Looking For an Identity

In “Twelfth Night” one of the major themes that presents itself is having an identity crisis. The main person that has an identity crisis is Viola, and this is obvious from when Viola disguises herself to make it look like she is a young male servant named Cesario. Viola does this because she is able to get close to the one she loves Orsino, and she is also able to be recognized by Olivia, whom she originally wanted to be the servant of. Viola has an identity crisis because she is not sure whether or not it is better to be herself or to be Cesario. As Viola she knows that she is able to love Orsino, but she will not be able to be close to him, as Cesario she is able to be close to Orsino but she also knows that she is not able to love him because they are both men. Along with not being able to love Orsino, Cesario also has the problem of having Olivia love him when he is supposed to be setting up Orsino and Olivia to love each other. If Orsino finds out Olivia is in love with Cesario and not him, Orsino will be upset with Cesario, and that is the last thing that Viola wants.

This identity crisis relates to meditation because sometimes we do not know what type of person we want to be, so a good way to determine what kind of person you want to be is to meditate on it. I have noticed that through meditation I have tried to focus myself on becoming a better person. Rather than focusing on being a person that can please everyone, if I can focus on being a person that is kind and good in everything they do, it is easier to be kind and to be the good person that I want to be. We are always told to focus on who we want to become, rather than focusing on the person we are on now, because if you focus on what you are doing now, you will never change the ways you do things. But if you focus on the person you want to be, you are able to change your life to fit it more to the person you want to be because you are able to see the changes you need to make in your life.

Viola (or Cesario) can use this meditation and put it into their life to decide which person they decide to be. If Viola wants to focus on going for the love of her life she should stay as being Cesario because she can stay close to him this way. If Viola wants to focus on being a girl she needs to focus on being Viola and not worry about what Orsino is thinking. Of course there are repercussions with both of these options. If Viola is to stay acting in the character of Cesario, she will never be able to love Orsino, and she will be loved by Olivia because she is a man. If she is to reveal herself as Viola she will not be able to love Orsino or be near him because she pretended to be a man and because she is of a different class. Obviously Viola is dealing with a major identity crisis and her best way to deal with it is through meditation and focusing on being the person she really wants to be and sticking to that. Rather than trying to be a person that she is currently which is not the person whom she wishes to be.