Deception, Mistaken Identity, Disguise in Twelfth Night

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To what extent does deception, disguise and mistaken identity add to the intensity of comedy in Twelfth Night?

 As in most romantic comedies, in Twelfth Night different forms of deception and disguise are used in order to make the play more entertaining. The dramatic conventions deception, disguise and mistaken identity are key in developing the intensity of comedy because of the humour that often springs from them. Viola disguising herself as a man is significant in raising ideas about love, status and power, sometimes challenging Elizabethan norms to become a source of comedy for the audience. The convention of men playing woman parts intensifies the comedic value of Twelfth Night for the audience as gender changes are central to the plot. Viola’s disguise deceives the other characters, she innocently leads them to believe she is a man and this becomes a focal point of drama and comedy as the audience witness Viola’s disguise effective. Humour is particularly created through Olivia’s reaction to this deception when she confesses her love to Cesario who the audience know, ironically, is also a woman. The sub plot, the trick played on Malvolio, highlights comedy in the form of mockery due to deception and disguise, focalised around dramatic irony- the entertainment of the plot relies on the audiences knowledge. Malvolio’s adoption of the behaviour “strange, stout and dressed in yellow stockings cross-gartered” creates comedy through the use of satire of humiliating him. However, although satire is usually perceived as humorous, this could be interpreted as rather cynical towards the end of the play due to prolonging the revenge just to watch Malvolio suffer, creating entertainment for Sir Toby and Feste. At the beginning of the play Shakespeare reveal’s that Viola wants to disguise herself as a man in order to achieve a higher status in Illyria after she is
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