"Restrictions on Women Highlighted in Twelfth Night"
Gender construction is a complicated area: today contrasted with the past, women contrasted with men, and rules contrasted with practice. Knowing and practicing every social rule for each sex is an exhausting and impossible task. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night demonstrates many of these social practices and often questions their authority. Irene Dash discusses many of these social violations in her article "Challenging Conventions: Twelfth Night," as does Jonathan Crewe in his "Introduction to Twelfth Night". Restrictions on women and the interactions of these restrictions with men are emphasized and in some cases still practiced in modern life's social interactions and hierarchies. Womanly dependence on the male figure and social taboos on female initiative are two constructions established and questioned in Twelfth Night; they are exemplified today not only in my own life but in the whole of society. Dependence on men is a social theme assumed to have stemmed from biological necessity. Human ancestors likely required males to hunt more than females due to their physical prowess and the rudimentary hunting tools that required it. Today, even as women step forward into roles of power, the idea remains that life in general en
Malvolio and Olivia's situation also exemplifies this societal law. Malvolio believes the letter he finds that tells of Olivia's secret affections for him. This brings into question her secrecy. Malvolio assumes that Olivia would keep her feelings inside simply because of her sex. This is simply a fact of life according to gender construction in the society of that time, and it brings about Olivia's rejection of Malvolio and the events surrounding it. Malvolio demonstrates repression in Twelfth Night in contrast to the bent and broken rules that appear throughout the work. Societal obligations now and in the past require men to consistently take initiative when instigating any sort of action or event, while women are deemed pawns in their game. This idea also stems from the ancient social premise of male dominance. For instance, throughout history, women who attempt to initiate a relationship have been deemed socially unacceptable, demeaned and degraded for their actions. Only today have we begun to move away from that prejudice, and even now examples of this gender construction surround us. The character and actions of Olivia highlights this notion. Olivia falls in love with "Cesario," truly Viola, but does not simply speak her love or demonstrate it openly. She sends a ring to "Cesario," using a ruse to get it to him in order to protect herself from ridicule. Yet this is also a step past the boundaries of society, as she is still taking initiative simply by attempting to instigate contact or a relationship of some sort. She invites him back, but only under an alibi of informing her how Duke Orsino took her rejection. Her actions exemplify and emphasize the societal rejection of women taking initiative in a romantic relationship (Dash, 233). the opening scene, regardle
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1213
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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