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GCSE English Literature · key term
An error in which one person is taken to be someone else.
Used by Edexcel and Eduqas
Paper 1
Revise: Deception and madnessDeception deliberately misleads someone; mistaken identity occurs when someone is taken for another person. The two overlap, but they are not identical. Viola deliberately conceals her identity as Cesario, whereas Sebastian does not deliberately pretend to be Cesario: other people make that mistake because the twins look alike.
Component 1
A plot device in which one character is taken for another, producing misunderstandings and consequences.
Keep mistaken identity precise: Antonio thinks Viola is Sebastian in Act 3 Scene 4. Neither twin deliberately betrays him.
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This is dramatic irony: the audience understands the mistaken identity while Antonio does not. The misunderstanding is comic in its mechanism but painful in its emotional consequences. Viola tells the truth, and Sebastian has done nothing wrong, yet Antonio experiences their shared appearance as evidence of betrayal.
Confusing one person with another, so that actions or words are attributed to the wrong person.
