Analysis Of Shakespeare

Meanwhile, Shakespeare gives us all the other funny characters. These are the characters that represent the common people, and they are adored by the lower class, which made up a great part of the audience. Olivia?s rowdy uncle, Sir Toby Belch; his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia?s witty serving-woman, Maria; Fester, the clever clown of the house; and the dour, prudish steward of Olivia?s household, Malvolio.

Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria, along with his friend and protector Antonio. When Sebastian coincidentally approaches Olivia?s grounds, cases of mistaken identity begin to pile up, and nearly everyone winds up getting into a fight or thinking that someone has betrayed him or her. In the midst of all this, Olivia encountering Sebastian, and thinking he is ?Cesario?, asks him to marry her, to her great joy, finds him willing at last.

Eventually, Viola and Sebastian wind up in the same place at the same time, and all is revealed. Orsino realizes that he loves Viola, and now that he knows that she is a woman, he asks her to marry him. Sir Toby and Maria were also married somewhere private, and finally someone remembers Malvolio who was locked in a dark room under Olivia?s order who was lead to believe he was insane by Maria?s trick. When he finds out about everything, he storms off leaving the happy couples to their celebration.

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare?s ?transvestites comedies?, a play that features female protagonists who, for some reason, have to disguise themselves as young men. It is important to remember that in Shakespeare?s day, all the parts were played by men, so Viola would actually have been a boy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a boy. This is another reason that made the play so entertaining and interesting at the same time. The play met the expectations of the varied audience of Shakespeare?s time. It was entertaining for the lower class, whose members loved characters like Maria, Toby and Malvolio playing tricks on each other. And it was interesting for the upper class that wanted to observe the characters? moral and intellectual conflicts, like Violas disguising as a guy, and leading the life of a man with woman?s feelings and in love with her master.