“Twelfth Night” is a play written by Shakespeare. This play, primarily based on love, begins with Orsino trying to win Olivia's love. Viola, who has been shipwrecked, assists the Duke by disguising herself as Cesario and ends up falling in love with the Duke. Maria, Olivia's servant, plays a prank on Malvolio. Maria sends love letters to Malvolio as if they were written by Olivia, making Malvolio believe that Olivia loves him but instead makes a fool of herself. The Duke wants Cesario to win Olivia's love for him, but Olivia confesses her love for Cesario. One of Olivia's men, Sir Andrew, challenges Cesario to a fight but he refuses. Sebastian, Viola's twin brother who was also shipwrecked, makes an appearance and is brought to the wedding by Olivia who mistakes him for Cesario. Cesario is revealed to be Viola and the Duke asks her to marry him, while Sir Toby and Maria marry. The central idea is often that everyone falls in love. To understand “Twelfth Night,” one must know how mistaken identity creates humor, how love affects conflict, and the opposites that Malvolio and Sir Toby represent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Shakespeare uses mistaken identities to create humor. The humor arises when Viola asks the captain to “hide what she is from her” “to ensure her own protection” (Roberts). The audience knows that Cesario is a woman, but the other characters in the play do not know this. This fact entertains the audience in many scenes. For example, when Cesario is asked to win Olivia's love for the Duke, Olivia falls in love with Cesario instead. The audience knows that Olivia is falling in love with a woman but she is not fully aware of it, which creates amusement. When Sir Toby creates a feud between Cesario and Sir Andrew for a fight, Sir Toby does not know that Cesario is a woman. This fact unknown to the characters allows the audience to anticipate what will happen in the fight. Viola, disguised to look a lot like her brother, ratchets up the tension when Antonio mistakes Cesario for Sebastian. Humor is also created when Olivia marries Sebastian instead of Cesario and the Duke's love shifts from Olivia to Viola. Viola disguised as Cesario creates dramatic irony and entertains the readers through the humor created in the scenes. The theme of love affects the conflict in several ways, Viola's love for Orsino and Olivia's love for Cesario. Viola's love for Orsino is true love. She instantly falls in love with him but can't do anything about it because she is still disguised as Cesario. Although she claims to be a man and is not known to the people of Illyria, she "would be his wife" and hopes that he will be "constant with her" and "inconstant in his affections for Olivia" (Roberts ). The Duke and Cesario become very close and have a great bond working together. So when Cesario turns out to be Viola, it's easy for them to get married. In another love scenario, Olivia loves Cesario but he doesn't love her back. As Cesario tries to win Olivia's love for the Duke, Olivia falls in love with Cesario because he knows exactly what a woman would like to hear. Love plays a major role in this play. The theme of love affects the conflict because other characters fall in love with each other, but when the true colors are revealed at the end of the play, the characters' love changes. Malvolio and Sir Toby Belch achieve opposite characteristics in this play. Malvolio is Olivia's steward and belongs to the lower class. He is very strict and hates almost everything.