royal Patent and changed their name to the King’s Men, in honour of James (Mabillard).
One of the literary devices that is prominent in Twelfth Night, is the use of symbolism. Clothes are used to indicate change of gender, such as Viola into Cesario, or change in personality. Feste, the fool, impersonates Sir Topas by changing his clothes, when he goes in to talk to Malvolio. Malvolio puts on the foolish yellow stockings with a cross-garter to become someone he thinks Lady Olivia wants. Another symbolism example is darkness to mean madness. Sir Toby, Fabian, and Maria try to convince Malvolio that he is insane. They claim there is lots of light in the room where they are keeping Malvolio. However, he is tied up and in a dark room. Foreshadowing was also used as a literary element. When Sebastian arrives in Illyria, where Viola is dressed as her twin, the reader knows that it is only a matter of time before her identity is found out.
Another of Shakespeare’s plays, The Taming of the Shrew, uses masking as a theme. There are so many instances of people pretending to be someone else. Lucentio became Cambio to tutor, and woo, Bianca. Tranio transformed into Lucentio to help make ‘Cambio’ into Bianca’s tutor and barter for Bianca’s hand in marriage. The visitor to town pretended to be Lucentio’s (Cambio’s) father, Vincentio, to agree to pay the dowry for Bianca. Although Petruchio doesn’t dress in a disguise to change who he is, he used clothes as one tool in his journey to tame Katherina. On their wedding day, Petruchio showed up late in outrageous clothes, which included an old vest, mismatched boots, and old pants turned inside out (Shakespeare. Taming of the Shrew 3.2.42 – 62).
While researching a modern-day approach to William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, and the theme of masking, I found the Disney movie, Mulan, and the DreamWorks picture She’s the Man, incorporating the same qualities into their main characters as the play did. Both movies, along with the play, have a strong female lead who needs to mask her identity in order to assimilate into male dominated situations.
Mulan is an animated motion picture made in 1998 which uses an interpretation of Shakespeare’s masking and disguise theme. A young woman dresses as a male soldier, to fight in the war for her older, disabled, father (Bancroft, and Cook). While proving herself worthy to be in the army, Mulan falls in love with her superior. In Twelfth Night, Viola uses her ruse for safety as a single woman in a strange land, while Mulan is trying to protect her father from a certain death in the Chinese Army. Although Viola and Mulan have several reasons for their deception, they both find love while under the false front of a male masquerade.
The other movie I found, She’s the Man, is also an interpretation of Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night. She’s the Man concentrates on Viola, who goes to school in place of her twin brother, Sebastian, who has gone to London to play in a band. Viola’s school cut the girls’ soccer team, so she is taking advantage of her brother’s absence to play on the boys’ soccer team at his school. Her roommate is Duke Orsino, who likes Olivia, another student, who happens to be Viola/Sebastian’s school lab partner. Olivia takes a liking to Viola/Sebastian (Fickman). Although an interpretation, there’s a lot of similarities to the original play. The love triangle between Viola, Duke, and Olivia is the same in both works. Most of the characters share the same names between the play and the movie. However, some of the motion picture characters are not necessarily in the same positions as in the play. Malvolio is a tarantula spider, which is a pet to Malcolm Festes. In She’s the Man, Festes doesn’t play the witty fool. He is comparable to the play’s Malvolio, where he is the one in love with Olivia. Other tidbits are that Cesario’s is a restaurant and Illyria is the school name in the movie.
The biggest change to communicate the theme to a contemporary audience is modernizing the language. A passage such as when Olivia says, about Duke Orsino, “Yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble, Of great estate, of fresh and stainless youth.” (Shakespeare, 1.5.548-49), was transformed in the movie to Olivia stating, “I mean, he’s good-looking and everything, but he’s just not the guy for me.” (Fickman). It loses the poetry of Shakespeare and converts the words to a matter-of-fact statement. There are some people that use language to mask parts of themselves. It’s possible to study the dictionary to come off more educated and fit into a crowd that a person normally wouldn’t socialize with. Or, more often, highly educated people may ‘dumb down’ their language to communicate, which is necessary when a doctor needs to describe an intricate medical procedure to a patient.
The theme of masking has several characteristics that make it enduring in contemporary culture. Masking makes it easier for people to hide their feelings, so they can keep their vulnerability. People don’t like to show the worst about themselves, so they keep certain personalities or even opinions to themselves instead of sharing. People have been known to hide behind a façade of bravery, to conceal their weakness. On the other hand, masking can allow people to share their feelings without revealing who they really are. That type of masking is easiest done in written form. There’s also literal masking, which includes hiding facial features or dressing differently. One example for dressing differently is women in the workplace. Women tend to dress more reserved, and may come across as manly, to gain more respect. Another example is the fun of dressing up during Halloween, when children can become superheroes or St. Patrick’s Day, where it seems everyone turns Irish.
Although it can be fun to dress up as someone different or act in an offbeat manner, it can also be hurtful to others once they find out there was lying going on, such as when Malvolio found out that Maria, Sir Toby, Fabian, Sir Andrew, and Feste tried to convince him that he was insane (Shakespeare 5.1.358-401). It went beyond a practical joke, as Malvolio was psychologically abused. When identities are covered up by literal and figurative masking, people get hurt. It could be physical or emotional damage done, but there is definitely destruction. Credibility and trust are lost. Hence, the phrase ‘honesty is the best policy’ rings true.
The value of these plays will not be lost through time. As Shakespeare, his plays, and the themes within his plays have endured over 400 years, they will keep enduring. The characters in his plays are relatable. Not one is perfect, even if they act that way, such as Malvolio, who thought he was a noble type, although he was technically a servant. There are no cookie-cutter characters. Shakespeare uses his themes to bring the characters into situations that are complex, yet are a way of life. He doesn’t tell us what to think; he teaches us how to think. In wrestling with the provocative questions and scenarios Shakespeare created, we question our own assumptions and beliefs, clarify our own thoughts, and become better thinkers (McInnis). Besides real people in real situations, Shakespeare’s plays endure in entertainment. There have been at least 30 film versions of Romeo and Juliet and over 50 films of Hamlet, ranging from cartoon to classic to foreign (Follows). His themes, such as masking, gender roles, vengeance, love, relationships, and more, are relevant to society today. Every person has wished they could be someone else or be loved or wanted to seek justice for a wrongdoing. If a reader digs deep enough, they can see themselves as a character or two in one of Shakespeare’s plays.
Works Cited
Atkin, Graham. Twelfth Night : Character Studies. Continuum, 2008. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=368562&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Bancroft, Tony, and Barry Cook. Mulan. Walt Disney Studios, 1998.
Dobson, Michael. “Festivity, Dressing Up And Misrule In Twelfth Night”. The British Library, 2016, https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/festivity-dressing-up-and-misrule-in-twelfth-night.
Fickman, Andy. She’s The Man. Dreamworks Pictures, 2006.
Follows, Stephen. “How Many Movies Based On Shakespeare Plays Are There?”. Stephen Follows, 2014, https://stephenfollows.com/movies-based-on-shakespeare-plays/. Accessed 15 Aug 2020.
Hotson, Leslie. The First Night Of Twelfth Night. Norwood Editions, 1977.
Labriola, Albert C. “‘Twelfth Night’ and the Comedy of Festive Abuse.” Modern Language Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, 1975, pp. 5–20. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3194261. Accessed 26 July 2020.
Mabillard, Amanda. Shakespeare Q & A: The King’s Men. Shakespeare Online. 20 Aug. 2000. http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/kingsmen.html. 19 July 2020.
Martin, Gary. “‘In Stitches’ – The Meaning And Origin Of This Phrase”. Phrasefinder, 2020, https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/199000.html#:~:text=What%27s%20the%20origin%20of%20the%20phrase%20%27In%20stitches%27%3F,first%20used%20by%20Shakespeare%20in%20Twelfth%20Night%2C%201602. Accessed 2 Aug 2020.
McInnis, Dr David. “Why Shakespeare Still Matters”. Pursuit, 2016, https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/why-shakespeare-still-matters. Accessed 15 Aug 2020.
McQuain, Jeffrey, and Stanley Malless. Coined By Shakespeare. Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1998.
Scott, Robert Owens. William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. Barron’s Educational Series, 1985.
Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, July 12, 2020. https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/the-taming-of-the-shrew/characters-in-the-play/.
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, July 12, 2020. https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/twelfth-night/characters-in-the-play/
Laura J Bembenek, Author 