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Symbols and motifs are key to understanding Twelfth Night as a play and identifying Shakespeare's social and political commentary. Death. Although no actual deaths occur in Twelfth Night, death haunts this play throughout. At the beginning, Olivia is mourning a dead brother. Sebastian and Viola have just survived a shipwreck, and each spends ...
Madness. No one is truly insane in Twelfth Night, yet a number of characters are accused of being mad, and a current of insanity or zaniness runs through the action of the play. After Sir Toby and Maria dupe Malvolio into believing that Olivia loves him, Malvolio behaves so bizarrely that he is assumed to be mad and is locked away in a dark room.
Feast of Misrule: Twelfth Night takes its name from an English holiday celebrated on January 5, the so-called "twelfth night of Christmas" or the Eve of the Feast of the Epiphany. In Renaissance England, Twelfth Night was known as a "feast of misrule." For the day, kings and nobles were to be treated as peasants, and peasants as kings and nobles.
Sebastian is noble and capable of strong, deeply felt emotion, just like his sister. The constant powerful love he shows while grieving and when reunited with Viola contrasts Orsino's and Olivia's relatively frivolous emotions. He is also the only major character in the play who never engages in deception.
English character archetypes. Yesterday in my literature class, our professor was telling us about the American character archetype of the frontiersman who's always one step ahead of civilization, the real cowboy or Daniel Boone types who were inspired by James Fennimore Cooper's Natty Bumpo.
The play consists of two plots: the separation and ‘adventures’ of Viola and Sebastian, and the gulling of Malvolio. These create their own ripples – for example, Olivia and Orsino both falling for Viola/Cesario, which lead to further complications and revelations. STRUCTURE, FORM AND LANGUAGE. Twelfth Night: AS & A2.
Moreau in The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells; Victor in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley; Example #12. Everyman Archetype. Such types of archetypes are common people, recognizable and identifiable with common people, and often stay grounded in the realities. They are relatable and common yet have a strong sense of being superior to others.
