Sorry, but I just don't understand...
Why did Viola dress out like a man?
Because back when it was written (circa 1600) there weren't too many jobs for an unwed girl. Basically, it was- dress like a boy, or become a hooker. She opted for the boy.
sharewhen it was written, women weren't allowed to act, so prepubescent boys played female characters. in many of shakespeares comedies, a woman disguises herself as a man and supposed hilarity ensues.
as far as for the plot, it's because it was the only way viola could get a job.
Viola was fairly high-born, and therefore didn't really have any marketable skills. One thing that she was qualified to do was wait on a lady of higher rank, like Olivia (in Shakespeare's time, you hired servants from the social class just below you, so a noblewoman like Olivia would be waited on by gentleman's daughters, like Viola) but unfortunately Olivia didn't need any such servants just then since she was in mourning for her brother and therefore didn't need anyone to doll her up. Viola's only choice, then, was to serve the only other nobility in town, Orsino, and she decided the best way to do this was disguise herself as a man and act as a eunuch (thus explaining her high voice).
shareactually everyone on this board is wrong. absurdity and improbability are common themes in shakespeare's work. yes, it is extreme and unnessecary for viola to pose as a man since there are most likely other ladies in illyria who hire maids and servents; but shakespeare wanted it to happen for the sake of making an entertaining, funny story. how boring would this play be if viola decided to go work as a handmaid for some other illyrian lady?
shareBull-crud. In 1600 a woman either lived with her father, was married and lived with her husband, or she was a hooker. Without a man to give her status in society, Viola wouldn't have stood a chance as a single woman, a complete stranger in a strange land. She chose to disguise herself as a means of survival, and perhaps also to gain the good graces of the noble bachelor, Orsino.
shareIn a foreign and potentially hostile land, she needed to protect herself from rape. As well, she learns of the recent news of the place and thinks she ought to work for the inaccessible Olivia, as they seem to have the recent loss of their brothers in common. In order to gain access to Olivia, she determines to be hired vy The Count and be sent on a mission to Olivia's house on account of her "gentleness."
It also gives Shakespeare the opportunity to deal with how men and women learn to understand each other through experience.
Everybody isn't wrong.. Shakespeare did use disguise to add entertainment however he is considered a controversial writer for a reason. So what is being stated is in fact correct, however the comedic aspects weren't merely that- it was social commentary that was at the forefront not jokes/laughter.. You should really research first before bashing other's statements..
shareI had the impression that Illyria (where Viola lands after being shipwrecked) was unfriendly territory, and therefore she was obliged to conceal her identity. Also, she has reason to believe her brother drowned during the same shipwreck, so she has no family or ally. So she appeals to the sea captain who is assisting her to help her still further: disguise her as a boy and get her a job with Duke Orsino.
Besides, there would be no plot if she didn't A) get into Orsino's household and B) cause confusion regarding her identity.
There are other Shakespearean plays where the heroines disguise themselves as boys. Look at As You Like It and Two Gentlemen of Verona, for starters.
When Feste recognises Cesario as being Viola whom he saw on the seashore earlier, I think he's exhibiting some concern for her safety even as a boy. Orsino's household is supposed to be men-only - "he doesn't admit women" or some such comment early on by the sea captain I think. So clearly she must be a boy, not a girl, to gain the Duke's protection. If she turned up as a woman needing a job he'd send her away unless he has women in the lowliest jobs and I expect a gentlewoman couldn't take such a job without losing her status and also risking being attacked by any rapacious men in the household? If she turned up as a gentlewoman from an unfriendly country asking for help, I expect the Duke would ransom her but it seems from her sight of Olivia that she feels compassion for Olivia and wants to help her. As a young and attractive boy, she's also at risk from the Duke's gentlemen if they have such inclinations and what if she has misplaced some other of his gentlemen who see favours from the Duke transferred to Cesario? Tricky all round and Feste sees it!
Well I don't think Shakespeare was worried about all that as the idea is a subterfuge to make a story, but I believe that's how it would appear to Viola and the sea captain who's helping her.
Because she was a woman alone in a foreign country (with which her own country had been at war) in a time when that was very dangerous.
'crawl back into my hole' is it? Well, you can just go d** in a fire.share
Everybody's right to a certain extent and I haven't read any opinion that could be classed as "bull crud". Another reason is to fit with the overall premise in the play's title. Traditionally, on Twellfth Night, as a riotous celebration to end the Christmas season, there would be a big feast at the lord's house and, often, everyone would reverse their roles. So, men would often dress as women and vice versa, while masters would serve meat to the servants. This whole idea of reversal was part of an organised chaos to let off steam and thereby actually support and preserve the social order. Within this joke in the play (which was designed as an entertainment on the 12 th Night) is the serious idea of how a natural force like love acts like an ungovernable and chaotic element , unsettling everything and causing all sorts of disruptive forces to wreak havoc in society's attempts to control human nature.
shareI think you're closest to it, because basically....
NO ONE KNOWS.
This question is asked in every English class in which the play is read. One guess is as good as the other.
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Please put some dashes above your sig line so I won't think it's part of your dumb post.
Actually 'girl dresses as boy when setting out on an adventure or quest' was already a traditional trope in medieval romances and folktale. The reason being, that at most times and in most places in medieval and Early Modern Europe, a woman travelling alone without protection was routinely in danger of rape. Women didn't travel alone if they could possibly help it; if any woman had to, it made sense to pass as a man if she possibly could, as it was just so much safer.
This was so much an established fact of life that it even made its way into Church law. In general, canon law absolutely forbade cross-dressing as 'sinfully' and 'abnormally' confusing the two sexes; but one quite specific exception to this ban was for a woman travelling alone, or only with men not her kinsmen. In such a case it was accepted that her need to preserve her chastity by disguising her sex trumped the need to maintain appropriate gender roles and dress. This point of canon law came up in the trial of Joan of Arc, one of the most celebrated medieval cross-dressers. The court accepted without question that Joan's having put on male clothes to leave her village on her mission to the Dauphin had certainly been prudent and permissible; it wasn't even odd. Further, it agreed that having continued to wear them while campaigning and when in an English dungeon was potentially OK; even though the clothes didn't disguise her, because her sex was no secret, anything that made her look not-like-a-woman while living in close proximity with men was likely to preserve her from assault (and from a purely practical point of view it was a whole lot harder for a rapist to get into a man's doublet and hose than pull up a woman's skirt). She was only condemned for cross-dressing when she refused to adopt female clothes after being transferred to a church prison, where she was safe from assault.
So while the fact the heroine's cross-dressing offered immense romantic, sexual and comic possibilities is no doubt why Shakespeare used the device, it was something that an Elizabethan audience would have accepted as a matter of course as both practical and normal.