The most striking part of this play for me is the level of cultural insight into Elizabethan society that the modern audience is able to gain from the duo-sex character of Cesario. In this character, we can hear the thoughts and emotions of an Elizabethan woman while watching the socially acceptable and expected actions of an Elizabethan man. More than action, however, I see that the dynamic and paradoxical features of Cesario’s language are particularly insightful when compared to the female and male counterparts of the character—Viola and Sebastian. In reading Twelfth Night with a linguistic focus, I decided to look into the latinate and germanic diction in the love speeches of Viola and Sebastian; then compare them to the love speeches of Cesario. Through this comparison and the hybrid female-male voice of Cesario’s character, I found several interesting thoughts regarding the strength of the loving female mind and the timidity of the loving male mind, both of which seem to be revealed through internal monologue and external discourse of the characters.
It is the female voice of Viola that presents the first and the last expressions of love from the character, Cesario. In Act I, Scene 5, after agreeing to help woo Olivia for the Duke Orsino, Viola speaks in an aside, “Yet a barful strife! Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife” (Shakespeare I.v.45-46). The declaration contains an abundance of germanic words, which appears to demonstrate the genuineness of her sentiments, the honesty of her soul. Her love is not a show of intellect, but an overflow of who she is—an Englishwoman. Here, it is her manner of speech—the use of verse, repetition, and alliteration—that distinguishes her intellect, not the forced injection of latinate vocabulary, which demonstrates to me a more profound expression of her love. During her final speech of love, however, which she gives directly to Orsino, Viola does include Latin in her germanic diction. “And all those sayings will I overswear, and all those swearings keep as true in soul as doth that orbed continent fire that severs day from night” (V.i.281-284). This distinction reveals that when she is private with her thoughts, she is bold, certain, and blunt; but when she speaks her mind in public she demonstrates the delicacy and timidity of a lady through the elevated Latin that she brings into such speech.
The masculine side of Cesario, I found to be highlighted by Sebastian’s speeches. In Act IV, Scene 3, Sebastian ponders the case of Olivia’s love with a soliloquy, revealing his thoughts on the subject. “Yet doth this accident and flood of fortune so far exceed all instance, all discourse, that I am ready to distrust mine eyes and wrangle with my reason that persuades me” (IV.iii.11-14). In this contemplative moment we observe a significant amount of latinate inclusion with the germanic words, displaying uncertainty and timidity within. Here he doubts the genuineness of Olivia’s love, and his own decision to join in such an unbelievable situation. However, outside of his mind, when directly addressing Olivia, he removes the Latin in his speech. “I’ll follow this good man and go with you and, having sworn truth, ever will be true” (IV.iii.33-34). This linguistic strategy seems to convey the masculine air of outward confidence and boldness, although such certainty is nonexistent in the secrecy of his mind. Thus, it appears that through the conjunction of latinate and germanic language, the female is presented as internally strong and externally meek. In an opposite manner, the male is presented as externally strong, but soft and doubtful on the inside.
Therefore, when Cesario’s hybrid voice appears in Act I, Scene 5, in the famous speech of his imaginary actions of love, we hear both masculine and feminine linguistic traits through the latinate and germanic presence in the vocabulary.
“Make me a willow cabin at your gate and call upon my soul within the house, write loyal cantons of contemned love and sing them loud even in the dead of night, hallow your name to the reverberate hills and make the babbling gossip of the air cry out “Olivia!” O, you should not rest between elements of air and earth but you should pity me.”
(I.v.271-279)
The segment is replete with latinate diction alongside the germanic, revealing the attempts Viola makes to enter into the masculine mind. She is bold in her expression of love, confident, and certain as a man would try to portray, however, she presents her boldness to Olivia through the language of meekness as would a woman—this, perhaps, is the very aspect that strikes Olivia as unique and admirable. Similarly, when Cesario speaks to Orsino in Act II, Scene 5, describing the lonely mental state of concealing love, she again reveals both boldness and meekness in her speech. “She pined in thought, and with a green and yellow melancholy she sat like patience on a monument, smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?” (II.v.124-126). The germanic and latinate pairings appear here in the same manner, and serve to portray the sentimentality of the masculine mind and the boldness of her own feminine thoughts as she presents the story with such conviction. Ultimately, it appears that Shakespeare reveals insight into the male and female minds through this linguistic technique. I enjoyed following it, trying to trace patterns and discover conclusive evidence. While there are certainly many other elements that go into the distinction between the male and female sides of Cesario’s character, I believe that this aspect brings a significant amount of light into the discovery as well.
23 September 2019
Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, or, What You Will. Washington Square Press, New York, 1993.