Identity In Elie Wiesel's Twelfth Night

People are only given certain rights and freedom entitled to their status and identity. But what if they go beyond themselves and their status? What benefits, if any, would they get? Throughout the semester, several texts studied illustrate how disguise, changing people’s appearance or position temporarily, could provide much power and versatility to the individuals. Even though these benefits are used in different manners for different means, these additional benefits are all provided through disguising one’s self to another superficial identity. In Shakespeare’s literature Twelfth Night, disguise grants the protagonist, Viola, a chance to survive in the foreign land of Illyria. As Shakespeare portrays, women are too vulnerable to live …show more content…
In the concentration camps, some prisoners are conscripted by the Nazis to police other prisoners and they don’t have to work in certain labour work as the others. These conscripted prisoners, or Kapos, are nothing different than other prisoners; they are all forced into the camps because of their ethnicity. However, some Kapos treat their fellow prisoners as cruelly as the German Nazis and they enjoy the process of torturing people the same race as them and watch them suffer high above. Idek, Wiesel’s Kapo, often beats Wiesel up for his own entertainment and he even punishes Wiesel for discovering his dirty, immoral act he has with a girl (ordering hundreds of prisoners to work on a rest day to have sex in the factory). Disguise implies a figurative meaning because the Kapos are not having a total makeover to cover up their gender or appearance. They are “disguised” by the non-permanent status given to them and their new status brings them authority over their peers and freedom to be exempted from some …show more content…
In the film, the guards dress up as real-life prison guards who wear unified shades and uniforms, and they use the props to the full potential as they immerse themselves into the role deeply. They are both given an appearance makeover and a temporary assignment and they seem to be disguised completely from what they truly are: some university-aged students being a part of a research experiment, the same as the prisoners. Yet, these prison guards transform into different people when they put on their costumes and treat other experiment individuals cold-heartedly. The uniforms act as a mask that provides them something to hide behind while stripping the prisoners’ rights away. They are also able to adapt their role much faster with the disguise. Although the guards attempt to justify their immoral behaviours, their disguise indeed provides them with overflowing power, freedom, and ability to do the things they wouldn’t be able or dared to do and the chance of misusing them for unethical