alot of shakespear

Viola: I am the man (II.ii.25)

Viola is "the man" that Olivia is looking for. However, she is not a man. THrought the scene she constantly referes to and asserts herself as a man, yet being a man prevents her from getting what she wants most in life....a man!

I think this sort of can be scene as Shakespeare using the phrase "I am the man" to symbolize all of the "doubleness" going on Viola's life. She is the man but she is also the woman. She desires love (Duke Orsino's) but denies love (to Olivia). She is a confidant and yet betrays. She basically has wayyy tooo much stuff going on at once in her life.