Gender in Twelfth Night

I may be completely overthinking this but I believe that Viola's return (as in she literally wash up onto a shore) was a rebirth for her and she was able to obtain an identity that wasn't her own. The identity that she claimed is also symbolic of her vulnerabilities, which can be proven by her 'gender-bending'. Viola is able to transform from a vulnerable woman into the confident and masculine Cesario. I believe that the other characters treated Cesario with respect which would be interesting to compare the way that Viola was once treated, but I believe that Cesario is treated as any other dignified man should be treated, equally. I believe that there was a sort of light-hearted humor based around this 'gender-bending' because Viola slips up a few times while communicating with Orsino revealing minimal femininity.

Viola is conflicted with her identity as Cesario. By becoming Cesario, she has also unknowingly become an object of desire for Olivia, while at the same time having to deal with her own desire for Orsino. It's an odd balance between her gender identity as a male or female. This especially shows when Viola speaks to herself about Olivia:

VIOLA
Poor lady, she were better love a dream!
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness
Act 2 Scene 2


The notion of an 'all-male stage', I can imagine, is so comical to watch considering that Shakespeare completely butchers the idea with the introduction of a woman who disguised herself as a man.


As R.W. Maslen says in his essay, “Twelfth Night, Gender, and Comedy” (which can be read on page 203 of “Bloom's Shakespeare Through the Ages: Twelfth Night"):

“Shakespeare's Twelfth Night dedicates itself to discovering the sheer strangeness of attitudes to gender and sexuality in the early modern period. Many of these attitudes seem odd to us now, but Shakespeare seems to go out of his way to suggest that theater audiences in his own time should have found them equally puzzling. Characters in the play wander around in astonishment, bemused by the contradictions of the rules that are supposed to govern relationships between men and women or between persons of the same sex.”

I believe that this means that Shakespeare believed that men can obtain some forms of femininity while women can also obtain masculine qualities. This is portrayed in the fight scene between Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Cesario. Sir Toby Belch's belief of defending his honor is fought through his friend to prove just how masculine he is (which is ironic because Toby didn't fight for himself because he is a drunkard mess) but ultimately results in Aguecheek's embarrassment after he is beat by a woman that is believed to be a man, Cesario.

ORSINO
O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence.
That instant was I turned into a hart,
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me.
Act 1 Scene 1

Duke Orsino is in love with love. The duke, however, is as changeable as the "sea" and as inconsistant as "an opal in the sunlight." Which can be proven by his sudden proposal to Viola the moment she reveals herself to be a women after he had been fascinated with Olivia throughout the entire duration of the play.