Disguises andchanges of clothing are central to the plot of Twelfth Night. Whichcharacters in the play spend time in disguise, and how is this thematically important?

Many people in Twelfth Night assumea disguise of one kind or another. The most obvious example is Viola,who puts on the clothing of a man and makes everyone believe thatshe is a male. This disguise causes great sexual confusion, as abizarre love triangle results in which Viola is in love with Orsino,who loves Olivia—who loves Cesario, the male identity that Violaassumes. Thus, by dressing his protagonist in male garments, Shakespeareshows how malleable and self-delusional human romantic attractioncan be.

Another character in disguise is Malvolio, who dressesoddly (in crossed garters and yellow stockings) in the hope of winningOlivia. In his case, the change of clothing suggests his beliefthat altering his wardrobe can lead to an alteration of his socialstatus. When he dreams of being Olivia’s husband, he imagines himselfabove all in a different set of clothes, suggesting that class andclothing are inextricably linked. Later, after Malvolio has beendeclared mad and has been confined to a dark room, Feste, pretendingto be the fictional priest Sir Topas in order to deceive Malvolio,puts on a disguise—even though Malvolio will not be able to seehim since the room is so dark. This scene is particularly suggestive:Feste’s desire to wear a disguise even though his victim won’t seeit implies that the link between clothes and reality goes deeperthan mere appearances. For Feste, at least, the disguise makes theman—in order to be Sir Topas, he must look like Sir Topas. Ultimately,then, Shakespeare raises questions about human identity and whethersuch classifications as gender and class status are fixed entitiesor can be changed with a simple shift of wardrobe.

TwelfthNight, the holiday after which the play is named, was celebratedas a festival in which everything was turned topsy-turvy, with traditionalsocial roles and behavior temporarily suspended. Are things similarly turnedupside down in Illyria?

One could argue that normal situations areturned upside down in Illyria in several ways. First, there is theprevalence of disguise and the ambiguity of gender roles. The centralcharacter in this regard is the protagonist, Viola. After she arriveson Illyrian shores, she takes on the disguise of a young man, thusat once concealing her identity and reversing her normal genderrole. This reversal leads to a most confusing love life, in whichshe winds up loving a man and being loved by a woman who do notrealize that she is a woman.

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Meanwhile, the play also depicts attempts to alter theestablished systems of class and authority. Malvolio, for instance,dreams of marrying Olivia and gaining authority over his socialsuperiors, such as Sir Toby. The servants, whom Malvolio does command,get authority over Malvolio himself by being able to lock him inthe dark room as a madman. Meanwhile, Malvolio’s antagonist, Maria,succeeds where he fails by managing to marry Sir Toby and therebyrising from her common birth to a noble rank. Indeed, Malvolio’sdifficulties seem to stem from his unwillingness to be abnormalenough. He dreams of escaping the rigid class system that makeshim a servant, but otherwise he is a paragon of respectability andproper behavior. These qualities, in the topsy-turvy world of the play,cause his downfall, because they earn him the enmity of Sir Tobyand Maria. Finally, all these events take place within a setting inwhich madness and anarchy are everywhere—Sir Toby’s drunkennessand disruptive behavior, Malvolio’s supposed insanity, Feste’s clowning,and the general perplexity caused by the doubling of Viola and Sebastian.All in all, the play is permeated with a sense of joyful confusion,in which nothing can be taken for granted.

How is romanticlove depicted in the play? What points does Shakespeare seem tobe making about romance?

Despite Twelfth Night’scomic action and happy ending, Shakespeare paints an ambiguous pictureof romance and infatuation in the play. Love is generally representedas something sudden and irresistible, something that attacks itsvictim from the outside in a fashion similar to a disease. Likea disease, love is extremely difficult to get rid of or cure. Peopleseem to suffer painfully from it—or at least they claim to suffer.Orsino describes it as an 'appetite' that must be satisfied (I.i.1–3);Olivia calls love a 'plague' (I.v.265); Violasighs that '[m]y state is desperate for my master’s love' (II.ii.35).Because love makes those who suffer from it desperate, it has thepotential to result in violence, as in Act V, scene i, when Orsino,thinking that Cesario is Olivia’s lover, threatens to kill him.At this point, the play is only a few delicate steps away from turning intoa tragedy—a testament to how violent and terrible the power of lovecan be.

At the same time, however, Shakespeare subverts theseimages of love as a terrible disease or appetite, suggesting thatit may not be as serious as characters like Olivia and Orsino think.Both of them tend to be melodramatic and self-centered, and bothseem more interested in being in love than in anyparticular love interest. This egotism is apparent in how readilythe two switch the objects of their affection near the play’s close:Orsino loses Olivia but happily takes up with Viola, while Oliviagladly exchanges a pretend man, Cesario, for a real one in Sebastian.The ease with which these supposedly lovesick characters jump fromone love interest to another suggests that love may be more of agame than anything else—and that, like everything else in TwelfthNight, it should not be taken too seriously.