The Interaction Of Materials,Identities,and Emotions:An Analysis Of Twelfth Night From The Perspective Of New Economic Criticism

Twelfth Night,Shakespeare's masterpiece,intricately inquiries into the nature of physical and abstract economy.Gender identity re-construction,the complex characters' relations,and fascinating emotional world create the tapestry of this miniature unconventional society.Physical economy and abstract economy are thoroughly analyzed in this paper.Different representative objects,including ring,jewel,clothing,purse,and letter,are interpreted with symbolism.In addition,the dynamic influx between extrinsic value and intrinsic value reveals the underlying mechanism of material exchange.In terms of physical economy in Twelfth Night,different objects are intertwined with economic reasoning.The golden ring and the jewel represent a symbol of affection.Clothing,as the currency at that era,witnesses the reconstruction of new female identity of Viola.The purse shows Sebastian's indebtedness to Antonio economically and spiritually.The forged letter is the physical carrier of Malvolio's unrealistic fantasy,thus making Malvolio the victim of material dispossession and objectification.As for the abstract economy in Twelfth Night,the economics of identities,emotions,marriages,remarks,promises,opportunities and jests is thoroughly studied.The economic shift marks loss,authentication,and restoration of identities.The most universal emotion,love,can be viewed as counterfeit investment.Not merely confined to finding the soul mate,Marriage acts as a ladder for climbing to higher social status and results from asymmetric information or adverse selection.Remarks,promises,and opportunities are also measured by money.Remarks can be as precious as gold.There is a promising economic reward for important promises.The double gilt of opportunities outlines their crucial significance.The economics of jest offers the comedic colour to this play.The cultural capital of the clown,Feste,can be testified in different fields.This study explores the interactive relations between physical or abstract beings and the economy circulating in between,and provides a thought-provoking interpretation about the interaction of materials,identities and emotions,thus giving new insights to the interdisciplinary study of Shakespeare's texts.