In the climax and closing action of Twelfth Night, we see a rapid fire stream of action all stemming from miscommunication and mistaken identity. I wanted to examine the relationship between Viola and her brother Sebastian, as they are the crux of the action in the closing stages of the play. The fact that they are twins seems to be the biggest issue, as it confuses every person in the play that comes across them. I think something that we lose in reading and not viewing the play is exactly how similar they were in looks. For Sir Andrew to run across Sebastian and attack him, he would have had to been wearing something similar to what Cesario (Viola) was wearing during their initial encounter. This may be part of the comedic element of the play, to help along the plot and also create some funny moments for the audience. What is even more curious is the nature of Sebastian and Viola, often playing up the confusion or going along with it as opposed to trying to clarify what is going on. When Olivia sees Sebastian and mistakes him for Cesario, Sebastian accepts the invitation, writing it off as a really nice dream that he is going to play along with. In his defense, most men seeing a beautiful woman beckon might have a similar response. Even though this is a comedy, and as such sometimes you must suspend your disbelief, I couldn’t buy into Olivia mistaking Cesario for Sebastian, who she mistook for Cesario not long before. The way that it’s framed in the play, you would think that Viola and Sebastian are mirror image of one another. All this, not to mention that Olivia married Sebastian before, so she doesn’t even recognize her own husband.

This confusion reaches a fever pitch during the play’s final confrontation: Antonio is yelling at Cesario because he believes him to be a traitorous Sebastian, Orsino is also mad at Cesario because Olivia calls Cesario her husband, who isn’t even the person she married, and Sir Andrew is accusing Cesario of assault (again, it’s Sebastian that they are looking for), and this is only solved by Sebastian himself appearing and causing a revelation among the characters to occur. Afterwards, everyone almost seems to just accept the things that have happened in the play. Orsino, who was completely smitten by Olivia in the beginning, is rather indifferent to find her married to Sebastian and wants to see Viola as a woman (presumably to marry) almost as a consolation prize. It was certainly a bizarre ending to a bizarre play.