Fooling and Disguise in Shakes essays

Fooling and Disguise in Shakes essays Fooling and Disguise in Shakespeares The Twelfth Night or What You Will The Twelfth Night, or What You Will was written by William Shakespeare during the sixteenth century. This play is full of romance, comedy, and especially fooling and disguise. The act of fooling is seen through many characters of the play such as, Viola, Olivia, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, and of course Feste, the most important and intelligent character of the play. Shakespeares, The Twelfth Night, or What You Will, portrays a great significance of fooling and disguise through the main characters. Viola is a great example of disguise in the play. Her boy disguise is an emotional catalyst for everyone else in the play. Acting as Cesario, Viola fools everyone. She is a fool caught between Orsino and Olivia. While she is falling in love with Orsino, she is wooing Olivia as Cesario. She is full of intelligence, wit, and charm, which makes her a great fool. This is because the meaning of a fool in this play is an intelligent person who brings awareness to themselves and others. At the end of this play, Viola does bring out awareness in herself and others, such as Orsino. Olivia, the countess, is a great fool of the play as well. She fools everyone in the story when at the beginning, she mourns for her dead brother, but by the end she is more concerned with her love for Cesario, a male disguise for Viola. At the end, she realizes that she actually in love with a woman, disguised as a man, and then quickly reverses her love to someone she does not even know, Violas twin brother. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria are a great team in the play. Sir Toby is Olivias uncle and his companion is Sir Andrew. Maria is Olivias servant, a lady in waiting. These three are the fools and the pranksters of the play. Sir Toby keeps Sir Andrew around only for his money, and in return, uses the money to get drunk. Sir ...