
The play Twelfth Night seems to say that although disguise is in fact useful in perpetrating long bouts of deception, in the end a person must reject that newly formed guise, or else risk losing themselves forever in the process. A big problem with ending a deception, however, is that one may find themselves alienated in the process. Therefore, in the end, one must decide between one’s own self preservation, or the preservation of relationships with those around them. For although some will respond neutrally to discovering that they’ve been tricked, still others will not take the deception so lightly, and will be likely be offended by the whole charade.
The topic of deception in gender role reversal is especially problematic, because it brings up many side issues, perhaps the most important one being, why? Why does the subject feel the need to shirk their own identity and take up a disguise in the form of the opposite gender? In Viola’s case, it is obviously a form of self protection.: “I’ll bring you to a captain in this town/ Where lie my maiden weeds, by whose gentle help/ I was preserved to serve this noble count…” (5.1.247-249)
Having newly arrived in a foreign land, Viola feels it necessary to pretend to be a man to protect herself from would be attackers. Viola’s plan works, but it also alienates her from the women around her, cutting her off from an important support system. To make matters worse, she is apparently so convincing at appearing to be a man that Olivia confuses her with Sebastian, and in effect falls in love with her. “Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.” (5.1.138) On top of that, she also has to deal with suppressed romantic desires between her and Orsino: “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times/ Thou never shouldst love woman like to me.” (5.1. 260-261)
Although this may be a somewhat progressive attitude, to the modern reader, Twelfth Night may be seen as an illustration of how deception may help facilitate the unveiling of suppressed emotions, especially in the cases of Olivia and Orsino. Certain passages seem to hint that the aforesaid characters may have unexpressed subconscious desires that the appearance of Viola/Cesario forces them to deal with. For instance, is Olivia attracted to Cesario because Cesario appears to be a man, or does Olivia really secretly harbor feelings for women? One would argue that this is probably not the case, because Shakespeare’s character Olivia seems more likely to be parodying those people of his time period who judge others only upon their looks. 
This is evidenced by the ease with which Olivia switches her romantic ardors from Cesario to Sebastian, and begins to regard Cesario/Viola as family rather than a love interest: “A sister, you are she.” (5.1.315)
