Oliva Getting The Short End Of The Stick

Shakespeare plays are mostly known for having a huge conflict and towards the end it works toward a “tidy” ending where social order is restored and couples are paired off to have a happy ever after. But for the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night it’s quite interesting how at one point we are rooting for Oliva for going after her man ‘Cesario’ because instead of just sitting around and waiting for him to come to her like a typical situation that was expected from a woman during that time by being silent. She is the one taking control by proposing to him and also breaking away from the idea that she should marry a man of the same age and social status. Granted “he” was really Viola it was still awesome to see a woman character taking control of the situation and acting rebellious.

But all of that was lost towards the end of the play because even after Viola reveals the big secret that she isn’t ‘Cesario’ but instead a girl, one would expect to see Oliva be one to hold a grudge and become infuriated for being the most deceived. But instead she disappoints us all with just quickly moving on to loving, Viola’s look-alike brother Sebastian. Who she knows nothing about because it was Viola who was the one who caught Oliva’s eye, not Sebastian. Oliva easily was able to transfer all of her passion for ‘Cesario’ into a relationship with Sebastian when she marries Viola's look-alike brother.

Yet somehow her marriage to Sebastian helps to reestablish the play's sense of social order because it leads back to how Shakespeare’s play almost always ends with marriage and that would pretty much lead to reestablishing the order in the world. Oliva’s character was a huge disappointment and the ending was quite awful because it portrayed her as pretty much willing to settle down for anyone. Which leads to the conclusion that she couldn’t become independent but rather have a male figure in her life in order to feel a sense of belonging.