Preview

Soliloquy Twelfth Night

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
737 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Soliloquy Twelfth Night
Soliloquy Analysis
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is a comedy of love and betrayal. This play was written in verse which adds a metrical pattern which consists of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter (blank verse). At the start of the trumpets Duke Orsino enters wanting to be loved by Countess Olivia. However, she refuses to be seen for seven years because she misses her father and brother. Meanwhile, after a shipwreck, Viola is found a survivor. Viola disguises herself as a man with the name, Cesario. Within Countess Olivia’s estate, we are introduced to a multitude of new characters: Sir Toby Belch (Olivia’s cousin), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (her wooer), Feste (the fool) and Maria (her chambermaid). Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario …show more content…
For example, “For though my soul disputes well with my sense/ That this may be some error, but no madness, / Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune/ So far exceed all instance, all discourse, / that I am ready to distrust mine eyes” (IV.iii.9-13). This quote shows that Sebastian cannot believe his eyes at meeting such a beautiful lady. This is ironic because he does not know the Countess, yet he is willing to marry her in the following lines. This impacts the audience because it identifies how even though he knows what he is doing isn’t completely right, he still does it in order to ensure that he has an okay future with a beautiful lady, which makes it an overall ironic scene. Within this quote there is an idiom when he states, “Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune” (IV, iii, 11). This quote helps enhance the understanding of the audience and it relates to what is actually happening throughout the scene. When Shakespeare makes Sebastian’s role as this he makes it so Sebastian is a little struck with disbelief and by saying that this may be a flood of fortune by saying may, he is really quite unsure and unable to confirm if what he is saying is true and exact. So by creating this ironic scene and making Sebastian as an unsure figure Shakespeare succeeds in making this a comedy because of the way Sebastion is presented in speech and thought to the audience. This quote also reveals the verse aspect of the book which also shows how he is from a higher class in society because of the way he speaks. Sebastian talks in a poetical manner by stressing some of the words more than others creating a pattern. This soliloquy would also be considered verse because the beginning phrases of each word are capitalized and made so that it rhymes. This is different from a prose which is straight talking and it is natural and
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Love In Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'
    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page

    Love In Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night'

    Twelfth Night is a comedic play written by Shakespeare centered around two twins, Viola and Sebastian. Viola who disguises herself as a eunuch named Cesario falls in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Countess Olivia. When Cesario meets with Olivia, Olivia begins to fall in love with him thinking that she is a boy. Meanwhile, Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house, is tricked by other characters into thinking that Olivia has fallen in love with him. The characters often declare their love for one another through monologues. Throughout the story, Shakespeare effectively uses dramatic speeches to demonstrate love as being uncertain through the characters; Viola, Orsino, and Malvolio.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    twelfth night
    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages

    twelfth night

    While many will agree that Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is critically acclaimed to be one of the most entertaining and well-liked pieces that he has written, there tends to be a discrepancy over how the characters in the play are portrayed when it comes to the importance of gender roles. After reading James C Bulman’s article over the Globe’s more recent performance of Twelfth Night and Shakespeare’s original written version, I realized that there are many ways that this famous piece has been portrayed and each has its own pros and cons.…

    • 953 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night: Quote Analysis
    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page

    Twelfth Night: Quote Analysis

    There is no escape from the horrors that were all around me. Dead bodies floated silently around while the living ones were face to face with death itself fighting until the very end. Others just lost hope and gave up. “How foolish to believe we are more powerful than the sea or the sky” (pg.341). Everything seemed so hopeless but there was something in me that didn’t give up, I wanted to see my dear Halinka so badly and cradle her in my arms, reassuring her that everything will be alright. But the truth is that I myself also need reassuring, but one thing I knew for sure was that I knew that the knight would be a savior.…

    • 192 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Quotes From 'Twelfth Night'
    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Quotes From 'Twelfth Night'

    The lines don’t flow together like other parts of the play. There is no iambic pentameter is these sentences they are either too long, or too short. I think that Shakespeare purposely made these lines uncut and off rhythm for a reason. This reason is that Feste is a fool and is always being witty never making a direct point. Viola is fooling right back and not being entirely serious as well. From a literary stand point having the fool talk in such a manner makes them both out of the box or “party”. It makes sense that Feste talks in such a manner in the play, but I like how Viola’s lines are almost the reiterating the argument that Feste and Viola are very similar characters with their…

    • 952 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Explore the Ways in Which Shakespeare Presents and Develops the Character “Viola” in “Twelfth Night” Focusing on Act 1 Scene 5
    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Explore the Ways in Which Shakespeare Presents and Develops the Character “Viola” in “Twelfth Night” Focusing on Act 1 Scene 5

    “Twelfth Night” is a play written by William Shakespeare in the 17th Century that was supposed to be performed on the twelve days of Christmas. The play is about twins that get separated. Viola one of the twins, lands on an unknown land. She disguises herself as a man to work for Orsino, the duke of the land. She does all this to meet Olivia, the woman Orsino is wooing. While wooing Olivia for Orsino, Olivia starts to fall in love with Cesario (Viola’s male name). Throughout the play Viola starts to fall in love with Orsino as they get closer and closer. This love triangle gets more and more complicated throughout the play until Sebastian, the other twin, appears and marries Olivia. Orsino thinks Cesario has betrayed him until everyone meets and Sebastian and Viola reunite. Orsino, now understanding, realises he has been chasing the wrong woman and marries Viola to her great joy.…

    • 1023 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Parallel Images In Twelfth Night Essay
    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Parallel Images In Twelfth Night Essay

    In Twelfth Night the fundamental plot line of Viola arriving in Illyria, as a result of the shipwreck, and is the catalyst of some of the main comic events within the play. This is achieved through the visual, parallel image of Viola dressed up as her twin brother Sebastian. Her disguise creates hilarious moments of farce such as patterns of ludicrous suits for marriage and a comedic slapstick ‘play within a play’. However Shakespeare also uses parallel imagery within his structure and setting, disassociated from Viola’s disguise, to create comedy.…

    • 1546 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Key Overarching Ideas In Twelfth Night Essay
    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Key Overarching Ideas In Twelfth Night Essay

    In Act 1 Scene 1-3, Shakespeare “Twelfth Night” explores many thematic ideas such as disguise, love and rejection. In Scene 1, Shakespeare explores the idea of disguise and hiding through Viola’s manly disguise as well as Olivia’s withdrawals from the world through her veil. Due to Viola migrating to the land of Illyria, Viola decides that, in that case, she will disguise herself as a young man and seek service with Duke Orsino instead. On the other hand, Olivia withdraws herself from the world by wearing a veil, “She will veiled walk”, hiding her face after her brother died. Scene one also explores the idea of loss of loved ones through the connect Viola and Olivia share to do with losing their brothers. This foreshadows a connection between the two as they both share a very unusual trait in having “a brother’s dead love”. The final idea that Shake spear explores in Scene one is the unrequited love experience through Olivia who…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    How Does Shakespeare Use Deception In Twelfth Night
    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages

    How Does Shakespeare Use Deception In Twelfth Night

    Twelfth Night is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany. It was originally a Catholic holiday but, prior to Shakespeare 's play, had become a day of revelry. Servants often dressed up as their masters. The masquerading that is a frequent part of an Epiphany celebration is of course captured in Viola 's plan to disguise herself as a man. Almost all the in the play are either taken in by another characters disguise or a deception regarding their own identity. The confusions that unravel in amongst it give the audience an urge to want to read on. I think Shakespeare presented these to show that things really are not always what they seem to be, plus to show the consequences of deception. Hence, nearly every character at some points conceals reality behind some type of deception, leading to various consequences. Furthermore, the deception and confusion presented throughout this story makes each character develop an identity with either showing cleverness or madness, while it also makes each character realize the principles towards obtaining love and…

    • 1342 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Hidden Identity In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Hidden Identity In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    William Shakespeare’s works have everlasting significance due to the fact that his plays explore key ideas still relevant in our own time. Shakespeare’s play Twelfth night was written in 1602, as a comedy. It contains ideas and themes that link it closely with society. Twelfth Night explores the idea of love through his characterisation of Viola and Duke Orsino. Andy Fickman’s film modernised Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night through the change of some parts of the play and updating them.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Shakespeare’s plays and poetry have been translated into every language and have been performed all over the world. Shakespeare’s plays have remained at the center of the theatrical repertoire through periods of changing dramatic tastes and they have adapted themselves to different culture and theatrical traditions. William Shakespeare was born in 1564.…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    Insanity In Twelfth Night
    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Insanity In Twelfth Night

    Yet, in Orsino’s case, the reader feels sympathy for the poor guy, as though he is being tricked into doubting and second-guessing his instincts by Viola. While the ones around her suffer from being kept in the dark, Viola is certainly not immune to the effects of her deception. Along with keeping her safe, Viola’s disguise also hinders her from bringing her affection for Orsino into light. This inability to portray her true emotions only thickens the broth of the plot stew that Shakespeare has been concocting since “If music be the food of love, play on” (1.1.1.). After being plagued by darkness and deception for most of the play, the revelation of Viola’s true identity douses the fire of misconstruction and single-handedly overthrows the terrible tyranny of misconception that so violently ruled these humble people for far too many acts. Once her true identity is out in the open for everyone to gaze upon, Orsino wastes no time in having her hand in marriage. Although he knows her true gender, Cesario says to Viola “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never should’st love woman like to me” (5.1.260–261). This resolution would seemingly leave Olivia in the dumps, yet the joyous light cast by Viola’s ability to muster up the strength to shine calls…

    • 1526 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night Observation
    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Twelfth Night Observation

    I have told Joseph that he did the right thing, for all the right reasons, in all the wrong ways.…

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Twelfth Night
    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Persuasive Twelfth Night

    The overall ending of Twelfth Night is subversive, from Malvolio’s uncomfortable promises of revenge to Viola still in her Cesario attire after the grand unveiling of her identity. Feste’s song highlights these ambiguities: it is the only epilogue song with the exception of Love’s Labours Lost which is not celebratory (the latter being overshadowed by death). Feste’s lyrics emphasise the uselessness of material possessions when faced with the onslaught of time, and comes directly after Orsino’s professed desire to see Viola dressed as a queen, suggesting that this is a distraction at best, inherently dissatisfying at worst. The closing declaration that the players will “strive to please you every day” recalls Feste’s position as a professional performer and thus…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night
    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Twelfth Night

    Life is not fair, the characters in Twelfth Night, a play wrote by William Shakespeare, generally speaking, do not get what they deserve. Some of the characters get too much. And it’s unfair to the others, and some get too little. Most of the iniquity happens with the second category. When characters get too little of what they deserve. This essay is going to explain how the characters were cheated out and what they actually deserved.…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night Requited Love
    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Twelfth Night Requited Love

    Simply the thought requited love is enough to send people into a frenzy. When a child catches wind that their schoolyard crush likes them back, little can take their minds off of it. Although after finding out that they truly do not return their love, things turn sour. In the Elizabethan romantic comedy Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare uses the motif of love as a catalyst for madness to show how love can take even the most level headed and prudish person and put them into a lunacy driven haze for requite, which, if not found, often leads to bitterness.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics