Shakespeare’s a Feminist: An Analysis of Female Characters in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night Anonymous 12th Grade

William Shakespeare’s theatrical comedy Twelfth Night follows the story of Viola, who finds herself entangled in a complicated love triangle between her master, Duke Orsino, and his beloved lady, Olivia. In the finale, Viola ends up falling in love with the Duke, while Viola’s twin-brother Sebastian marries Olivia. Written in the seventeenth century, Shakespeare’s play focuses on rather provocative ideas such as cross-dressing and female power. Shakespeare crafts a play with a female protagonist and characters such as Olivia and Maria, who collectively drive the plot. Although women were traditionally portrayed as subservient to men in drama, Shakespeare creates a set of female characters who challenge the conventional view of women. Women in the play maintain a sense of independence and freedom, and eventually achieve whatever they want. Shakespeare essentially assumes a feminist attitude in Twelfth Night by challenging patriarchy through his active and powerful female characters.

Women in Twelfth Night appear to be rational and quite powerful individuals when compared to male characters in the story, who are generally melodramatic and shallow. Duke Orsino, for example, is overly-sentimental in his expression of love, as for...