Twelfth Night: Characters (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Twelfth Night: Characters

Each of the characters in Twelfth Night influence how we respond to the themes of the text. When revising Twelfth Night, try to focus not only on the key traits of each character but also on how they interact with one another.

Ideas to consider when discussing characters include: 

• How characters are established 

• How characters are presented: 

  • Their physical appearance

  • Their actions and motives

  • What they say (and do not say)

  • How they interact with others

  • What others say and think about them 

• How far the characters conform to or subvert stereotypes 

Below you will find character profiles of:

Main characters

• Viola / “Cesario”

• Duke Orsino

• Countess Olivia

• Malvolio

• Feste

Other characters

• Sebastian

• Sir Toby Belch

• Sir Andrew Aguecheek

• Maria

• Antonio

Viola / “Cesario”

• The protagonist of the play, Viola, is an intelligent and resourceful young woman forced to adapt to life in the strange new land of Illyria

• At the start of the play, Viola is shipwrecked and believes her twin brother, Sebastian, has died at sea:

  • She is already an orphan and reels from the loss of Sebastian, but the audience learns from her first appearance that she is able to make the best of her situation

  • Her disguise as a man, Cesario, denotes her courage and resourcefulness, and she is able to use her accomplishments to secure employment in the Duke’s court

  • The necessity of her disguise reflects the vulnerability of women in a patriarchal society; impersonating a man grants her autonomy 

• Viola’s intelligence, charm and quick wit enable her to secure Orsino’s trust:

  • These qualities also lead to the chief romantic confusions of the play:

    • Olivia falls in love with her at first sight 

    • Sir Andrew sees Cesario as a romantic rival

• The ease with which she adopts a male identity (and the readiness which she is accepted by others) suggests the fluidity of gender roles

• Viola is the heroine as well as the hero of the play:

  • Her line, “I am all the daughters of my father’s house / And all the brothers too”, indicates her gender-fluid characterisation:

    • Notably, the audience only hears Viola’s name spoken aloud in Act 5, Scene 1: until this point, we know her only as Cesario, reflecting her androgynous characterisation 

• Viola is one of the only characters capable of maintaining control and self-discipline despite her intense emotions:

  • Her love for Orsino is proved as genuine and unwavering, while her bond with her brother is portrayed as constant

  • She also treats Olivia with dignity, showing sympathy for Olivia’s confusion even as Viola is forced to reject the Countess’ advances

Duke Orsino

• Duke Orsino is a wealthy nobleman in Illyria who is in love with the wealthy Countess Olivia

• Olivia does not return Orsino’s love, which leaves the Duke in a melancholic state:

  • Love does not bring him happiness, leaving him in need of music to feed (and quell) his emotions

  • The language in his opening speech language consists of grandiose metaphors and images of disease and death, including "excess", "surfeiting", “sickening" and “dying”:

    • Instead of actively focusing on his lover, it is clear that Orsino is preoccupied with the sensation of love itself 

    • His melodramatic behaviour pastiches the concept of courtly love, and the audience has the impression that he is in love, not with Olivia, but with the idea of love

    • His egotistical focus on himself leads to him employing Cesario to woo Olivia for him

• Orsino is nevertheless clearly attractive, and Viola falls in love with him after only three days in his service:

  • Other characters view him as noble and good, with even Olivia describing him as “virtuous” and “noble” (Act 1, Scene 5)

  • Due to these qualities, the audience is encouraged to celebrate his marriage to Viola:

    • Perhaps Shakespeare is exploring the ease with which other characters are deceived by declarations of love

• Throughout the play, Orsino’s moods are changeable and unpredictable:

  • He tells his musicians to “play on”, but a few lines later, commands them: “Enough, no more” (Act 1, Scene 1)

  • In Act 5, Scene 1 he shifts quickly between murderous rage, sadness, and finally love for Viola 

• Orsino’s love for Olivia is shown to be insincere at the end of the play:

  • His proposal to Viola (still dressed as Cesario) suggests that he may have felt attracted to Cesario for some time

  • He swiftly embraces the opportunity to indulge his love for a character who, were they male, would be unavailable for marriage

• At the end of the play, Shakespeare uses Orsino’s character to highlight attitudes to marriage and gender expectations:

  • He asks Cesario to appear “in other habits” and to wear a “woman’s weeds” so he can make her his wife:

    • His language, though, does not deny the possibility of Viola dressing as a man in the future

    • He still refers to Viola as Cesario, which raises questions about whether or not he will prefer Viola as a woman

Countess Olivia

• Olivia is a noblewoman in Illyria with whom Orsino is hopelessly in love at the start of the play

• Although she is spoken about in every scene in Act 1, the audience does not meet her until Act 1, Scene 5, when she enters wearing a veil:

  • By making the audience wait, Shakespeare builds up the audience’s anticipation:

    • Like Orsino, the audience is led to become emotionally invested in a character they cannot see

    • This also creates comedy when, after being established as the love interest for Orsino, she immediately falls for Cesario

• She is introduced as an orphan in an extended period of mourning for her brother:

  • She is therefore in similar emotional circumstances to Viola

• Like Orsino, however, she is shown to be self-deceiving:

  • She quickly falls in love with a man, Cesario, despite her apparent grief

  • Shakespeare therefore raises questions about love as a force for healing:

    • However, Olivia’s love for Cesario, who is really a woman, also challenges ideas regarding homosexuality

    • Sebastian tells her that she is “betrothed both to a maid and man” (Act 5, Scene 1) — a reference to his virginity that also refers to the circumstances of her falling in love with him 

• She is also portrayed, like Orsino, as somewhat insincere and fickle:

  • Olivia quickly transfers her affections from Viola to an unfamiliar male (Sebastian):

    • She stays married to Sebastian (a relative stranger) even when she learns his true identity

• Unusually, Olivia enjoys autonomy as a single woman without male guardianship:

  • Part of Olivia’s grieving process is a denial of all male company for seven years

  • She has rejected the advances and communication of Duke Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek

  • When Orsino sends his page-boy, Cesario (Viola), to woo Olivia on his behalf, she rejects conventions of class and decorum, and falls in love with the low-status Cesario 

• Olivia possesses many attractive qualities:

  • She is intelligent and adaptable in her dealings with her household

  • She is able to exchange witty repartee with Feste

  • She shows a keen understanding of character when she describes Malvolio’s “self-love” (Act 1, Scene 5): 

    • She is also the only character to show sympathy for Malvolio when his humiliation is revealed in Act 5, Scene 1

Malvolio

• Malvolio is Olivia’s steward, and is therefore important to the running of her household:

  • He is, however, socially inferior to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and resents their raucous behaviour:

    • As such, he serves as a foil to the light-hearted characters in the play

• Shakespeare characterises Malvolio as puritanical and an enemy to fun and enjoyment:

  • He dresses in black and is serious, and intensely earnest:

    • His appearance and behaviour parody the Puritan movement in Elizabethan England

  • His downfall and embarrassment would have been humorous to an Elizabethan audience:

    • Elizabethan stereotypes of a Puritan were that they tended to be hypocritical and hated joy and his behaviour confirms these prejudices

• His self-importance leads to him getting his just punishment:

  • Olivia diagnoses his “self-love” early in the play

  • When he is tricked into believing that Olivia wishes to marry him, he reveals his hypocrisy and egotism:

    • His focus on his appearance demonstrates his hidden vanity, a quality that Shakespeare mocks when Malvolio dresses in unfashionable attire to impress Olivia

    • His plans to become “Count Malvolio” and humiliate Sir Toby and Sir Andrew suggest his intolerance and secret ambition

    • His conceit makes him an easy target for Sir Toby, Maria, and the other tricksters

• He is excluded from the general happiness at the end of the play:

  • Shakespeare’s Elizabethan audience would have enjoyed his continued misery

  • His angry vow of vengeance solidifies the idea that he deserves his fate:

    • However, a modern audience might feel sympathy for a figure who, as Olivia says, has been “notoriously abused”

Feste

• Feste is Olivia’s Fool, or court jester, who performs poetic songs in Act 3 and at the play’s end

• In Elizabethan drama Fools were licensed to entertain the court and speak freely, wittily pointing out the faults and flaws of high-status characters:

  • Their omniscient position in court allowed them to voice their observations of courtly goings-on:

    • Fools speak in sophisticated language, employing innuendo and metaphor to provide humour

• The role of Feste contributes to the topsy-turvy, celebratory nature of the play’s setting:

  • Traditionally, during the “Twelfth Night” festivities, roles are reversed and rules are ignored:

    • The night thus represents a carnivalesque catharsis

    • In the play, Feste’s songs imitate the lively nature of the festival

  • His wise and soulful songs also introduce a reflective tone:

    • He offers bittersweet ruminations on the brevity of love, and utilises pastoral imagery in references to winter, ageing and death

  • Typical of the role of Fool, Feste is allowed to make fun of his social superiors:

    • When Olivia asks Malvolio to take the Fool away, Feste replies, “Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady” (Act 1, Scene 5)

• Feste enjoys a larger role in Twelfth Night than Fools tended to in Elizabethan comedy:

  • His role within the main action of the play, as well as his role as omniscient observer, is a dramatic method which anticipates more modern plays 

  • Feste’s role is similar to that of a chorus in Classical Greek drama

  • Though he is relatively detached from the main action, he participates heavily in the subplot:

    • He participates in Sir Toby’s plot to trick Malvolio

    • He disguises himself as a priest to punish Malvolio, bringing slapstick comedy to the proceedings

• Feste remains unchanged at the end of Twelfth Night, suggesting a consistency of character:

  • He represents the festive spirit of the play

Other characters

Sebastian

• Sebastian is Viola’s twin brother, whom Viola believes to have perished in a shipwreck at the start of the play:

  • As Viola’s male counterpart, he is handsome, modest, and a skilled fighter

  • He may, though, be more emotional than his sister: he grieves deeply when he believes that she has drowned

• He is accompanied by his loyal friend Antonio, but does not wish to cause Antonio misfortune

• He defeats Sir Andrew in a duel in Act 4, when Sir Andrew mistakes him for Cesario

• Mistaken for Cesario by Olivia, he ends up marrying the Countess in Act 4

Sir Toby Belch

• Sir Toby Belch is Olivia’s uncle who is, as his name suggests, devoted to pleasures of the flesh

• He relies on Sir Andrew Aguecheek to finance his drinking, and keeps the knight around by falsely promising to help him marry Olivia

• His intelligence contrasts with the gullible Sir Andrew

• At first, his drunken antics contribute humorously to the celebratory mood of the play

• However, his treatment of Sir Andrew reveals a manipulative side to his character and the audience see him take pleasure in his cruelty:

  • He enjoys reminding Malvolio of his lowly status

  • He is cruel to Malvolio, locking him up and taunting him

  • He tells Sir Andrew he has to fight Cesario to the death in order to win Olivia’s love

  • He only brings an end to the fooling of Malvolio when there is a possibility that Olivia may ask him to leave the house

• At the end of the play, Sir Toby and Maria marry, based on a shared love of cunning pranks

Sir Andrew Aguecheek

• Sir Andrew is a foil to Sir Toby, in appearance and character:

  • While Sir Toby is large and confident, Sir Andrew is thin and doubtful

  • Sir Toby is clever, while Sir Andrew is foolish and gullible

• Sir Andrew Aguecheek is tricked by Sir Toby into believing (after a drunken night) that he could win Olivia’s hand in marriage:

  • Sir Toby hopes only to encourage Sir Andrew to continue financing his bacchanalian pleasures

  • Sir Toby describes him as "an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave; a thin-faced knave, a gull" (Act 5, Scene 1)

• His name suggests an illness which entails shivering and fever, an "ague”

• Sir Andrew’s weakness and cowardice are the subject of humour when he is afraid to fight Cesario:

  • This is more humorous for the audience who know that Cesario is actually Viola, an untrained fighter

Maria 

• Maria is Olivia’s lady-in-waiting, and is therefore a trusted figure in the household

• She and Sir Toby find a connection in their love of clever tricks:

  • They both seek to exact revenge upon Malvolio for his serious, sober nature

  • The two eventually marry after tricking Malvolio

• Maria is portrayed, along with Feste and Sir Toby, as clever and quick-witted

• She devises and enacts the trick played on Malvolio, and shows skill at deception when she forges Olivia’s handwriting:

  • She could only have accomplished this forgery by abusing her position of trust:

    • Her behaviour, then, might be seen by modern audiences as far more insidious than Malvolio’s exaggerated foolishness

Antonio

• Antonio is a sea captain who rescues Sebastian, becoming his close friend

• After risking his life to save the younger man, he risks his freedom by returning with Sebastian to Illyria

• He has a historical grudge against Duke Orsino, and once stole from him, making him an outlaw

• He is arrested by Orsino’s officers when he saves Cesario (whom he believes is Sebastian) from Sir Andrew

• His loyalty to Sebastian is immediate and unrelenting:

  • Parallels may be drawn to the rapid progression of Olivia’s love for Cesario

  • He pledges himself utterly to Sebastian: “I adore thee so” (Act 2, Scene 1):

    • There is, then, perhaps a suggestion of homosexual attraction to his relationship with Sebastian

    • The relationship is, though, one-sided and ultimately unfulfilling: while Sebastian marries Olivia, Antonio does not end the play as part of any pairing 

    • He fades out of the main action in Act 5, Scene 1, and his future is uncertain