It has often been said that "clothes make the man." It could never seem truer than in Twelfth Night, where disguises and mistaken identities go a long way. The identity of people, things and ideas is hidden under the façade of something more convenient for the given moment or occasion. Viola's disguise, Maria's ruse, Feste's madness and even love fall at that moment under a mask that perfectly complicates things almost beyond salvation. The plots raise questions about the nature of reality that only Shakespeare can answer. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The show begins with Viola discussing the plausibility and necessity of assuming a disguise during her time in Illyria. To his captain he says, "... Hide from me what I am, and be my helper / For a disguise that perhaps will become the form of my intent," thus instructing him in his plan to disguise himself. She goes on to say that she will take the form of a eunuch, and much later in the play it is revealed that it is actually the appearance of her twin brother, Sebastian, at this point thought to be dead, that she chooses. This introduces the importance of disguise and deception right from the start, along with the difficulty of staying the wrong way when faced with the truth. When she discovers that the very woman her temporary master is asking her to woo for him falls in love with his masculine personality, she says, "Disguise, I see, you are a wickedness in which the pregnant enemy does much." She begins to feel the pressure more acutely even before: she darkly confesses to Olivia, admitting that "through the teeth of malice" she is not the one playing. A juxtaposition is effectively made between the beautiful ease of assuming a disguise and the unpleasant lies of maintaining it. A proverb in vogue in England at the time Twelfth Night was written becomes part of the clown's verses: "Cucullus non facit monachum". Translated it means "the hood does not make the monk" and is understood at the same time as "the clothes do not make the man". While this would seem to be in line with the compromising situation Viola was placed in here by assuming a disguise, the opposite is later shown to be true. Ironically, it is Feste himself who makes the contradictory statement: "I wouldn't wear one of your coats for two pence." The following dialogue expresses it best:MARIA: No, please, put on this robe and this beard; make him believe that you are Sir Topas the curate: do it quickly; I'll call Sir Toby for a while. CLOWN: Well, I'll wear it and disguise it; and I would like to be the first to pretend to wear such a dress. I am not tall enough to perform the function well, nor thin enough to be considered a good student; but to say that he is an honest man and a good housekeeper is as correct as to say that he is a careful man and a great scholar. He seems to say that he cannot fully become that position until he wears the clothes that would outwardly mark him as a member. of that class. At the same time, he reiterates his previous statement about the monk, adding that he is not "tall enough to perform the function well, nor thin enough to be a good student", which can be interpreted to mean that even if dressed as such it is not the clothing that makes him what he wishes to become. It is the coats and clothes worn that form the ideas of the person, as shown in the final scene with Sebastian and Viola together for the first time in the same room, but it is really what is inside (even if that "inside" is simply under clothing..