Twelfth Night explores a tension between the competing definitions of masculinity, and as a result of this, Stanivukovic argues that masculinity ‘is not represented as normative’, instead the Renaissance interpretation of masculinity is questioned by a plethora of unstable gender categories (Stanivukovic, p.114). These gender transformations engender emotional setups that provide access to a territory outside the fixed binary culture of Elizabethan England, and one of the taboos it is thus able to explore is the issue of masculinity. The older male generation, who imitate the role of the heroic, chivalric knights appear as an ‘aesthetic anachronism’ within the play (Smith in Stanivukovic, p.120). Despite Sir Toby’s noble birth, he is presented as a farcical character who is confined to speaking prose, Shakespeare mocks Sir Toby for his attempt to emulate a certain masculine image that has become outdated, that of the conflation of masculinity with violence. Crucially, the duel which Sir Toby encourages between Sir Andrew and Cesario/Viola, ‘Go, write it in a martial hand’ (3.2.37), occurs within a feminine household. The juxtaposition between the feminine, domestic sphere of influence, represented by Olivia’s orchard, and the chivalric act that takes place within it serves to emphasise the comicality of this masculine caricature. Stanivukovic observes that this scene is a ‘burlesque of heroic masculinity’, and the fact that the scene is played out in prose only increases the weight of his statement (Stanivukovic, p.122). Romantic masculinity is played out most prominently through the character of Orsino, who is effeminized for his approach. His incessant and unrequited pining for Olivia becomes the subject of comedy and the most cutting example of this can be seen in the first interaction between Viola and Olivia. Viola exclaims that she has taken ‘great pains to con’ (1.5.165) Orsino’s hyperbolic and cliched speech and her assertion that she has ‘studied’ (1.5.169) his words alludes to the theatricality of adopting certain masculine identities, in this case, that of the romantic. The saccharine first words of Orsino’s declaration, ‘most sweet lady’ (1.5. 209), sets the tone for his speech which plays upon the established conventions of poetic courtship. Its idolatrous worship of her physical perfection, ‘’tis beauty truly blent’ (1.5.225) and ‘but if you were the devil, you are fair’ (1.5.237) coupled with the overwhelming grief of rejection, ‘with adorations, fertile tears, with groans that thunder love with sighs of fire’ (1.5.241-2) are all stock tropes of Renaissance love poetry. The grandiose and inflated imagery of Orsino is starkly juxtaposed with the minimal and natural imagery that Viola employs when asked by Olivia how she would woo. The images of isolation, ‘hallow your name to the reverberate hills’ (1.5.259) and true passion, ‘call yon my soul [Olivia] within the house’ (1.5.255) reveal a sensitivity that Orsino is unable to grasp. To complicate the matter furthe