Gender roles in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'

Throughout the passage taken from Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ several themes both in correspondence and disparate from the often comedic tone of the play are prevalent. An interesting dynamic is immediately displayed in the passage through the relationship and dialogue between major and minor character. Viola, a predominant and strong character in the play, is engaging in dialogue with Antonio who although when analysed has complexity, is seemingly a minor character. This brings about the theme of power relationships and specifically gender within the comedic realm represented intricately in this passage.
Viola carries and element of intrinsic power throughout the passage, evident in the stage direction ‘offers Antonio money’ It may be seen that at the time of publishing, possession of means and value were majority reserved for males in the female subservient Elizabethan period. This is correspondent with a form of comedic absurdity, the ability to act as the opposite gender and toy with the idea of masculinity and femininity. This reflects back upon Viola’s androgyny and none gender binary throughout the rest of the text and is successfully represented in the chosen extract .The act of her offering money to Antonio whilst in a female state may be encompassing and reflecting her time as Cesario, whereby she had power in a time of patriarchy. This gender fluidity frees Viola from the restraints of gendered labels and is further reinforced when Viola articulates ‘I hate ingratitude more in a man’ this negation may be viewed as commonly attributed to men in a time of female demure attitude. This also provides however, a contradictory dynamic as she refers to Antonio as ‘sir’ as a marker of respect, showing in this particular time and space she is removing herself from any indication of being a man and is acting from a very much female perspective, indicating she moves freely between genders to suit her situation. This statement on her part of all the things she