Essay on Twelfth Night A Gender-Bending Journey - 1574 Words

Twelfth Night: A Gender-Bending Journey Shakespeare enjoyed writing passionate plays about young lovers, but, after a while, the formula became exhausted and the Bard was forced to dig deeper, creatively speaking. Twelfth Night is an example of a Shakespearean love tale with a slight twist to keep things interesting. This play was the â€Å"Tootsie† of its time. Twelfth Night takes the audience on a gender-bending journey, while maintaining all the elements of true love throughout. At one point, Olivia wears a disguise in order to take on the traditionally male role of wooing her romantic interest, Cesario, who is also disguised. Although Olivia flirts with Cesario and tells him that his â€Å"scorn† only reveals his hidden love, she is†¦show more content†¦Yet, Olivias attraction seems to stem exactly from the more feminine characteristics like Cesarios beautiful scorn and angry lip (136-137). Olivias words allow an audience, particularly a modern one, to perhaps read her as suspecting or even knowi ng that Cesario is female, yet choosing to love him/her anyway. Olivias description of Cesarios beauty, both here and upon their first encounter, praises typically feminine qualities, but curiously doesnt question Cesarios gender. The comparison of love to guilt tempts the readers mind to wonder if Olivia is guilty about her love for such female attributes. Olivias oath on maidenhood also tempts the reader toward a lesbian reading by hinting that Cesario would also understand maidenhood (141). When Olivia declares that not even wit nor reason(143) can hide her passion, she suggests that she would love Cesario even if it were against logic, as a same sex couple would be. Despite the unacceptability of a same sex romance in Shakespeares time, the hints toward this reading seem visible enough to have been thought of then as well as today. Although probably not intended to the extent of a lesbian courtship, the situation of a woman wooing another woman presents a comical picture for the audience, perhaps even more so in the Elizabethan era with two m ale actors wooing each other as women.Show MoreRelatedProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pagesneither one has authority over the other, but let s say there is a situation where the two of them disagree as to either direction or quality of work. That puts the functional employee in an awkward position. Any employee will have the tendency of bending toward the individual who signs his or her promotion and evaluation form. This can influence the project manager into recommending an evaluation below par regardless of how the functional employee performs. There is also the situation where the employee