Viola: "I am the man" (II.ii.25)
Wait, hold on a second maybe i am confused but isnt Viola a woman?!?!?! How can she be the man if in fact she is a woman. Ironic isnt it because she is a woman saying this quote that just about every man today says when they get their testotarone flowing. This is where you see all the love connections being made. Oliva loves the person Viola is trying to be, "the MAN" or Cesario, but Viola is actually in love with the Duke so it is a very weird situation. Just like the statement made my Viola.
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This is how Shakespeare creates the story for us. He is enjoying how the characters manipulate eachother, and play each other. There are all sorts of love triangles in twelfth night and Viola is the initial cause of this situation by dressing and claiming herself a man.
ReplyDeleteYou begin to investigate the irony in this quote and the duality of Olivia's persona, but this quote resonates much stronger to me. She is the man in a literal sense, but also the man in the figurative sense in that she is the focal point of all of the problems that ensue during twelth night. She has misaligned Orsino's unrequited love and enflamed desire within Olivia.
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