BACHELOR OF ARTS (ENGLISH HONOURS)
Twelfth Night
by:- William Shakespeare
Q.1. Present and estimate of the character of Viola. “
Or, How far is it correct to say that Viola” is the most charmin character in Twelfth Night ?
Or, Viola’ is the poem of love.’ Discuss this statement.
Ans. Introduction : Viola presents an imåge of Shakespeare’s ideal heroine. She is the real heroine of the play. It is her adventures, her love and her beauty and her patience, we think of first when the play is Described. The other serious characters in the play all derive their interest chiefly from their interest chiefly from their association with her.
Her beauty : Viola, like all other Shakespearean heroines, is a gem of beauty. References in the play to Viola's personal charms are numerous., The Duke describes her in her boy's disguise in the following memorable words-
“Diana's lip Is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound, And all is semblative a woman's part."
Nearly every other character in the play has a favourable opinion of Viola's charming appearance. Maria calls Cesario a “fair young man”. Even Malvolio, “sick of self-love' describes the youth as “very well-favoured.” Olivia falls under her charm almost as soon as she sees the young man, Cesario. She feels that “this youth’s perfections’ creep into her eyes with “an invisible and subtle stealth.” Not even anger can mar the beauty of the young man's appearance : Sebastian, with becoming modesty, describe his sister as “a lady who was yet of many accounted beautiful.”
Her Womanliness and Sympathy : Even in her man’s grab Viola retains all her womanly qualities. She is tender-hearted and sympathetic. Her heart is filled with human kindness. Her role as the Duke’s page puts severe constraint on her as a woman. But in her soliloquies she gives ample evidence of her feelings as a woman. When she appears first on the stage and listens to the sad tale of Olivia’s sufferings from the captain,. Her heart seems to jump to her mouth. She longs to serve that lady. Agan. When she is told of the Duke’s love-lorn passion for Olivia, she decided to serve him in a man's disguise. When she comes to know of Olivia's passion for her (as Cesario), she feels pity for the poor lady-
"As I am woman, -now alas the day !- What thrifless sighs shall poor Olivia breath!"
She can forget even her own love for the Duke in her pity for his hopless love for Olivia.
Her Love : Viola is indeed a poem of love. For purity, tenderness, and selfless love, she might serve as a model for all lovers. She wholly agrees with the Duke when she contrasts man's love, The state of her own heart is truly described by Viola in an obliqe reference to herself through an imaginary sister.
"She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek, she pin'd in though And with a green and yellow melancholy, She sat like Patience on a monument, Smiling at grief."
Such was the constancy of Viola's love towards the object of her devotion. Being a woman she knows how to suffer and endure patiently. Her love for her brother is, in its way, as strong and tender as that for Orsino. The memory of her dear brother is never absent from her mind.
Her Modesty : Viola's modesty permeates nearly all her speeches and is revealed in all her actions. She assumes the disguise of a page only as a protection from the strange and uncivil world she finds herself in. She takes no pleasure in that disguise. She rather curses herself when she discovers in the havoc it plays with Olivia's heart-
"Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much."
Viola is no Amazon. It is only her modesty and the peculiar circum- stances, But she does give enough hint to the reader, and to the Duke in a somewhat veiled language, The Duke is at once reminded of those vague hints when the opportune moment arrives.
Her Resourcefulness and Determination : Viola is quick witted.. She is quick at making plans and pursuing them with determination, Ship wrecked on a foreign shore, she quickly makes plans for her future course of life. Being debarred from serving Olivia, she at once resolves to serve the Duke. The idea of disguising herself as a man is her own invention. And how successfully she keeps that disguise to the end of the play ! She tells Olivia, that if she loved her as her master did, In your denial I would find no sense, I would not understand it." Being asked what she would do, she marvellously sketches her plan of winning the heart of the lady she loved. Viola's presence of mind is match for that most resourceful of all Shakespeare's heroines, Rosalind of As You Like It. How the two ladies resemble each other in many ways ! She is not cowed down by Olivia's witty affectation when she pays her first visit to that lady. She speaks playfully to Maria, and engages the Clown in a lively duel of wit. She skillfully parries the Duke's questions about her 'sister'-
"I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too, and yet I know not."
Her moral Character-Viola continues to rise in our esteem as the play progresses. She is open-hearted and generous. When Antonio rebukes her for gratitude mistaking her for Sebastian, she says,
"I hate ingratitude more in man Than lying, vainness, babbling, durnkenness, Or any taints of vice whose strong corruption "Inhabits our frail blood."
She keeps the trust the Duke reposes in her. She promises him that she would do her best to who his lady Olivia. And she keeps her word. She does not perform her duty half-heartedly. In fact, it is the sincerity of her heart that possibly wins the heart of Olivia in her own favour. Not even to save her life will Viola reveal her identity before her own occasion is ripe for her to do so. She is ready to die willingly a thousand deaths in order to give her lord rest and peace of mind.
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