Twelfth Night Essay, Research Paper

Off the coast of the country of Illyria, a storm has caused a terrible shipwreck. A young woman named Viola is swept onto the Illyrian shore. Finding herself alone in a strange land, she assumes that her twin brother, Sebastian has been drowned in the wreck, and tries to figure out what sort of work she can do. A friendly sea captain tells her about a local nobleman, Count Orsino who is currently courting a beautiful but reluctant noblewoman, Lady Olivia. Since Lady Olivia refuses to talk with any strangers, Viola can’t look for work with her. But she decides to disguise herself as a man, taking on the name of “Cesario,” and goes to work in the household of Count Orsino.

Viola/”Cesario” quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino, and he makes “Cesario” his page. Viola/”Cesario” finds herself falling in love with Orsino–a difficult love to pursue, as Orsino believes her to be a man. But when Orsino sends “Cesario” to deliver Orsino’s love messages to the disdainful Olivia, Olivia herself falls for the beautiful young “man.” Now Viola/”Cesario” is caught between a rock and a hard place. Viola/”Cesario” loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Viola/”Cesario”–and everyone is miserable.

Meanwhile, we meet the other members of Olivia’s household: her rowdy uncle, Sir Toby his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia’s witty serving-woman, Maria ; Feste the clever clown of the house; and the dour, prudish steward of Olivia’s household, Malvolio. When Sir Toby and the others take offense at Malvolio’s constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria engineers a practical joke to make Malvolio think that Olivia is in love with him. They also trick him into behaving so strangely that Olivia thinks he has gone insane, allowing the gleeful Maria, Toby and the rest to lock Malvolio into a small, dark room for his “treatment” and torment him at their will.

Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria, along with his friend and protector Antonio When Sebastian coincidentally approaches Olivia’s grounds, cases of mistaken identity begin to pile up, and nearly everybody winds up getting into a fight or thinking that someone has betrayed him or her. In the midst of all this, Olivia, encountering Sebastian and thinking he is “Cesario,” asks him to marry her and, to her great joy, finds him willing at last.

Eventually, Viola and Sebastian wind up in the same place at the same time, and all is revealed. Orsino realizes that he loves Viola/”Cesario,” now that he knows she is a woman, and asks her to marry him. We discover that Sir Toby and Maria have also been married somewhere private. Finally, someone remembers Malvolio, and lets him out of the dark room. The trick is revealed in full, and the embittered Malvolio storms off, leaving the happy couples to their celebration.