Twelfth Night's Reflection on Women When Shakespeare wrote the play Twelfth Night around 1602, women were generally considered inferior to men, in the sense that they belonged to a class inferior. Shakespeare does not accept this idea. He shows this when Queen Elizabeth 1 asked him to write a play with love and comedy, the two main characters are very strong women and the male characters are very weak. Olivia is rich, noble, very emotional and very strong in character. In act 1 scene 2 we learn that Olivia's brother and father have recently died, Olivia has a very strong love for her brother, which is why she has taken extreme vows: she will not show her face in broad view, “but she will walk veiled like a cloister." She cried in her room every day, she loved her brother so much that she was willing to keep his memory alive by crying for seven years, this shows the very strong character she had, as this was an almost impossible task. Women were considered inferior at the time. when the work was written. The women were ruled by the men in the family, but since Olivia's father and brother are dead, she has no one to rule her life, this shows her strength as she took advantage of this, ruling her own family. and serve yourself. Olivia is confident enough to go for what she wants with grace, for example in act 1 scene 5 Olivia wants Cesario/Viola to come back again, to make Cesario/Violato come back Olivia takes off the ring and forces Marvolio, ( his head servant) to bring it to Cesario “Run after that same peevish messenger” “He left this ring behind him” he made it so that Cesario would come back again… middle of paper… than to do it for himself . The play also tells us that Orsino only thinks about how he loves Olivia, he doesn't even think if Olivia loves him, he just expects her to love him. Sebastian, Viola's brother is also a very weak male character, when he marries Olivia he lets himself take control of him, he does what she tells him to do, which shows how weak he is because he doesn't control her or his own life. Overall Viola is the strongest woman like when Olivia's brother diesOlivia makes extreme vows where as when Viola thinks her brother is dead she doesn't make extreme vows or cry, she goes on with her life which shows that she is the woman stronger. The fact that Duke Orsino and Sebastiano are such weak male characters makes the women seem even stronger than they already are..