Twelfth Night is rife with homoerotic dialogue and interactions: Duke Orsino and his attraction to Viola-dressed-as-Cesario, Antonio and Sebastian's suggestive friendship, and Olivia's obvious attraction to Viola's Cesario disguise. Any of these relationships can make a strong argument for homosexuality as a theme of the play, but I think the strongest are the central lovers: Duke Orsino and Viola/Cesario.
Consider how Orsino compliments Cesario:
"Dear lad, believe it;[…] Diana's lipIs not more smooth...
Twelfth Night is rife with homoerotic dialogue and interactions: Duke Orsino and his attraction to Viola-dressed-as-Cesario, Antonio and Sebastian's suggestive friendship, and Olivia's obvious attraction to Viola's Cesario disguise. Any of these relationships can make a strong argument for homosexuality as a theme of the play, but I think the strongest are the central lovers: Duke Orsino and Viola/Cesario.
Consider how Orsino compliments Cesario:
"Dear lad, believe it;
[…] Diana's lip
Is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound,
And all is semblative a woman's part" (1.4.32; 34-37).
This compliment of Cesario's girlishness is strange and very sexual, but makes sense for Orsino, whose sexuality seems to find both feminine and masculine attractive. This confusion of Cesario's gender continues throughout the play and seems intentional on Orsino's part; it is the mix of feminine and masculine that he seems to like. Plus, as heterosexuality is the expected norm, he seems to be keeping up appearances in valuing that which is feminine in Cesario.
When Orsino learns that Cesario is really a woman, he jumps at the chance to marry her, even though he has ostensibly been courting Olivia this whole time:
"Cesario, come;
For so you shall be, while you are a man;
But when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino’s mistress and his fancy’s queen" (5.1.30).
These lines make it unclear which identity Orsino regards as a disguise. His explanation Viola of putting on clothes to look like his "fancy queen" paired with his use of her masculine name suggests that he still sees her as a man and the feminine clothes are for the benefit of others' opinions of them and Orsino's reputation.
Finally, the fact that Viola's dress is unavailable and the play ends while the characters are waiting for it to come so she can put it on and they can be married means that the final pose, where all the couples are paired off and gazing into one anothers' eyes, takes place while Viola is still dressed as a boy. Shakespeare seems to be playing with the convention of unending the social order to the very end, making an even stronger case for Orsino's homosexuality.
No comments:
Post a Comment