Throughout Twelfth Night, Shakespeare parodies the popular Elizabethan concept of "sonnet love." In 17th century England, romantic sonnets usually centered on the poet's desire for an idealized, unattainable love object, and these sonnets often contained a catalogue of the love object's physical attributes called a blazon.
When Viola attempts to woo Olivia on Orsino's behalf, in Act 1, Scene 5, she argues that it would be unfair for Olivia to die without having children:
Viola: ’Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature’s own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
Lady, you are the cruel’st she alive
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy.
Viola's words echo some of Shakespeare's own sonnets, which often end with him urging the object of his love to procreate in order to immortalize their beauty. Sonnet 12, for example, ends with the line, "And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence / Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence."
Viola's description of Olivia's "red and white" beauty also echoes this line from Sonnet 130: "I have seen roses damasked, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks." Sonnet 130 is itself a satire that pokes fun at many poetic conventions, including the blazon.
In response to Viola's argument, Olivia satirically blazons her own beauty:
Olivia: I will give
out divers schedules of my beauty. It shall be
inventoried and every particle and utensil labeled
to my will: as, item, two lips indifferent red; item,
two gray eyes with lids to them; item, one neck, one
chin, and so forth.
Rather than using metaphor to elevate her features, as a poet might, Olivia states them plainly. Her argument that she does not need to reproduce and can simply record her beauty on paper reflects sonnet 18, in which Shakespeare expresses his belief that beauty can be immortalized through poetry: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
Ironically, even though Olivia rejects Orsino's sonnet-like love, she is immediately attracted to Viola/Cesario as a result of his poetic language. Although a blazon usually catalogues female features, Olivia's sudden infatuation with Cesario inspires her to blazon his physical and spiritual attributes:
Olivia: Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit
Do give thee fivefold blazon.
Earlier in the play, in Act 1, Scene 4, Orsino also blazons Cesario's features in a manner that feels far from platonic, implying a homoerotic attraction:
Orsino: 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.
"Cesario," of course, is actually a woman, but in this moment, Orsino fully believes him to be a man. Shakespeare, of course, was no stranger to the poetic adoration of the male form, as a whopping 126 of his sonnets were addressed to an unnamed young man known as the "Fair Youth."
Throughout Twelfth Night, Shakespeare parodies the popular Elizabethan concept of "sonnet love." In 17th century England, romantic sonnets usually centered on the poet's desire for an idealized, unattainable love object, and these sonnets often contained a catalogue of the love object's physical attributes called a blazon.
When Viola attempts to woo Olivia on Orsino's behalf, in Act 1, Scene 5, she argues that it would be unfair for Olivia to die without having children:
Viola: ’Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature’s own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
Lady, you are the cruel’st she alive
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy.
Viola's words echo some of Shakespeare's own sonnets, which often end with him urging the object of his love to procreate in order to immortalize their beauty. Sonnet 12, for example, ends with the line, "And nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defence / Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence."
Viola's description of Olivia's "red and white" beauty also echoes this line from Sonnet 130: "I have seen roses damasked, red and white, / But no such roses see I in her cheeks." Sonnet 130 is itself a satire that pokes fun at many poetic conventions, including the blazon.
In response to Viola's argument, Olivia satirically blazons her own beauty:
Olivia: I will give
out divers schedules of my beauty. It shall be
inventoried and every particle and utensil labeled
to my will: as, item, two lips indifferent red; item,
two gray eyes with lids to them; item, one neck, one
chin, and so forth.
Rather than using metaphor to elevate her features, as a poet might, Olivia states them plainly. Her argument that she does not need to reproduce and can simply record her beauty on paper reflects sonnet 18, in which Shakespeare expresses his belief that beauty can be immortalized through poetry: "So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, / So long lives this, and this gives life to thee."
Ironically, even though Olivia rejects Orsino's sonnet-like love, she is immediately attracted to Viola/Cesario as a result of his poetic language. Although a blazon usually catalogues female features, Olivia's sudden infatuation with Cesario inspires her to blazon his physical and spiritual attributes:
Olivia: Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions, and spirit
Do give thee fivefold blazon.
Earlier in the play, in Act 1, Scene 4, Orsino also blazons Cesario's features in a manner that feels far from platonic, implying a homoerotic attraction:
Orsino: 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.
"Cesario," of course, is actually a woman, but in this moment, Orsino fully believes him to be a man. Shakespeare, of course, was no stranger to the poetic adoration of the male form, as a whopping 126 of his sonnets were addressed to an unnamed young man known as the "Fair Youth."
Twelfth Night contains numerous allusions to early 17th century English politics, and the play can be interpreted as either an homage to or a parody of the Elizabethan court.
The most obvious reference to English royalty is the character of Olivia, whose resemblance to Queen Elizabeth I has been noted by numerous scholars. After the execution of her mother, Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was declared illegitimate and removed from the line of succession. But following the deaths of her father, half-brother, and half-sister, she ascended to the English throne. In Twelfth Night, Olivia likewise only becomes mistress of her household after her father and brother have both died.
Shakespeare also appears to have partially based the plot of Twelfth Night on Elizabeth's relationship with the Duke of Alençon. Alençon, who was the son of Catherine de' Medici and King Henry II of France, began attempts to negotiate a marriage to Elizabeth in 1596. The duke enlisted Jean de Simier, his most trusted courtier, to woo Elizabeth on his behalf. If court gossip of the time is to be believed, this tactic worked a bit too well, and Elizabeth grew so fond of de Simier that Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester and another of Elizabeth's suitors, attempted to have the courtier assassinated in a fit of jealousy. Shakespeare parodies this scandalous love affair in Twelfth Night, with Orsino as Alençon, Viola/Cesario as de Simier, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the role of Dudley, the scorned suitor.
The character of Feste also appears to be an homage to the jester Will Sommers, who originally served King Henry VIII and retired during the reign of Elizabeth. Feste, likewise, was originally an employee of Olivia's father, according to this line in Act 2, Scene 4:
Curio: Feste the jester, my lord, a Fool that the Lady
Olivia’s father took much delight in.
Court jesters of the time were permitted a certain familiarity with royalty not available to other citizens, and like Feste, Sommers was not afraid to poke fun at his employers. But while Feste only goes so far as to call Olivia a "fool," Sommers once narrowly avoided a death sentence when he referred to Queen Elizabeth as a "bastard."
