What are the disguises in twelfth night?

Question

I only know two. Viola pretending to be a man and Festes pretending to be a priest. What are some other disguises.. because i need a third.

Answer 1

Twelfth Night, "there's something in it that is deceivable". Disguise is very important as a theme in the Twelfth Night. In fact, disguise is a crucial plot to the play. It is the thread which runs through the play from start to end and holds it all together. Yet, paradoxically along the way there are many problems, deceptions and illusions, providing a comment on human behaviour and creating comedy.

Women's parts were played by boy actors in Shakespeare's day, so the audience would have found special sophistication in Viola's part: a boy dressing up as a woman who, in the play disguises herself as a man.

You can talk about the significance of disguise from two points of view: 1) how it affects the plot, and 2) how it works thematically. Viola's disguise is a major plot device. Wearing her disguise, she comes into the middle of the impasse between Orsino and Olivia. When she removes her disguise, the conflict is resolved. Trace how the complications arise step by step as a consequence of her disguise. Incidental disguises, such as Feste's as Sir Topas, help to unify the various plots.

Thematically, the use of disguise reminds us that people are not always what they appear to be. Discuss the way Orsino "disguises" himself when he claims to be in love with Olivia. Malvolio and Andrew also attempt to disguise their true natures. You might discuss the way the latter two are even disguised from themselves, that is, they are self-deceived.

Both plots deal with the exposure of human folly. In the Romantic Plot, we see the mad behavior produced by the excesses of love. Discuss the types of foolishness exhibited by Orsino and Olivia. The Low Comic Plot deals mainly with the types of foolishness engendered by pride and vanity. Give examples.

Another theme that unifies the plots is the idea that love is madness. Pick several characters from each plot and show how their mad behavior is dictated by love (which can also mean self-love, remember). For example, you might talk about Olivia's love for Viola, Antonio's love for Sebastian, and Malvolio's love for himself, and how each behaves foolishly as a consequence.

From the evidence of this play, it appears that Shakespeare accepted and forgave human foolishness. He saw that everybody was driven to behave foolishly at times. Give an overview of the reasons people behave foolishly in Twelfth Night. Mention that even the noble characters are prone to foolishness. Still, Shakespeare did not excuse such behavior. He saw it as a problem that needed to be set right. In the end of the play, the fools are all exposed. The characters who see beyond their past foolishness are rewarded. Those who can't (Malvolio in particular) continue to suffer. So you could say that Shakespeare seemed to view foolishness as an unavoidable part of human existence. But he seemed to regard it as a forgivable sin.

Answer 2

Disguise In Twelfth Night

Answer 3

Twelfth Night Theme

Answer 4

Here is a custom written review of 12th night and other works of Shakespeare I read at Writengine, hope this would be of some help