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Viola is commanding and assertive, instructing the captain to ‘Conceal me what I am’ in her first appearance on stage (A1 S2).

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Olivia falls in love with Ceasario after their first meeting willing to give up her independence

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‘O time, thou must untangle this, not I!/ It is too hard a knot for me t’untie’ 

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‘O time, thou must untangle this, not I!/ It is too hard a knot for me t’untie’ 

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She starts to believe that her femininity is causing her problems rather than her own choices. 'alas our frailty is the cause, not we'

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leaves her future up to fate when she falls in love with Cesario ‘fate, show thy force’

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Since Olivia is of such high class as a woman, she shows her empowerment through how she is able to act towards the love that Orsino gives to her. “I cannot love him” shows Olivia’s empowerment as it shows the audience that she is able to love who she chooses, unlike many women of her class in the context of production.

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Olivia goes against the tide of misogyny: undisguised and unchallenged
‘I cannot love him’

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Olivia describes love as a ‘plague’, connoting illness, frailty and painting herself as a victim.

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‘accost is front her, woo her, board her, assail her’ - idea of objectification, while engaging in the bawdy humour, she is ultimately objectified by others too

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“take the fool away”

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Maria is able to hold her own in the conversations with Sir Toby and Feste, displaying an ability with wit and wordplay.

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Despite losing her brother, Viola does not mourn his death and remains hopeful, immediately taking charge of the situation. "What country, friends, is this?" "My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drown'd" (A1 S2)

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She is treat like an equal by Sir Toby and can joke and jest with him against sir Andrew confidently, using her own wit and wordplay against Sir Toby and to jab at Sir Andrew, teaming up with Toby to make fun of Andrew

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‘He was a bachelor then’ A1S2
already the seeds are planted for how Viola’s character is to be eventually undermined by Shakespeare as love is going to be an affliction even though she has just grasped a rare opportunity of independence

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Maria tells Fest, who is a man, that she knows more than him and understands his own wit better than he “i can tell thee where that saying was born”

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‘women’s waxen hearts’ - metaphor that all women, including she herself, are easily broken and are very changeable

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Shakespeare may present Olivia as being frail by leaving her future to fate. This connotes her lack of empowerment as it shows the audience that she is unable to take control of her own life and would rather have a higher power do it. “Fate, show thy force”

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She is easily shaken by Malvolio pinning the blame on her and only says 'Go, shake your ears' after he has left the stage

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Olivia is viewed and spoken highly of by the other characters prior to her initial appearance.

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although she is berated by him, she retaliates. she can use his flaws, “his grounds of faith that all that look in him love him”, against him.

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Viola is quick in being able to form a plan that will ensure she is safe showing a great wit and intelligence 

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Viola is quick in being able to form a plan that will ensure she is safe showing a great wit and intelligence 

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Olivia quickly reveals her identity after swearing to conceal her face for 7 years, showing her to lack strength

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she surrenders her power over her future to fate- "fate show thy force"..."what is decreed must be; and be this so!"

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she is treat like an equal by sir Toby, an upper class man, but ends up marrying him, showing some sign of frailty as she gives up her independence to the one man that respects her

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She claims she is weak and yet remains and continues to act predominantly strong. She maintains her disguise and despite internal conflict acts accordingly to continue being undetected as a noble female

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opens act 1, scene 5 - immediately established as a powerful character, before engaging with a repartee with feste demonstrating her wit

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Viewed as an equal by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew in comparison to Malvolio

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We initially see Olivia as powerful, she is very dismissive of Feste and holds a lot of control over him. “Take the fool away” implies she is still willing to grieve and doesnt want to involve herself with anyone, the fact she can say this to Feste as a women shows the comedy concept ‘Empowerment of Women’ since she can take control of her surroundings.

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While she engages in the bawdy humour towards Sir Andrew with Sir Toby, she doesn’t object to Sir Toby objectifying and sexualising her. Whilst she is able to stand up for herself normally, she doesn’t here. “Board her, woo her, assail her.”

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Viola is shipwrecked and immediately takes an active role, she asks “Who governs here?” Already forming a plan to sort things out

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Olivia upkeeps a disguise of grief saying she will be in mourning for 7 years to ward off potential suitors, while also speaking of her lack of love as a choice “i cannot love him”

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Feels respected enough around Sir Toby to ‘boss’ him around, using imperatives like ‘must’ to try to persuade him to stop drinking
‘You must confine yourself within the modest limits of order’

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She immediately manages to become close to Orsino, not feeling threatened by his power and challenging his excessive attempts at wooing Olivia. Viola sees his actions as intrusive and insensitive to the greiving woman. "She never will admit me" "Say I do speak with her, my lord, what then?"

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Why would Maria, as strong as she presents, throw away her intuition and personal identity and her impression on her peers for a drunkard?

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Sending Malvolio after Cesario with the ring is a bold move and perhaps it does not conform to the stereotype of an Elizabethan worman to be the one pursuing rather than to be pursued

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can be authorial, indignant and imperative, yet falls victim to males and resides in a breathless, iambic pentameter, eroding her strength.

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Despite taking part in Sir Toby's bawdy humour and mockery of Sir Andrew, Maria fails to stand up for herself when Sir Toby disrespects and objectifies her, she just leaves "front her,board her, woo her, assail her".

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orders Malvolio to chase after Cesario with the ring, Cesario lies stating ‘she took the ring of me’, demonstrating Cesario’s pity for Olivia and her futile attempts to pursue a love that is unachievable (despite Olivia previously firmly denouncing a similar situation with Orsino)

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Maria’s referral to Olivia as ‘My lady’ reminds the audience of her status and social standing, bellow most of the upper class characters.

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‘He left this ring behind him’ (1.5) - desperation to see Cesario again

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She presents the idea of causing revenge to Malvolio for speaking down on her. In context of production, only men were possibly viewed as being “smart” so when a lady presents this idea it shows her empowerment “I know I can do it” her confident language also shows her empowerment as it shows that she is very sure of herself.

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Viola manages to woo Olivia upon her first visit, showing her wit and tactical nature

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Viola has been given the power to be able to lie and hide her identity

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Olivia refuses to marry, she does not rely on any man, she takes charge after the deaths of her father and brother, and has control over her uncle. “My Lady takes great exceptions to your I’ll hours”

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“Give me my veil” - she is reminding the audience of her disguise as grief stricken. It is exaggerated as we know she takes it down as soon as ‘Cersario’ asks to see whats beneath

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how empowering is her independence in Illyria when it is only the disguise [as a man] that makes her empowered, if she didn’t conceal herself she would have been forced to conform my gender stereotypes once again despite her aristocratic background, causing the argument that she is only empowered because of the disguise

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“alas, our frailty is the cause” - female disempowerment

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Viola is very quick-witted and able to realise the situation she has found herself in with Olivia, and is the first character to realise that there has been a love triangle formed

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‘Myself would be his wife’ (1.4) - in love with Orsino after three days

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The title she held as a single woman is now shared with Sebastian, her estate is no longer hers only and has lost this rare surplus of power she had acquired from the passing of her male relatives.

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Whilst she believes that her brother has just died, she dismisses it very quickly and at the mention of Orsino states quickly “He was a bachelor then” This presents Viola’s weakness as even though she believes her brother has just died, she only wants to know whether Orsino is still single or not.

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The 'our' suggests she too involves herself and believes herself to be frail.

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Viola quickly puts her mourning to the side after learning of her brothers possible death, only thinking of him in the line ‘O my poor brother!’ and then swiftly moving on, displaying agency and a proper nature in a time of chaos.

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She is taken with the entertainment provided by Feste and Malvolio's ongoing feud, encouraging their efforts to degrade one another. Despite defending Feste when talking to Malvolio, she turns on the fool as soon as Malvolio exits the stage. "How say you totally hate, Malvolio?" "you ate sick of self-love, Malvolio" "your fooling grows old, and people dislike it."

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‘alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!
for such as we are made of, such we be.’
ambiguous - while explicitly referencing the frailty of women as a whole, the use of rhyme could allude to her mocking the societal notion of women being weak and instead rebelling against this by continuing to assert her own independence through her disguise

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Maria is not afraid to mock Sir Andrew, despite him being upper class. She is intelligent enough to be able to engage in wordplay with Sir Toby to mock Sir Andrew

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when confronted with Olivia’s ringby Malvolio, she claims “she took the ring of me”. this rejects Olivia’s motion without embarrassment, demonstrating her intelligence.

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‘ Her eyes had lost her tongue’

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On her first visit to Olivia, she is able to woo her and “win her over”, something that Orsino has been trying to do for years. This shows Viola’s empowerment as it presents to the audience her wit and tactical humour. We realise this when Olivia send Malvolio to “return” as ring that Cesario had left.

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Viola has a new identity that seems to be relatively believable, she is willing to throw all this away for a man who not only swore his love to Olivia but was willing to kill "Cesario" during the misunderstanding and Sebastian's arrival to the court.

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In the Tim Carrol production, in A1S5 when Olivia is revealed to have fallen in love with Cesario, she is acted as to be panicking and ‘flapping’ in a way that implies that she actually does want a male suitor, and was simply attempting to get out of marrying Orsino because she did not love him, but once she loves someone she becomes reliant upon them

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She doesn't view her disguise 'Cesario' as a separate person, rather another part of herself , doesnt follow gender stereotypes- promotes the fluidity of gender and the idea that there is no distinction between male and female.

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Maria cannot control Sir Toby in his revelry, calling out, almost begging, “For the love o’ God, peace!”, showcasing her lack of control and strength against the upper class/male characters

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‘i know his soul is in heaven, fool’ - imperative language, in control over own thoughts and not easily influenced by Feste’s ‘wisdom’ as some other characters are, such as Sir Andrew

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Viola first appears on stage alone after the shipwreck and then commands a man showing her power and status

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Maria is able to withstand the bawdiness recieved from Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. She speaks up for herself and stands her ground. “It’s dry, sir”

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Her independence is undermined, as in the end she does marry. Olivia loses her empowerment as her ‘happy ending’ consists of her giving up her independence and marrying Sebastian

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There is reason to believe Toby only marries Maria because of the trick she helped play on Malvolio and not because he fully respects her for who she is

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Olivia has lost control of her household as Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste have made “an ale-house” of her home

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Even when falling for Cesario, she still remains in control of the situations she finds herself in. By controlling his visits, demanding her household and being the partner to propose marriage, she continually showcases her power through her assertion of her control over those around her as a repeatable lady. "Get you to your lord; I cannot love him" "Stay"

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'and I, poor monster'- thinks she is a monster for what she has caused, frailty of her mindset

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It could be argued that Olivia is presented as frail through “till seven years heat”. She is hiding behind her brothers death, in order to prevent Orsino from courting her. This shows that she has to use deception and disguise, in order to achieve agency. Shakespeare
may have intentionally done this to condemn the conventional and restrictive Gender Norms Elizabethan women were forced to obey. It is this expectation that presents her as frail, as we see her take none of her own, honest action towards agency.

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viola blaming women for their own misfortunes, in how fickle they are - ‘women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!’

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Viola becomes empowered in this scene when she uses the personification ‘she sat like patience on a monument’ showing how much strength and resilience women have

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"I will plant you two and let the fool make a third"

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"I will plant you two and let the fool make a third"

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‘as i am man’, ‘as i am woman’ - unclear sense of identity, despite aiming for her disguise to help to provide her with some independence and empowerment

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Viola offers up a veiled truth of her own experiences in the resilience of women, an image demonstrated in her disguise.
‘She sat like Patience on a monument.’

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Viola may be the presented as frail in Act 2 Scene 2 through her soliloquy after Malvolio leaves. She is presented as frail through her blame for women’s misfortunes being their own fault “in women’s waxen hearts” “alas, our frailty is the cause, not we”

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Maria devised a plan so clever in this scene that the lord of misrule marries her at the end of the play as a reward “she’s a beagle, true-bred”

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"She's a beagle true bred, and one that adores me"

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"She's a beagle true bred, and one that adores me"

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Sir Toby

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“waxen hearts”
Viola is disempowering women through the metaphor. It is implying women are easily manipulated by a man. A man can imprint on a women’s thoughts and feelings. Making Viola seem frail.

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‘alas, our frailty is the cause not we. for such as we are made of, such we be’ - rhyme scheme, women are confined by societal conventions of their weakness

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‘but let concealment like a worm i’ th’ bud feed on her demask cheek.’

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Viola protects Olivia in her lie about Cesario’s ring which protects Olivia from being exposed to shame and in turn empowering her by also lying

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orsino’s final appearance before 3.4 = allows the role of women and their own emotions and experiences to largely dominate the play until this point, provides women with a voice within the play (empowering)

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Maria has made a plan to entice revenge on Malvolio after he publicly embarrasses her in front of Sir Andrew and Sir Toby. She is presented as both powerful, yet also frail as she doesn’t stand up to Malvolio like she does to Toby and Andrew “Go shake your ears” However, she devises the plan for Malvolio to embarrass himself in front of Olivia. “She’s a beagle, true bred” She is shown as powerful as it shows that she has “won over” the Lord of Misrule

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Viola is empowered, she is able to stick up for women’s opinions ( her own) so Orsino in her disguise as Cersario.
Her disguise causes her pain however as she is in love with a man who wants another women. She is also disguised as Cesario and homosexuality was frowned upon.

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Viola falls victim to her own plan of independence, regretting her actions calling herself a “poor monster” what ‘typically masculine’ in charge role she had has ultimately been a down fall

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Eventually all women give in to love, disempowering themselves 

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Eventually all women give in to love, disempowering themselves 

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Viola is not empowered as she blames her femininity for her problems. “Oy frailty is the cause, not we”

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although she adopted the disguise quickly and effectively, she has no control over her actions. to her, disguise is a “wickedness”, even though it’s self-inflicted. links to a2s4, “like a worm i’the bud”.

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Viola ‘sat like patience on a monument’ is, contrastingly, quite disempowering as it evokes the image of her sat waiting for love to come to her, rather than making any advances for herself, despite the empowering connotations of strength and resilience

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staging of scene = pacing on the stage throughout the soliloquy, demonstrates potential for her instability and guilt surrounding her disguise, rather than her own empowerment

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This is when Orsino’s last seen in the play until Act 3, Scene 4. This shows the empowerment of women, as it gives them the voice for the rest of the play until her returns. Viola is also empowered as she is shown to be smarter than Orsino, especially when she is making hints to her true identity behind her disguise to which Orsino is oblivious to

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Even though Olivia is presented as being a strong leading female character, who does not want to marry, she ends up marrying Sebastian- a man who she has never met previously, meaning that her father’s estate and money will go to him once they are married.

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Viola is empowered by her disguise allowing her to say what she feels and defend women against Orsino. However, she is also disempowered as she has to wear a disguise to be allowed to say this and it is only a disguise. Underneath she is still a woman.

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Violas plan to disguise herself has left her in pain again, perhaps suggesting she is not fit for a role of wit and resourcefulness audiences may see this as a result of her taking over a males role of problem solving and not being able to handle it “but let concealment,like a worm i’ the bud feed on her demask cheek”

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“his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him”: a calculated and personal attack, while malvolio’s was more general.

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This is Orsinos last scene until Act 5 scene 1, the female characters, Viola and Olivia appear much more in the play, highlighting their significance

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‘ I have wit enough to lie straight in my bed. I know I can do it.’