Reflection on Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare: Opinion Essay
Recently I’ve been learning about William Shakespeare and his works in English. He was an incredible playwright who was born in (approximately) 1564 and died in 1616. He has been credited for adding (approximately) 3000 words to the English language. He wrote some amazing renowned plays which I have been studying like Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night, to name a few. These plays usually fall into three genres History, tragedy and comedy. These plays are well known for their incredible plots, themes and relatability. People (especially Teens) are becoming increasingly less interested in Shakespeare’s works which is why I’ve made it my duty to get people interested in Shakespeare again using this essay by exploring one of his plays and giving reasons why you should read it. To rekindle people’s interest in Shakespeare, I think we should introduce them to Shakespeare’s Comedy plays as you really enjoy the characters and the way they react. The play Twelfth Night which falls into the comedy genre, is a really interesting play, one that I personally like with a dynamic plot and hilarious characters, which is a good example of a play we should use to get people interested in Shakespeare again. I believe teenagers of this modern age will most enjoy this play as it contains love which people often try to chase, confusion, humour, jealousy and determination. In this play, a woman named Viola disguises herself as a man under the alias of Cesario since she becomes shipwrecked and needs to fend for herself. Then she works for a duke who loves a lady named Olivia and while trying to get them together she finds out her brother who was in the shipwrecked with her was not dead and they all receive what they want.
The play ‘Twelfth Night’, Portrays love and confusion in a funny way. This is done through the convoluted plot, the lengths people will go to get love, the love situation and the interactions between characters and those in love. An example of love along with comedy in this play is in the scene where Olivia says to Cesario “Are you a comedian?” in response to Cesario (Viola) explaining herself. In which she is clearly not a comedian and just wants to complete his Job of establishing a relationship between the duke and Olivia. It is scenes like these in Shakespear’s plays like ‘Twelfth Night” and other works that enhance the entertainment and make it enjoyable for all ages, especially the young.
As we started to look at the plot of ‘Twelfth Night’. I liked that Shakespeare is able to teach us a lot about universal themes, such as confusion, anger, determination and especially love. Love is an important idea for young people because they are so interested in it. Shakespeare teaches us about love in an unusual and funny style. The scene that shows this is the moment when Malvolio is pranked by the other servants into thinking that Olivia is in love with him.
I really like this scene because Shakespeare uses confusion and blindness. To make us laugh. This is shown in the quote “I’m her servant. She’s my boss. Why, anyone can see what this means” The audience finds this funny because of how easily he is fooled. The part where he finishes the letter also made me laugh because of the way he reacted. From this moment we learn the important lesson that love is not always true, we rethink other things. Young people really need to celebrate and learn about Shakespeare because of their themes such as love which we see In this play. Being in year 8 some people in my grade are starting to form crushes, I think the scariest thing ever would be to tell someone you like them and then have them not like you back. Being in high school means EVERYONE will find out! So, I really love that this play helps me see how people act when they don’t feel the same way about someone else.
Another scene I really enjoyed watching was when Malvolio mistakenly thinks Olivia wants to sleep with him. My favourite part of this scene is how Malvolio reacts so eagerly to Olivia ordering him to go to sleep. Malvolio’s response is hilarious because he says “To bed! “Yes, sweetheart, I’ll come to you.” I found this really funny because I like how eager he says that to someone with such a high position. It’s really important for young people to see what happens to Malvolio because it teaches them about what not to talk about openly. Shakespeare has totally appealed to young audiences here because young people are often intrigued by subjects like these so a funny play will definitely provoke excitement. I think Shakespeare was really clever because he uses comedy in a clever way to make people laugh.
Shakespeare is an amazing writer and as I have told you people are losing interest in him quickly. So we should introduce them to plays he has written like the play “Twelfth Night” and his other works for its relevance today and its themes of love, Jealousy and confusion. It is clear that his works allow us to enjoy drama and reflect upon our own lives through their themes, values and attitudes that are still relevant to us today. I used to be someone who disliked Shakespeare but now after reading and seeing “Twelfth Night” and his works I truly believe they are enjoyable and have relevance.
