Gender Roles In Twelfth Night

“Nothing that is so is so,” states the fool Feste while looking at Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, a double for Cesario (IV.i.9). This singular quotes embodies the idea that gender identity is fictional in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, and that homoerotic desires are natural to the human body and mentality. Throughout this play, many characters are introduced to having homoerotic desires: Orsino for Viola dressed as Cesario, Sebastian for Antonio, and Olivia for Viola dressed as Cesario. Most provocative is the homoerotic desire between Maria and Olivia. Olivia, the lady of her house, is the employer of lady-in-waiting Maria, who serves Olivia with her best intentions in mind. Olivia feels a dutiful comfort with Maria, proven through
Sebastian, however, tells Olivia she is “betrothed both to a maid and man” (V.i.263). Although one would assume Sebastian was talking about Viola dressed as Cesario, some clues show readers that Sebastian might have meant that Olivia had desire for both her maid, Maria, and a man, Cesario. Sebastian tells Olivia she would have “been contracted to a maid;” according to The Oxford English Dictionary, being contracted out meant to be betrothed, forcing readers to envision Olivia fulfilling a legal contract to do with love with her maid Maria (V.i.261). This comes right after Sebastian calls Olivia a “lady,” reminding readers of Maria being a lady-in-waiting (V.i.258). Sebastian also mentions that Olivia’s “nature to her bias drew,” or that, according to the textual notes in Twelfth Night, “nature followed her normal inclination” (V.i.260). This passage embodies Charles’ belief that erotic appeal is not inherent to only a singular sex, but rather can be redefined for all people to be connected sexually to all genders. Charles explains how homoeroticism in Twelfth Night should be perceived, while this passage proves that there can be multiple erotic attractions between characters at one time, including homoerotic