Key Moments
{ Viola } Act 1 Scene 2:
Viola speaks with the Captain. She believes
Sebastian has drowned and decides to disguise
as a eunuch.
Adjectives Act 1 Scene 4:
1. Astute Cesario is now employed by Orsino. Orsino
2. Resolute orders Cesario to woo Olivia for him.
3. Resourceful
Act 1 Scene 5:
4. Witty
Cesario meets Olivia, who falls in love with
5. Charismatic
‘him’.
6. Tactful
7. Perceptive Act 2 Scene 2:
8. Tenacious Cesario receives Olivia’s ring and realises that
9. Self-effacing she has fallen in love with him.
Act 2 Scene 4:
Key Phrases Cesario and Orsino talk about unrequited love.
Symbolises the theme of deception and Act 3 Scene 1:
disguise Cesario meets Feste. Olivia tries to woo
Cesario, who rejects her.
Embodies the spirit of Twelfth Night by adding
to the play’s chaotic nature Act 3 Scene 4:
Sir Andrew challenges Cesario. Antonio defends
Emphasises the theme of unrequited love,
Cesario. Viola is left wondering if Sebastian is
triggering the love triangle
alive.
Takes on the role of the Shakespearean long-
Act 5:
lost twin character
The twins are reunited. Orsino proposes.
Symbolises the fluidity of gender roles
Represents the complexity of love Quotes
Embodies the theme of self-realization and “Conceal me what I am…
love’s transformative power For such disguise… shall become
The form of my intent.”
Surrogate wooer
• Encapsulates her hidden identity
Her role is to shake both Orsino and Olivia out • Foreshadows (?) her loss of control over
of their obsessive attachment to lost emotional the consequences of her disguise
causes and make them feel the flesh and blood • Viola’s introduction- the audience does
reality of real passion not know her name (and will not until
Viola’s brave rededication to love in the face of Sebastian says it) and so cannot be sure
she isn’t Olivia; Olivia and Viola are
bereavement makes Olivia’s over-reaction look
linked by mourning for a brother
absurd, just as the strength of her love eclipses
Orsino’s tired overtures
“Diana’s lip…
… shrill and sound”
• Mythical allusion- gender ambiguity
, • Homoerotic subtext
• Sibilance emphasises femininity- Orsino “Lady, you are the cruell’st she alive
uses this as Olivia has sworn off men If you will lead these graces to the grave
• Nesting doll effect of dramatic irony And leave the world no copy.”
• Confusing nature of disguise • Poetic blazon mimics Shakespeare’s
• Orsino offers Cesario the chance ‘live as own sonnets- reveals the poetic and
freely as thy lord’ - dramatic irony in that hyperbolic nature of love and lust
she wants to share in his life, but not in • Contrast to Orsino’s language; genuine
the way he thinks and advanced poetry vs clichéd and
courtly
“Yet, a barful strife!
Who’ever I woo, myself would be his wife.” “With adorations, fertile tears,
• Aside- creates a unique connection With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire”
between Viola and the audience • Natural imagery and anaphora to portray
• Rhyming couplets encapsulates her a love that is unrequited, intense,
dilemma obsessive, idealised
“He is very well favoured and he speaks very “Make me a willow cabin at your gate…
shrewishly” And make the babbling gossip of the air
• Dramatic irony of Malvolio noting Cry out ‘Olivia!’…”
Cesario’s gender ambiguity, but writing • Natural imagery- her love is simple and
off his femininity as a product of youth truthful love (for Orsino)
• Cesario appeals to Olivia because Viola
can understand the needs of other
“Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable women- homoerotic subtext
beauty- I pray you tell me if this be the lady of • 1st person: Viola project her own feelings
the house, for I never saw her.” for Orsino; to Olivia appear as a
• Viola’s ambivalence towards her role as confession from a suitor, not a
surrogate wooer for Orsino is seen in messenger
how she anticlimactically breaks off • Mythical allusion- Echo and Narcissus
(dash) a prepared poetic apostrophe • ‘Willow cabin’ symbolises mourning and
• Irony in how it is Viola’s own voice, her unrequited love
subtly witty remarks, that is most
attractive to Olivia
• Comically alternates between the “Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness”
prepared eulogy and deflating • Personification/apostrophe- she
commentary laments her lack of control
• She turns predictable and tired
romantic gestures into an occasion for
lively wit and real emotional contact “As I am man…
As I am woman…”
• Parallel syntax reflects the dilemma
“I am not what I play”
caused by her disguise and duality
• Lexicon of theatre reflects the nesting
doll effect of gender presentation
{ Viola } Act 1 Scene 2:
Viola speaks with the Captain. She believes
Sebastian has drowned and decides to disguise
as a eunuch.
Adjectives Act 1 Scene 4:
1. Astute Cesario is now employed by Orsino. Orsino
2. Resolute orders Cesario to woo Olivia for him.
3. Resourceful
Act 1 Scene 5:
4. Witty
Cesario meets Olivia, who falls in love with
5. Charismatic
‘him’.
6. Tactful
7. Perceptive Act 2 Scene 2:
8. Tenacious Cesario receives Olivia’s ring and realises that
9. Self-effacing she has fallen in love with him.
Act 2 Scene 4:
Key Phrases Cesario and Orsino talk about unrequited love.
Symbolises the theme of deception and Act 3 Scene 1:
disguise Cesario meets Feste. Olivia tries to woo
Cesario, who rejects her.
Embodies the spirit of Twelfth Night by adding
to the play’s chaotic nature Act 3 Scene 4:
Sir Andrew challenges Cesario. Antonio defends
Emphasises the theme of unrequited love,
Cesario. Viola is left wondering if Sebastian is
triggering the love triangle
alive.
Takes on the role of the Shakespearean long-
Act 5:
lost twin character
The twins are reunited. Orsino proposes.
Symbolises the fluidity of gender roles
Represents the complexity of love Quotes
Embodies the theme of self-realization and “Conceal me what I am…
love’s transformative power For such disguise… shall become
The form of my intent.”
Surrogate wooer
• Encapsulates her hidden identity
Her role is to shake both Orsino and Olivia out • Foreshadows (?) her loss of control over
of their obsessive attachment to lost emotional the consequences of her disguise
causes and make them feel the flesh and blood • Viola’s introduction- the audience does
reality of real passion not know her name (and will not until
Viola’s brave rededication to love in the face of Sebastian says it) and so cannot be sure
she isn’t Olivia; Olivia and Viola are
bereavement makes Olivia’s over-reaction look
linked by mourning for a brother
absurd, just as the strength of her love eclipses
Orsino’s tired overtures
“Diana’s lip…
… shrill and sound”
• Mythical allusion- gender ambiguity
, • Homoerotic subtext
• Sibilance emphasises femininity- Orsino “Lady, you are the cruell’st she alive
uses this as Olivia has sworn off men If you will lead these graces to the grave
• Nesting doll effect of dramatic irony And leave the world no copy.”
• Confusing nature of disguise • Poetic blazon mimics Shakespeare’s
• Orsino offers Cesario the chance ‘live as own sonnets- reveals the poetic and
freely as thy lord’ - dramatic irony in that hyperbolic nature of love and lust
she wants to share in his life, but not in • Contrast to Orsino’s language; genuine
the way he thinks and advanced poetry vs clichéd and
courtly
“Yet, a barful strife!
Who’ever I woo, myself would be his wife.” “With adorations, fertile tears,
• Aside- creates a unique connection With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire”
between Viola and the audience • Natural imagery and anaphora to portray
• Rhyming couplets encapsulates her a love that is unrequited, intense,
dilemma obsessive, idealised
“He is very well favoured and he speaks very “Make me a willow cabin at your gate…
shrewishly” And make the babbling gossip of the air
• Dramatic irony of Malvolio noting Cry out ‘Olivia!’…”
Cesario’s gender ambiguity, but writing • Natural imagery- her love is simple and
off his femininity as a product of youth truthful love (for Orsino)
• Cesario appeals to Olivia because Viola
can understand the needs of other
“Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable women- homoerotic subtext
beauty- I pray you tell me if this be the lady of • 1st person: Viola project her own feelings
the house, for I never saw her.” for Orsino; to Olivia appear as a
• Viola’s ambivalence towards her role as confession from a suitor, not a
surrogate wooer for Orsino is seen in messenger
how she anticlimactically breaks off • Mythical allusion- Echo and Narcissus
(dash) a prepared poetic apostrophe • ‘Willow cabin’ symbolises mourning and
• Irony in how it is Viola’s own voice, her unrequited love
subtly witty remarks, that is most
attractive to Olivia
• Comically alternates between the “Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness”
prepared eulogy and deflating • Personification/apostrophe- she
commentary laments her lack of control
• She turns predictable and tired
romantic gestures into an occasion for
lively wit and real emotional contact “As I am man…
As I am woman…”
• Parallel syntax reflects the dilemma
“I am not what I play”
caused by her disguise and duality
• Lexicon of theatre reflects the nesting
doll effect of gender presentation
