The Theme Of Deception In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

The population of Elizabethan England experienced an unprecedented increase in social mobility during the period in which Shakespeare composed his plays. Twelfth Night reflects this fluidity between classes as Shakespeare reduces knights to fools and elevates supposed servants to the status of worthy suitors. In Act 3, Scene 1, Shakespeare inverts the social statuses of the Countess Olivia and the servant Cesario in order to explore the theme of deception. From the outset of the play, Shakespeare depicts Countess Olivia as a serious and withdrawn woman who vows to veil her face for seven years in mourning. Olivia’s behavior in this excerpt, however repudiates that initial perception. Shakespeare characterizes her as impulsive and irrational once she falls in love with Cesario. In the beginning of the excerpt, Olivia asks …show more content…
The Oxford English Dictionary reveals that during Shakespeare’s time, the verb to abuse could mean “to deceive” ("abuse, v"). Olivia and Cesario’s relationship is brimming with deception. Olivia misleads Cesario by sending him the ring while Cesario misleads Olivia by disguising his true nature: that of the gentlewoman Viola. This theme of deception is evident throughout the play as characters lie profusely and disguise themselves routinely. By connecting it to the idea of social class, Shakespeare prompts his audience to treat characters with suspicion. Social class is not always evident and straightforward and characters often behave themselves in contradiction to the rules and perceptions of their class. There is a constant ambiguity between appearance versus reality in Twelfth Night, supported by characters’ penchants for deception. Shakespeare reverses Olivia and Cesario’s classes to clarify this deception to his audience and, thereby, encourage them to more carefully consider what is true and what is not in the