Elina Netšajeva 11a

• Comedies
• Histories
• Tragedies

• Is set in an imaginary country (Illyria)
• Is similar to a fairy-tale
• Characters are true to life

• In Shakespeare’s comedies female heroines are usually more important than male heroes
• But in Shakespearian time men played all the roles even female ones
• In characters we can see many mistakes and faults

The two most important motives in comedy:
1. Right of an individual to free choice of love
2. Contrast between the appearance and reality

• Shakespeare’s comedies are accompanied by music and sometimes actors play music instruments by themselves
• Songs are often sung by a jester or a fool; parallel the events of the plot.

• Romantic love
• Friendship

• A struggle of old haters to overcome difficulty, often presented by young people
• Separation and re-unification
• Mistaken identities
• A clever servant
• Heightened tensions, often within a couple
• One, intertwining plot
• Frequent punning

• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• The Comedy of Errors (is believed to be Shakespeare’s earliest comedy, written around 1592)
• Cymbeline
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for Measure
• The Merchant of Venice
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Pericles Prince of Tyre
• Taming of the Shrew
• The Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
• The Winter's Tale

• Twelfth Night is a wonderful romantic comedy which was named after the
Twelfth Night Christmas holiday.
• First performed between 1599 and 1601
• Contains basic themes like: divided twins, mistaken identity, true love conquering, gender-crossing and love madness.

• Orsino is a strong nobleman who lives in the country of Illyria. He is madly in love with the gorgeous lady Olivia.

• Viola is a young upper-class woman and the main character of the play. She represents herself as a man ‘Cesario’ and goes to work for Orsino and falls in love.
• Olivia is a good looking, wealthy and noble woman who lived in
Illyria . Orsino was in love with her.

Thank you for your attention!
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