Twelfth Night: Shakespeare's Comedy of Disguise & Identity

‘Twelfth Night’ is a comedy and it pokes fun at the absurdities of lovers. The only characteristic that all the Shakespearean comedies have in common is the use of disguise. It enables Shakespeare to symbolize one of his favourite themes—the contrast between appearance and reality. The comedy starts and ends with disguise. So, disguise is the central theme of the play.

Mask is a means of disguising, and this disguise may be physical as in the case of Viola or it may be psychological or mental distortion as in the case of duke Orsino and Olivia, which confuses appearance and reality and the characters suffer from illusions and delusions. How beautifully J.H. Summers speaks about ‘Twelfth Night’;

It is all merry dance of maskers and all the characters in it wear masks of one kind or another.

These masks make ‘Twelfth Night’ a comedy of deception: We laugh with characters (not on them); it’s matter of general observation that our laughter is always kind and sympathetic and not satirical.

The disguise of Viola as the page boy (servant of duke) is the most obvious example of physical disguise. This is forced upon her by society—a lovely maiden in an unknown country is a subject to many dangers if she appears there in her real form. Hence, she hid her reality and put a masculine appearance. She disguises herself as Cesario.

Viola's disguise is a deception and several characters in the play fall a victim to it. Duke Orsino and Lady Olivia are deceived by it and in the end, we get the comedy of mistaken identities. Let’s see how ironically masking has deluded the characters in the play. Poor Viola (Cesario) is challenged to a duel for she is taken to be a man. Sebastian (Voila’s brother) is mistaken for Voila (for her facial resemblance) and is brutally assaulted and Lady Olivia gets betrothed to Sebastian because she takes him to be Cesario (Voila in disguise). The disguise also creates difficulties in the way of Viola's love for Duke Orsino; 'he' (Voila in man’s guise—Cesario) could not express her love for the duke. The irony of situation is that Duke has deployed him (her) as a messenger of his love for Olivia which is a barful strife for her. Lady Olivia deceived by Voila’s disguise, falls in love with him (Cesario).

Viola is not the only one who assumes a disguise to hide the reality. Another character in the play wears the mask i.e. Feste. According to J.H Summers;

In the business of masking, Feste is the one professional among a crowd. He is able to penetrate the masks of the others and succeeds in retaining his own.

It is also notable that later in the play, he assumes the disguise of Sir Topas (The curate who administers religion to Malvolio imprisoned in a dark room).

Orsino and Lady Olivia are self-deceived and comic characters for they both confuse ideas with reality. Orsino's idea that he is passionately in love with Olivia and that he cannot live without her is a delusion, a mere self-deception. He has been deluded by the romantic notions of love and fails to realize the truth that he is in love ‘with the luxury of being in love’.

Malvolio and Sir Andrew are both self-deceived victims of their delusions. They are ruled by their mistaken notions of an upper-class gentlemen. Sick of self-love as he is, Malvolio is also sick of his desire to rise in society. Sir Andrew a carpet knight (coward); rightly described by Sir Toby;

an ass-head and a Knave, a thin faced Knave, a gull.

They are both self-deceived and both are the objects of our laughter. Sebastian is the one character in the play who does not try to 'mask' his true identity. Sebastian is the reality of which Cesario is the artful imitation. According to J.H. Summers;

Entrance of Sebastian is what we will call the most dramatic moment in the play.

Viola and Sebastian use their traditional formulas of proof. The audience and the characters on the stage view the physical image of the duality, which had caused the confusion.

His arrival enables Viola and other characters to throw off their respective masks. The lovers are happily paired off and we leave the play with visions of a life which they would live happily together.

It is the clown (Feste) who through the song sung at the end, unmasks the whole proceeding and shows that the audience have just enjoyed a vision of an ideal world, quite remote from the real and actual life. It may be fascinating and delightful but it is not the reality. The lovers have met and Feste announces that present laughter has come to an end.

O Mistress mine where are you roaming?

O stay and hear, your true love's coming,

      That can sing both high and low.

Trip no further pretty sweeting.

Journeys end in lovers' meeting,

      Every wise man's son doth know.

What is love, 'tis not hereafter,

Present mirth, hath present laughter:

      What's to come, is still unsure.

In delay there lies no plenty,

Then come kiss me sweet and twenty:

      Youth's a stuff will not endure.

Mistakes of characters are related to the rich psychological revelations, which are representative of important themes of love and personal relationships. Olivia's love for Cesario is thus a profound mistake but it is remedied by another mistake, that she commits, of mistaking Sebastian for Cesario. It can thus be seen that an analysis of mistakes actually leads us into 'the thematic heart of the play'.

To conclude, we may say that the writer has used different dramatic devices in this play. But we perceive that total impression is quite different from anything previously written by Shakespeare. ‘Twelfth Night’ exhibits in its action the education of a man and a woman through disguise.