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Viola's Different "Loves"

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Clip: Viola Almost Reveals her Love

Clip: Viola and Orsino Share an Intimate Moment

Clip: "I am the man!"

Sexually Confusing... or Sexually Confused?

Viola deceives and pretends throughout this entire play, yet her “I Am the Man” soliloquy forces the audience to question whether she is actually in control of all of her actions. Viola is hopelessly devoted to Orsino in what Orsino sees as a servant master relationship. She appears to desire nothing other than Orsino’s affection, yet her soliloquy reveals her own surprise and satisfaction at the fact that her disguise is virtually foolproof. The audience must ask two questions then. First, what is the nature of Viola’s devotion to Orsino? Second, does Viola represent simply a woman in disguise, or does her disguise mean more to her? Viola is by far the most complex character in the work. She conducts romantic relationships with both Orsino and Olivia (whether she wants to or not), she uses her cunning to deceive a whole populous, and she eventually achieves her goal.

 



Viola and Orsino

A love of Devotion

·       One theory of the love that Viola holds for Orsino is that it is driven by the recent loss of her brother and father. She therefore finds a male figure in her life in Orsino and devotes her entire life to him. Whatever the reason, Viola is certainly committed to the service of Orsino no matter how painful it may be. Viola must pretend to be something she is not while doing something (wooing Olivia) that is completely contrary to her own interests. Even in the scene above, Viola brings the conversation back to the focus of Olivia. And yet, there are points in the text which Shakespeare leaves room for doubt of the sincerity of Viola’s commitment to her mission.

 

Devoted to the mission? Or to the Man?

·       In the first Olivia wooing scene examined in the section on Olivia, Viola calls into question the sincerity of Orsino’s love for Olivia. She begins by being rude in order to be admitted to see Olivia and when confronted she simply replies, “The rudeness that hath appeared in me have I learned from my entertainment”(I.V.195-196). Viola acts not like a servant, but like an equal, and while this intrigues Olivia, it certainly undermines the sincerity with which Viola is pursuing her duty. Right after this she insists that she has a speech to make and by so doing, “emphasizes that she is putting on an act, and thus calls into question the sincerity of her words” (Leggatt 237). While Viola is hopelessly devoted to Orsino she has trapped herself because as a man Orsino cannot love her, but as a woman she cannot be close to him. ”However intimate a relationship Viola establishes with Orsino as confidant and wooer by proxy, her role as servant also requires the suppression of her own subjectivity” (Schalkwyk 91).  Because Viola cannot outwardly express her erotic love for Orsino she transfers this into servant-like devotion (Schalkwyk 91).


The Disguise

Viola’s Sexuality

· In Viola’s I am the man speech, the second clip, the audience is given a new view of Viola. In this speech she expresses almost pride at the effectiveness of her disguise. Throughout the play the audience is never fooled so when Viola delivers her “I am the man” soliloquy, the audience sees her as a woman although she is still playing a man. Although Viola realizes the implications of the situation she has inserted herself in, that while she appears to be a woman she cannot win the heterosexual love from Orsino that she desires as a woman (Draper 176), she also still finds amusement in the fact that she has so successfully duped everyone. She is definitely filled with contempt for the disguise, which has placed her in this predicament, but she also, “seems to relish the poised absurdity of this comic equation” (Draper 176). I believe the question as to Viola’s disguise is answered through this soliloquy. Viola is proud of herself in a way and the disguise begins to take on its own identity. Her only solution to the twisted knot she has tied is that time must work it out (II.ii.37-38).