Twelfth Night / The Duchess of Malfi Comparative Analysis

“The Duchess of Malfi” is very polarized from “Twelfth Night.” One obvious difference is the genre of each play. “Twelfth Night” is a comedy, which involves having a happy ending which resolves in marriages. “The Duchess of Malfi,” however, is a tragedy, which has a sad ending which resolves in death. There is an interesting subject that these two plays share, however, and that  is marriage. Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” use the subject of marriage in extremely different ways. In “Twelfth Night” marriage is the thing that is sought out throughout the entire play and it is only through marriage that the characters will be happy. Also In “The Duchess of Malfi” marriage is what begins the events that will lead to the tragic ending of the characters. Gender and societal norms are challenged in each of these plays as well. Women are shown taking the lead in relationship matters in both, “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi.” Although in “The Duchess of Malfi” societal norms are challenged with The Duchess marrying outside of her station, which began the series of events that leads to the tragic ending. “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” share some of the same subjects, such as marriage, and going against gender and societal norms, but each play employs the subject matter in very different ways.

The glaring difference that “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” is the genre. The former play is a Shakespearean Comedy, which is classified as having a light hearted tone and having a happy ending, that involves having marriages between unmarried characters that match up together. The latter play is a tragedy, which is classified as having an ominous tone and having a tragic ending with all the main characters dying.

Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” are from completely different genres, they share marriage as a main subject in both of the stories. In “Twelfth Night” each of the characters are seeking marriage. Orsino is trying to marry Olivia: “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first” (I.i.28), Viola is trying to marry Orsino: “Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” (I.iv.41), and Olivia is trying to marry Viola: “Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind” (I.v.296). In the end each character ends up with a person that matches them well. Olivia and Orsino are married, Viola and Sebastian are married, and Maria and Sir Toby are married. Unlike in “The Duchess of Malfi,” The Duchess marries Antonio who is well below her station, “Bless, heaven, this sacred gordian, which let violence / Never untwine!” (I.iii.180-181), and this marriage is what sets the tragic events of this play into motion.

“Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” also share strong female characters. It seems that in each of these plays the women are wearing the pants (literally, in Viola’s case). Viola takes charge in “Twelfth Night” and dresses up as a man in order to work under the Orsino and she ends up falling in love with him. She then drops hints that she is in love with the duke while he asks her for love advice. She replies to Orsino, “A little, by your favor. [...] Of your complexion. [...] About your years, my lord” (II.iv.23-27). She drops those not so subtle hints to the duke even if she is dressed up as a man. That shows real initiative on her part. In “The Duchess of Malfi,” The Duchess takes initiative by being the one to marry Antonio. She also is portrayed as not being afraid of death when her brother, Ferdinand threatens to kill her. She seems to take everything like a man, so to speak, in “The Duchess of Malfi.”

Although “Twelfth Night” and “The Duchess of Malfi” seem very different, they share the same themes of marriage and strong female roles. “Twelfth Night” has a light-hearted tone, while “The Duchess of Malfi” has a dark tragic tone. Each play share the commonality of marriage as a subject matter. Although in “Twelfth Night” marriage is a happy occasion, unlike “The Duchess of Malfi” where marriage begins the tragic events. Each play also share strong female characters, Viola in “Twelfth Night” and The Duchess in “The Duchess of Malfi.” Each of these plays challenge gender and societal norms in their own way.

Expert For the Day Post #3

Video explaining the origin of "Ring Around the Rosy"

Expert for the Day Post #2

I scrapped the William Shakespeare idea and decided to, instead, do a presentation on the origins of nursery rhymes that have roots in British history. The nursery rhyme that sparked my interest on this subject was "Ring Around the Rosy," which is about the Great Plague of London in 1665. I've found out in my research that "Ring around the rosy" is attributed to the red rash that is a symptom of the plague. Also that "A pocketful of posies" referred to the herbs and spices that people carried in their pockets that were thought protect them from the plague. Finally, the last two lines are attributed to the high death toll of the plague.

Expert For the Day Post #1

I have been doing some research on Shakespeare and I have found out there is quite a lot of controversy surrounding him. I am thinking about doing a presentation or something on that. Here is a Wikipedia article I have found on the controversy surrounding Shakespeare's authorship: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_authorship_question

Twelfth Night Mini-Analysis

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night makes gender and social order topsy-turvy by reversing gender roles and social roles between the characters. Although gender and social order gets placed on its head, by the end of the play there is a semblance of order. In my opinion, Shakespeare makes a critique of the gender and societal norms that are present during his time by showing how things would be if the roles were reversed.
 
Things are made topsy-turvy in the realms of gender and social order by, first, having Viola dress up as a man and take up the identity of Cesario in order to get work with Orsino. Viola decides to dress as a man to serve Orsino: “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid / for such disguise as haply shall become / The form of my intent. I’ll serve this duke” (I.ii.51-53). Since Viola decides to disguise herself as a man, gender is made topsy-turvy. Another way things are made topsy-turvy is by having Malvolio talk down to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew while they were merry-making. Malvolio tells Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, “Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty but to gabble / like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an alehouse / of my lady’s house?” (II.iii.82-84). Malvolio is just Olivia’s servant, and yet he talks down to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who are knights. Things were also made topsy-turvy by having Olivia fall in love with Cesario, who is really Viola in drag. Olivia first realizes her love for Cesario: “I do I know not what, and fear to find / Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind” (II.i.295-296). Since Olivia is pursuing Viola, who is a woman and in a lower social class than her, it is turning the realms of gender and social order around.

At the end of the play order is seemingly restored. Olivia marries Sebastian, Viola marries Orsino, and Sir Toby marries Maria. Everyone ends up with the people that they are supposed to end up with. All of these pairings seem like they are what would be considered normal and acceptable during that time. Although, Olivia married Sebastian because she thought that he was Cesario. Olivia thinks Sebastian is Cesario and tells him, “Nay, come, I prithee. Would thou’dst be ruled by me!” (IV.i.61). Olivia is in love with Cesario, not Sebastian, and yet she marries Sebastian. Orsino seems to be in love with Cesario instead of Viola. Orsino tells Viola, “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times / Thou never shouldst love woman like to me” (V.i.265-266). Orsino seems to have fallen for Viola before he finds out that she is a girl. Sir Toby marries beneath his class by marrying Maria.
 
Shakespeare is definitely making a critique of gender and societal norms during his time in England. I believe that Shakespeare is trying to say that there is no such thing as gender and societal norms. Everyone is going to do as they please, when it comes down to it. Just like the end of the play, everyone has their own special reason for being with who they are with. Even though who they ended up with was “normal,” the reason behind their choice was very unconventional.