Stereotypes In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

In Shakespeares twelfth night, the comedian ridicules established stereotypes associated with gender and social hierarchy, ultimately creating a comic effect which can be in multiple layers of depth in the play. He symbolically, through character development and course of action, underlines the ways in which human nature can undermine stereotypes and shows, that these rooted ideas have little to do with the way humans actually turn out to be. This, in turn, creates a comic effect, because all characters are very stereotypically accurate, yet still do not at all fall into their respective categories when it comes to behavioural actions and traits. The definition, according to the Oxford dictionary, of a stereotype is that it is a widely held …show more content…
Malvolio is supposed to be the wise man, the advisor. He is supposed to be the one mentally advanced enough to be above creatures of simple humans. Stereotypically accurate, he looks like an old, wise man and acts as a puritan. Interestingly enough, not only the fact that he seems to be the butt of pretty much any joke made during the entire course of the book, but also the idea that he seems to be rather self-indulgent, as affirmed by Olivia when she calls him ‘sick of self love’, and his obsession with wealth and money contrast these stereotypical character traits, creating a comical effect and symbolise the idea of the twelfth night. Additionally, his inability to improve and grow as a character, even when incarcerated for his obscene behaviour suggests that he is much less wise and superior to the other characters than he thinks he is. In the established ideas of society, Malvolio should be above jokes, and as a Puritan he should not care for material things or futile things like love. The presence of these faults, create a comic effect, but at the same time evoke sympathy and empathy in a modern audience, as we are much more aware of the grave impact bullying and mental torment can have on individuals. Shakespeare uses the anger of the other characters, wanting to ‘make him an ass’, to give the audience something to laugh at, the proletariat a way to laugh at their aristocratic …show more content…
Particularly so that women are intellectually inferior to men, but also, that women tend to be more over the top and dramatic when it comes to emotions on their way to express those. ‘O my poor brother! and so perchance may he be.’, Violas composed way to deal with the idea that her brother may have drowned, is intensely juxtaposed by the overly dramatic and poetic way her brother, Sebastian, deals with the idea of her death, ‘She is drowned already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance once again.’.This negates a couple of gender stereotypes, namely that women talk a lot and when they do it’s overly dramatic and flowery, instead of being concise and to the point. This creates both the effect of twelfth night and induces comedy into the situation, as it creates a ridiculous image of the male actors, all while making fun of aristocratic male figures in particular. This is perhaps why Shakespeare is often spoken of as one of the first feminist writers. Similarly, it’s quite provocative to see that the only person actually able to keep up with the fools wit is Viola, a woman. The juxtaposition of Malvolios inability to interact with the fool in a semi-intellectual manner against Violas obvious ease to keep up with the fools intricate manner of speaking, might be done simply to once again underline the effect of twelfth night and