I wanted to re-examine the aspects of Twelfth Night that my classmates and I interpreted as Queer in either nature or implication; specifically, Orsino’s seeming homosexual attraction to Cesario despite his adoration of Olivia, Olivia’s attraction to Viola’s feminine features, Viola’s confusing willingness to cross-dress, and Antonio’s attachment to Sebastian. The question of whether or not these often-humorous nuances, as well as those surrounding characters’ class and wit, can be construed in an unoffensive manner was of particular interest to me, as it seems this play offers a rare opportunity to show the social and romantic complexities of Queer identity in a funny light. I decided to adapt the story to a modern setting to allow this interpretation, and created the below outline of what Act 1 of such a movie could look like. To depict the characters as explicitly rather than implicitly Queer, I chose to write Viola not as a cross-dressing woman but as a transgender woman; in this scenario Cesario is a persona she adopts unwillingly, because it is who her community percieves her as, and her attractiveness to Orsino and Olivia (only the latter interfaces with her while passing as a woman) requires Queerness of both of them as well. By doing this, I hope to transform cross-dressing or gender expansiveness from being the punchline within the story to serving as situational comedy–allowing Queer characters to be funny and in funny scenarios without being the joke themselves.
The first line that inspired me to consider this interpretation was Orsino speaking to Viola, as Cesario: “Come hither, boy. If ever thou shalt love, / In the sweet pangs of it remember me” (2.4.13–14). Orsino’s rapid attachment to Cesario and his attitude of instructing Cesario on the matter of love, connected with this line (which has an implication of ‘it could never be’), seemed like romantic interest, and while Orsino does end up in a relationship with Viola it is only once she is revealed to be a woman and they could be a straight couple. I wanted to explore a version of Orsino that a modern setting would allow, in which he is open to a relationship with Viola/Cesario without the assurance of heterosexuality–though still, of course, a hopeless and embarrassing romantic. Similarly, I was inspired by Viola’s response to realizing the love triangle:
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy it is for the proper false
In womens’ waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we,
For such that we are made of, such we be. (2.3.22-27)
Here, Viola recognizes the social repercussions of cross-dressing, which I believe are similar to those transgender people can experience while dressing to pass in today’s time. The latter part of this section, however, is often viewed as misogynistic, in that it implies women are weak when it comes to the matter of falling in love. While untrue to a progressive reader, this does represent Viola’s genuine perspective, and I saw it as an opportunity to show how experiences of gender-expansiveness, from cross-dressing to drag to transitioning, require individuals to think critically about gender roles and the true meaning of gender much more than their cisgender peers would, and how, in this process, they may often come across and adopt interpretations of their femininity, masculinity, or androgyny that are imperfect and subject to change. In my adaptation, Viola sees herself as weak because she is caught up in the love triangle, and associates this trait with her femininity, which she is still exploring. This nuance is one of the ways in which I wanted to incorporate the real complexity of Queer existence into the play while still maintaining the absurdity and hilarity of its plot.
Attached is my plot outline for Act 1 of a screenplay, it's two opening scenes, notes on how I would reimagine the ending of Twelfth Night, and a cast of characters with descriptions.
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