1. This song truly resonates with Viola in the beginning of the play as we are introduced to her following the loss of her dear brother after a horrendous shipwreck. Viola is truly stricken with an unexplainable grief and believes that he could not have survived this tragedy the befell them. This son truly reflects the emotions that Viola must be feeling. One of the strongest lines within this song, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do, To have just one more chance, To look into your eyes, And see you looking back…” truly resonates with her character at the time as Viola is still struggling to understand that her brother is really gone. In 12th night, Viola laments, “My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drown’d…” (I, 2, 50). She is accepting, yet fighting against the idea of his death. This is the beginning of her journey as this grief causes her to heavily struggle with her identity
2. During Act 1 scene 2, Viola makes the decision to disguise herself as a man. There is no clear reasoning as to why she decided to embark this identity. It ay be possible, that following the loss of her brother and dealing with the grief, adopting the male persona is helping her cope. There should be a male figure in her life, yet there is one no longer. In the song, we come across the lyrics, “I’ve got it/I’m a man now/And I won’t let you steal it/I bought it for myself” This explains the predicament of Viola, as it relates to her taking on the persona of a man and the identity of a man. She decided to do this for herself and will follow through with it completely.
3. Viola’s direct “motivation” into donning on the persona of a man, is to serve under Olivia. She recognizes the grief that Olivia is going through as they both have lost a bother. Viola, I assume, wants to build that connection through grief and aims to stand by Olivia, hence the song “stand by you”. In the song, the lines “even if we’re breaking down, we’ll find a way to break through” truly resonate with viola’s feelings at the time. This is her wanting to truly build connections and understanding through this grief.
4. Viola, after taking on the persona of a man, honestly begins to act like a man. She starts to hold these toxic ideals for women, and begins to mock women’s mannerisms. The song “It’s So easy” is a very misogynistic song. Viola’s idealization at the time align with this line from the song “Turn around bitch I got a use for you, Besides you ain’t got nothin’ better to do, And I’m bored” as she tends to now hold misogynistic ideals of women. She mocks Olivia’s ignorance in her gender and thus begins to mock all women.
5. We see that while Viola has donned this personality of a man, she falls for Orsino, whom is in love with Olivia, whom is in love with Viola/ Cesario. In this case, we have a sort of one triangle. We see how viola struggles with her identity and love for Orsino, all while he is in love with Olivia. In the song it states “The other woman, has time to manicure her nails”. While viola is struggling with her identity and portraying herself as a man, Olivia holds his affections.
6. Finally, after all. Of the acts, Viola learns that her brother survived the ship. We are even granted a reunion between the two. Within the song it says, “Reunited, and it feels so good Reunited ’cause we understood” While this song deals with soulmates reuniting, it fits the overall theme. Viola was very lost without her brother by her side. Her own identity was changed to cope with this fact. With the presence of her brother back on her side, she fells whole again.
7. Finally, the story of Viola comes to an end with a wedding. While it is not her wedding, she and Orsino have fallen in love and plan to get together. Eventually, there will be a wedding involved. This song is mainly instrumentals, but adds an interesting twist and upbeat fell. Many things have been resolved within this comedy, and this song really portrays that. Overall, Viola has come a long way with discovering her identity, dealing with grief, and love, but now she finally gets a happy ending. Even if she gets married dressed as a man!