Dr. Jane Doe
English 203: Writing About Literature
20 May 2022
“ ”:
The (In)Sanity of Self-Deception in
Appropriately for a play named after a festival, William Shakespeare’s is full of pranks, jokes, and ruses. Act 3 Scene 4 has perhaps the greatest concentration of deceptions with no fewer than ten cases of mistaken identity (or attempts by characters to deceive others), but these are in truth prevalent throughout the entire play. Many of these instances involve Viola, who has from early on in the play been disguising herself as the young man Cesario. As Cesario, she acts as one of Duke Orsino’s attendants and ultimately falls in love with the duke himself. However, one of Cesario’s duties is to help “his” master woo the countess, Olivia. Ironically, Olivia herself falls for the disguised Viola, whom she believes to be a young man. Yet “Cesario” is not the only person about whom Olivia is being deceived. Her steward Malvolio is tricked into believing that Olivia is in love with him, while the antics he believes she has asked him to perform to win her over make Olivia believe him insane. Both of these characters, Olivia and Malvolio, are being tricked by others, yet they both also demonstrate in the play how they are deceiving themselves as well. ’s comedic conclusion even as they darken the brightness of that conclusion.
Olivia is simultaneously the character most aware that she is deluding herself as well as the character least aware of the many ways she is being deluded. In Olivia’s first appearance onstage, Feste gently mocks her excessive grief over the death of her brother, pointing out that “ . Though acknowledging her Fool’s astuteness, Olivia does not demonstrate similar insight following this scene. She mistakes the real gender of “Cesario”; she and Malvolio are the sole dupes of the plot by Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian to make Malvolio appear insane; and she completely misidentifies Sebastian. The idea of love as madness is commonplace, but Olivia also suggests that deceiving herself into believing Cesario might grow to love her is a form of insanity. ” even argues that Olivia may be predisposed to suffer from delusions, which make her particularly susceptible to Viola’s disguise, and that part of the audience’s pleasure derives from falling victim to these delusions: “the art of illusions may encourage encourage delusion on the part of those who are inclined to suffer from it anyway…Thus, for example, [the audience] can at all times tell that Viola is a woman, but her disguise as a male seriously deludes people like Olivia” (Daadler 106-7).While I agree that the audience watching the play would be aware of the irony that “Cesario” is merely a disguise and not a real individual at all, I contend that an additional layer of irony exists and contributes to the audience’s understanding of Olivia’s self-delusions. Even as the audience revels in recognizing the source of Olivia’s delusions, other characters in the play—unaware of Cesario’s disguise—insist on Olivia’s sanity, which in turn causes the audience to question these characters’ sanity as well. Sebastian, whom Olivia marries under the impression that he is Cesario (apparently their wedding vows do not include an exchange of names), later denies that Olivia could be mad:
, but his union with Olivia makes room later for the unmasked Viola to marry Orsino.
In “Love, Disguise, and Knowledge in ,” Maurice Hunt claims that “Sebastian’s miraculous epiphany releases Olivia and Orsino (as well as Viola) from their burdens, making possible the giving up of deceit and dissembling” (Hunt 490). could not have concluded with multiple marriages were it not for Olivia’s initial infatuation with the lie that is Cesario. After all, Olivia is demonstrably silent on stage during the revelation of Sebastian and Viola’s identities. After her exclamation of “Most wonderful!” upon seeing both twins for the first time (5.1.236), Olivia does not speak again for 55 lines, and when she does speak, it is not about her partnering with Sebastian. is similarly striking. Meanwhile, during Olivia’s silence, Sebastian explains to her that she has been “mistook” (5.1.271) and “deceived” (5.1.274), foregrounding the deception (of others and of the self) in the play’s matrimonial conclusion. In a final-ditch effort to sustain the relationship she forged with Cesario, Olivia, upon hearing the nuptial plans for the two couples, does not address her soon-to-husband Sebastian but instead speaks to Viola and addresses the relationship with her that these marriages will solidify: “A sister! You are she” (5.1.344). Olivia thus finds herself “happily” married yet still longing for the fiction she had with Cesario.
Malvolio, , deludes himself about his chances in romance, even to the point of being declared insane by the other characters, ultimately resulting in his tragic disillusionment. His sexual desire for his mistress leads him to fall completely for the plot laid by Maria and Sir Toby. Believing his fantasies confirmed by Olivia’s purported letter, he finds himself unable to hold any conversation with her without reading too much into her words. She calls him a “fellow” (3.4.66), using the word in its sense of “a friendly or polite form of address to a person of lower social status, esp. a servant” (“fellow, n.” 6a), but Malvolio interprets her meaning as indicative of a peer or even partner: “And when she went away now, ‘Let this fellow be looked to.’ ‘Fellow!’ Not ‘Malvolio,’ nor after my degree, but ‘fellow’” (3.4.82-84). Olivia is calling him after his degree, but Malvolio is too blinded by the letter’s pretense and his own self-aggrandizement to understand what she says.
Malvolio’s continued faith in the letter—despite Olivia’s response to him and the strangeness of her supposed requests—could be considered a self-delusion that edges into insanity. As Feste himself predicted early in the play, “the Fool shall look to the madman” (1.5.135-36). Yet that too is a deception; Ivo Kamps points out in “Madness and Social Mobility in ” that “Malvolio is convinced of his own sanity, and… the audience knows he is not mad” (241), just as Feste and the other conspirators do. The only one fooled is Olivia, and although sympathetic to Malvolio’s seeming insanity she does not aid him or even seem to be aware of his plight. .
—Sir Toby—and applies this analysis to Malvolio.
The truth of Malvolio’s gulling and of Olivia’s romantic indifference to him casts a shadow over the end of the play. Malvolio’s final line promises general payback, even though the main perpetrators (Maria and Sir Toby) are two of the few characters currently absent from the stage: “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!” (5.1.401). This line almost concludes the play (excluding Feste’s epilogue-esque song, only ten lines follow it), and Malvolio exits before Olivia can express her sympathy for his state. The moment is notably gloomy in an ending otherwise full of long-lost siblings reuniting and disguises being humorously discarded, and none of the characters appear able to speak to it in any meaningful way. There is no further resolution for Malvolio, and the play moves inexorably on to a comedy’s wedding-filled conclusion. . Self-deception causes this fall even as it obscures the truth of Malvolio’s situation from him.
, and without these elements the play would end before it even began. Self-deception, especially regarding love, moves characters to behave in ways that eventually force the comedic ending, but not all of the characters are able to share equally in that ending. None of the marriages that end the play unite characters whose classes differ as much as Olivia’s and Malvolio’s do, suggesting the limits of the play’s comedic pairings to bring happiness to each and every person. Malvolio deludes himself into thinking that his lowly position as a steward is not an impediment to his pursuit of Olivia whereas Olivia’s assumption that she could maintain power in her marriage is as delusional as the fiction of Cesario. Perhaps these high hopes are the biggest acts of self-deception within . Even as the comedy depends on self-deception, characters who are deceived by both themselves and by others cast a shadow over the purported happy ending. The romance and happiness are diluted by this shadow, causing the audience to question whether any of these marriages will sustain themselves after the play ends—or whether that too is self-deception.
structurally functions. As a reader, I’d like to see these thoughts developed in body paragraphs as they’re crucial to the thesis posited at the end of the introduction.
Works Cited
.” , vol. 78, no. 2, 1997, pp. 105-110. , https://doi.org/10.1080/00138389708599065. , Oxford University Press, June 2021, www.oed.com/view/Entry/69094. Accessed 13 June 2021. .” , vol. 32, no. 4, 1989, pp. 484-493. , https://www.jstor.org/stable/44322052. .” , edited by James Schiffer, Routledge, 2011, pp. 229-43. from The Folger Shakespeare. Ed. Barbara Mowat, Paul Werstine, Michael Poston, and Rebecca Niles. Folger Shakespeare Library, May 10, 2022. https://shakespeare.folger.edu/shakespeares-works/twelfth-night/entire-play/
Attribution:
Francis, Jr., James, Dorothy Todd, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, and R. Paul Cooper. “Writing a Literary Essay: Moving from Surface to Subtext: Sample Research-Based Literary Essay.” In Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing . 3rd ed. Edited by Claire Carly-Miles, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Christie Anders, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, R. Paul Cooper, and Matt McKinney. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .
Davidson, Naomi [pseud.]. “‘Nothing that is so is so’: The (In)Sanity of Self-Deception in Twelfth Night.” In Surface and Subtext: Literature, Research, Writing . 3rd ed. Edited by Claire Carly-Miles, Sarah LeMire, Kathy Christie Anders, Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt, R. Paul Cooper, and Matt McKinney. College Station: Texas A&M University, 2024. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License .
9.10--Sample Research-Based Literary Essay Copyright © 2024 by James Francis, Jr.; Dorothy Todd; Nicole Hagstrom-Schmidt; and R. Paul Cooper is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.
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These are the CCS Standards addressed in this lesson:
Agenda | Teaching Notes |
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A. The Painted Essay: Sorting and Color-Coding the Parts of an Introductory Paragraph (10 minutes) B. Reviewing Learning Targets (10 minutes)
A. Mini Lesson: Producing Complete Sentences (5 minutes) B. Independent Writing: Writing an Introduction (25 minutes)
A. Small Group Poetry Share (10 minutes)
A. Accountable Research Reading. Select a prompt and respond in the front of your independent reading journal. | ). ).
). ).
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Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 5.I.A.4, 5.I.B.6, 5.I.C.9, 5.I.C.10, and 5.II.A.1
Important points in the lesson itself
Levels of support
For lighter support:
For heavier support:
Key: Lesson-Specific Vocabulary (L); Text-Specific Vocabulary (T); Vocabulary Used in Writing (W)
Each unit in the 3-5 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize their understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.
Opening | Meeting Students' Needs |
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to remember the parts of an introductory paragraph: introduction (background information to engage the reader), focus statement, and two points. template to underline their part in the correct ( ): red for introduction, green for focus statement, yellow for point 1, and blue for point 2. Refer to as necessary. | For ELLs: Consider using the corresponding Painted Essay colors when recording the parts of an introductory paragraph on the Literary Essay anchor chart. |
. Using a total participation technique, invite responses from the group: Explain that it says at the top that effective learners are people who develop the mindsets and skills for success in college, career, and life.
and on the Academic Word Wall. Invite students to add translations of the words in their home languages in a different color next to the target vocabulary. | For ELLs and students who may need additional support with comprehension: Check for comprehension by asking students to summarize and then to personalize the learning target. Ask them to paraphrase it and then to say how they feel about it. Example: "Can you put the learning target in your own words?" (I can write the introduction to my contract.) "How do you feel about that target?" (I am excited because I liked using paints yesterday.) (MMR) , , and ?" ( is a verb or action that means to work together to achieve something. is an inflection of the verb collaborate, which is used to express ongoing actions, for example. is a noun that describes the act of people working together to accomplish something.) |
Work Time | Meeting Students' Needs |
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Tell them that in formal writing, it is important to write in complete sentences so that the reader can clearly understand the ideas the writer is trying to share. in a sentence has a and the has a verb. Focus students on the and review these terms as necessary. | For ELLs: Remind students of the predicate-subject work they did in the Language Dive in Lesson 12. Invite them to compare this sentence with the Language Dive sentence. As they become comfortable, help them broaden their ability. Examples: "How might you expand these sentences? What if I want to say what Esperanza feels? What if I want to give evidence for that? I'll give you a minute to think and write or sketch." ( .) |
. Remind them that this checklist is something they will use a lot in their English Language Arts work. Ensure students understand that they will be using this checklist each time they write an informative piece because these are the things every good piece of informative writing should contain.
as necessary.
. Invite students to skim their Character Reaction note-catcher and underline in red the information they will use in their introduction. and invite students to use the model literary essay, the criteria recorded on the Literary Essay anchor chart, the Informative Writing Checklist, and the to write an introduction. Remind students that although working together, they are each to write their own copy of the essay. | For ELLs and students who may need additional support with reading: While reviewing the checklist criteria, some students may need additional clarification about the language of each criterion. (Example: "What does it mean when it says ?") (MMR) by Pam Munoz Ryan, [situation] _______. Two characters, _______ and _______, each respond differently to the situation. [Character] _________, while [character] ___________.) |
Closing | Meeting Students' Needs |
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1. Pair A reads aloud their two-voice poem twice. 2. While listening to pair A read aloud, pair B uses the criteria on the to identify a step--something pair A could improve upon in their poem. 3. Pair B shares their step with pair A. 4. Pairs switch roles and repeat this process. | For ELLs: Review the learning targets introduced in Opening B. Ask students to give specific examples of how they worked toward achieving them in this lesson. Invite students to rephrase the learning targets now that they have had more experience writing complete sentences and introductory paragraphs. |
Homework | Meeting Students' Needs |
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For ELLs and students who may need additional support with reading and writing: Refer to the suggested homework support in Lesson 1. (MMAE, MMR) |
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Check for free. Literary analysis is a type of essay that explores and interprets various elements of a literary work. Your literary analysis may focus on major themes, characters, plot, setting, symbolism, and writing style. Your main task is to uncover the literary devices and explain how they convety the main idea of literary work.
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A. The Painted Essay: Sorting and Color-Coding the Parts of an Introductory Paragraph (10 minutes) B. Reviewing Learning Targets (10 minutes) 2. Work Time. A. Mini Lesson: Producing Complete Sentences (5 minutes) B. Independent Writing: Writing an Introduction (25 minutes) 3. Closing and Assessment.