Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Comedy
• Definition – a comedic play has at least one
humorous character, and a successful or happy
ending.
• Characteristics of …
– The main action is about love.
– The would-be lovers must overcome obstacles
and misunderstandings before being united in
harmonious union. The ending frequently
involves a parade of couples to the altar and a
festive mood or actual celebration (expressed in
dance, song, feast, etc.) Twelfth Night has three
such couples.
– Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable,
the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable
coincidences, improbable scenes of recognition/lack of recognition,
willful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying commoners,
beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked
repent), enchanted or idealized settings, supernatural beings (witches,
fairies, Gods and Goddesses). The happy ending may be brought about
through supernatural or divine intervention (comparable to the deus
ex machina in classical comedy, where a God appears to resolve the
conflict) or may merely involve improbable turns of events.
– In the best of the mature comedies, there is frequently a philosophical
aspect involving weightier issues and themes: personal identity; the
importance of love in human existence; the power of language to help
or hinder communication; the transforming power of poetry and art;
the disjunction between appearance and reality; the power of dreams
and illusions).
Twelfth Night: What does the title refer to?
• The play was written as a Christmas season
production for presentation on Epiphany – the
twelfth night after Christmas, when, according to
religious tradition, Jesus was introduced to the
world.
• It is a time for celebrating, gifts are exchanged, and
parties and other celebrations occur.
• The full title of the play is Twelfth Night, or, What You
Will – i.e. “Call it anything you choose.”
Twelfth Night
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Type of work: play (Shakespeare also wrote: poetry)
Genre: comedy
Time written: between 1600-1602
Place written: England
Tone: Light, cheerful, comic; occasionally frantic and
melodramatic, especially in the speeches of Orsino and Olivia.
• Tense: Present (the entire story is told through dialogue)
• Setting (time): Unknown
• Setting (place): The mythical land of Illyria (Illyria is a real
place, corresponding to the coast of present-day Yugoslavia,
but Twelfth Night is clearly set in a fictional kingdom rather
than a real one.)
Twelfth Night Characters:
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Viola (a.k.a. Cesario)
Duke Orsino
Olivia
Sebastian
Malvolio
Feste
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Sir Toby Belch
Maria
Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Antonio
Other characters…
• Fabian – servant to Olivia; friend to Maria, Sir Toby,
and Andrew. Assists in the practical joke on
Malvolio.
• Valentine – gentleman attending to the Duke
• Curio – gentleman attending to the Duke
• Priest - (named Sir Topas); he marries Olivia to
“Cesario;” he is impersonated by Feste.
• Captain (sea captain) – assists Viola (helps disguise
Viola as Cesario)
A Closer Look at the play…
• Plot Summary: In Twelfth Night, as in most of
his works, Shakespeare has several different
plot-lines going on at the same time. He
expertly weaves these separate stories
together throughout the play. As the play
begins to move towards its conclusion the
different stories begin to converge until they
all come together for a resolution in the final
scenes.
Dramatic Structure
• Major Conflict (__________):
Viola is in love with Orsino, who
Problem
is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Viola’s male disguise,
love triangle is complicated by the fact that
Cesario. This __________
neither Orsino nor Olivia knows that Cesario is really a
woman
__________
(Viola).
Rising Action
confusion
• _____________:
The mounting __________,
___________________,
and _______________,
mistaken identities
professions of love leading up to
Act V.
Climax
Sebastian and ________
Viola are ________,
reunited and
• __________:
__________
everyone realizes that Cesario is a woman.
Falling Action Viola _______________
prepares to marry Orsino; Malvolio is
• ___________:
vows revenge
freed and _______________.
• __________________:
Denouement/Resolution Everyone goes off to celebrate.
Themes
suffering
Love
• __________
as a cause of _________
• The uncertainty of gender
folly
ambition
• The _____
of __________
Act and Scene Summaries (As you read, summarize each scene – identify the who
and the what; then summarize each act)
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5
Scene 1
Scene 1
Scene 1
Scene 1
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 2
Scene 2
Scene 2
X
Scene 3
Scene 3
Scene 3
Scene 3
X
Scene 4
Scene 4
Scene 4
X
X
Scene 5
Scene 5
X
X
X
Themes: Reflection Questions
As you read the play, explore the themes of 1) Vanity or "Self
Love“; 2) Masks and Disguises (appearance vs. reality); 3)
Fools and Ambition (the folly of ambition); 4) Gender
Confusion (mistaken identities); 5) Love and Suffering (love
as a cause for suffering) …
1) Vanity or "Self Love"
– Who demonstrates vanity? How does it end up hurting
them? Do they overcome it? How does each character's
"self love" manifest itself?
2) Masks and Disguises
– Who disguises themselves and why? What disguises are
literal and what are they meant to protect the person
from? What other kind of masks do characters wear?
When do they come off and why?
3) Fools and Ambition
– There are many kinds of Fools in Twelfth Night. What is the
difference between each kind? How does each characters'
ambition make them act like a fool? Who is made a fool in
the play? What does this say about the characters?
4) Gender Confusion
– In Shakespeare's time, women were not allowed to
perform on stage. So, all of the roles were performed by
boys. This means that Olivia was played by a young boy.
Viola was a boy, pretending to be a girl, pretending to be a
boy! Imagine what a job that must have been! How does
Shakespeare make this clear to us as an audience? How
does he use it to humorous effect?
5) Love and Suffering
– How closely related are the ideas of love and suffering?
Does anyone fall in love in this play who doesn't suffer?
How does this relate to your own life? Do some of the
characters even enjoy their own suffering?
As you read the play, explore the Common Motifs
(Patterns in Shakespeare’s plays)
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Contrasting worlds
Rise of one person at the expense of another
Disguise and deceptions
The supernatural
Redemption / reconciliation
Disorder yields to order
Comic relief scene
Parallel characters / foils
Eavesdropping
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Explore how each device occurs in the play?
What significance does it have in the overall plot or to the
overall theme?
Apply the Patterns to Twelfth Night
Motifs found in many of
Shakespeare’s plays
Examples (use these or discover
your own)
1. Contrasting worlds
Appearance vs. Reality;
Male vs. female
2. Rise of one person at the
expense of another
Maria vs. Malvolio
3. Disguise and deceptions
Viola = Cesario
4. The Supernatural
Idea of fate; a ghost?
5. Redemption/Reconciliation
Marriages
6. Disorder yields to order
Mistaken identities and the
revelation of the characters
7. Comic relief scene
Feste’s verbal jabs with
characters like Olivia and
Cesario; Malvolio’s letter
8. Parallel characters (or foils)
Duke Orsino and Olivia;
Maria and Malvolio
9. Eavesdropping
Sir Toby and Sir Andrew
Explanations (Further elaborate
on the examples)
Shakespeare’s Language
• The language Shakespeare used is an early form of
Modern English that is different from today’s English
in a variety of ways. The following list, with examples
from Twelfth Night, describes some characteristics of
Shakespeare’s English. Whereas some of the
following practices were observed in everyday
speech, others were poetic conventions.
Shakespeare often used contractions or omitted
syllables in order to maintain the meter.
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
1.
Shakespeare frequently made contractions of words that we write
separately today. He also dropped letters, particularly vowels, at the
ends of words and in the ending –est.
Orsino: ’Tis [it is] not so sweet now as it was before. (1.1.8)
Toby: She’ll none o’ [of] th’ [the] Count. (1.3.104)
Toby: O knight, thou lack’st [lackest] a cup of canary! (1.3.79)
Andrew: And you love me, let’s do’t [do it]. I am dog at a catch. (2.3.61)
* Remember: if you see the apostrophe ( ’ ), then something has been omitted.
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
2. Shakespeare omitted entire unstressed syllables or
consonants from the beginning or middle of words.
Viola: Whoe’er [whoever] I woo, myself would be
his wife. (1.4.42)
Malvolio: Were not ev’n [even] now with the
Countess Olivia? (2.2.1)
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
3. Shakespeare used many words (such as the adverbs hence, thence,
whence, hither, thither, and whither and the pronouns thy, thou,
thee, and thine) that we no longer or rarely use today. Words that
have dropped out of the language are called archaic.
Olivia: Whence [from what place] came you, sir?
(1.5.175)
Duke: Then let thy [your] love be younger than thyself
[yourself], (
2.4.36)
[hence – from now; thence – from that time or place; whence – from what
place?; hither – to this place, nearer, from here; thither – there; whither –
from where?] [thy –your; thou – you; thee – you; thine – yours; prithee –
please; Ay – yes; ho – look there]
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
4. Archaic words include forms of verbs with
endings such as –th and –st, as well as
irregular verb forms such as spake (spoke).
Olivia: Why, how dost [do] thou, man?
What is the matter with thee? (3.4.24-25)
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
5. Shakespeare freely used words as different
parts of speech, sometimes inventing words in
the process.
The following slides are words and phrases
credited to Shakespeare…
Words of note-• The human condition can be difficult to
capture through words, especially when the
English language is limited. In Shakespeare’s
time, there simply wasn't a single word for
"lonely" or "generous."
So Shakespeare did what any person in search
of the right word does in times of crisis: He
made them up. He is credited for making up
over 3,000 words. Here are some words that
Shakespeare is credited with inventing:
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accused
addiction
advertising
aerial
alligator
amazement
arouse
articulate
assassination
bandit
beached
bedroom
befriend
besmirch
birthplace
blanket
 blushing
 bloodstained
 bump
 buzzer
 caked
 cater
 champion
 circumstantial
 cold-blooded
 compromise
 countless
 courtship
 critic
 critical
 duanting
 dawn
 deafening
 demure
 discontent
 dishearten
 dislocate
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dwindle
educate
elbow
entomb
epileptic
equivocal
excitement
exposure
eyeball
fashionable
fixture
flawed
frugal
generous
gloomy
gnarled
gossip
gust
hint
hobnob
hoodwink
hurried
hurry
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impartial
impede
investment
invulnerable
jaded
label
lackluster
lapse
laughable
leapfrog
lonely
lower
luggage
majestic
marketable
metamorphize
mimic
misplaced
monumenta
moonbeam
mountaineer
negotiate
noiseless
numb
obscene
obsequious
ode
olympian
outbreak
pander
pedant
premeditated
radiance
rant
remorseless
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savagery
scuffle
secure
submerge
summit
swagger
torture
tranquil
trickling
undress
unreal
varied
vaulting
wappened
worthless
zany
And Phrases, too
• Shakespeare also spent many of his hours
trying to come up with that almost agonizingly
appropriate phrase for some of his thoughts.
After all, what are words but minds at play?
Below is a long laundry list of the common
phrases Shakespeare is credited with inventing
(yes, he invented every phrase he wrote, but
these are the ones that have lasted into
current slang/prose/language):
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all corners of the world
All that glitters is not gold
as ____ as the day is long
as luck would have it
band of brothers
blinking idiot
budge an inch (or not)
catch cold
charmed life
dead as a doornail
devil incarnate
didn't sleep a wink
eat me out of house and home
fair play
fancy free
flaming youth
fool's paradise
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forever and a day
for goodness' sake
foul play
give the devil his due
good riddance
green-eyed jealousy
high time
hoist by your own petard
household word
in a pickle
in stitches
in the twinkle of an eye
into thin air
It's Greek to me
laughing stock
love is blind
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make haste
method to one's madness
neither here nor there
no rhyme or reason
off with his head!
Oh woe is me
one fell swoop
play fast and loose
primrose path
rotten to the core
seen better days
send one packing
short shrift
sink or swim
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrust upon them
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sorry sight
sweets to the sweet
the game is afoot
the game is up
the long and short of it
there's the rub
tongue tied
too much of a good thing
tower of strength
Tut, tut!
under the weather
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown
What a piece of work is man
What is past is prologue
what the dickens
wild goose chase
your own flesh and blood
Shakespeare’s Language cont’d.
6. Shakespeare also inverted his sentences (that is, he rearranged the parts of a
sentence). Presently, the normal sentence structure is Subject + Predicate [Subject
+ verb + complements].
Shakespeare rearranged the parts of the sentence (i.e. by placing the
complements before the subject or verb) in order to meet the meter or to
emphasize one word or part of the sentence over another [also it was common
practice in his day].
For example:
Olivia (Shakespeare): Under your hard construction must I sit, / To force that on
you in a shameful cunning / Which you knew none of yours. – 3.1.117-119
Olivia (Rearranged): “I must sit under your hard construction [harsh interpretation]
to force that on you in a shameful cunning which you knew none of yours.”
[Modern translation: You probably think poorly of me after I forced that [ring] on
you with such outrageous trickery.]
Let’s practice translating Shakespeare’s
Language to today’s English…
Rewrite these lines from Othello in today’s English, replacing the italicized,
archaic words and spellings with more modern forms.
1. Andrew: By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. ... ’Twas very good i’
faith. I sent thee sixpence for thy leman. Hadst it? (2.3.19-26)
By my truth (I swear), the fool as an excellent breast…It was very good
in faith. I sent you sixpence for your leman. Did you have/get it?
2. Toby: Th’ art i’ th’ right. (2.3.118)
You are in the right.
3. Olivia: I prithee tell me what thou think’st of me. (3.1.140)
Please tell me what you think of me,
4. Clown: Nay, I’ll ne’er believe a madman till I see his brains. (4.2.119-120)
No, I will never believe a madman until I see his brains.
5. Sebastian: Fear’st thou that, Antonio? (5.1.222)
Do you fear that, Antonio?
Tools for The Text: Paraphrase
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Reading a Shakespeare play can be a daunting task. Shakespeare's language can make
it difficult to lose yourself within its pages. However, there are a few tools you can
use to help break down the text into something more understandable and enjoyable.
The first tool is called Paraphrasing. This is when you take the text and put it into your
own words. This is not only a useful tool for reading the language, but it is the primary
method of deconstructing the text by the Shakespeare Festival's artists. Although the
words used 400 years ago are similar, their meaning was quite different.
Examine the following lines from the very beginning of Twelfth Night, when Duke
Orsino demands more music, hoping it will cure his lovesickness.
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again. It had a dying fall;
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more.
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
One possible paraphrase might read:
– If it's true that music is the food of love, keep playing. Give me too much so I'll be
stuffed and I won't want it any more. Play that bit again! It definitely had the
right sound to make my appetite die. It sounded as sweet as a breeze that blows
across a patch of violets. Taking their scent and giving it to me. Stop, that's
enough. It's not as sweet as it was before.
Tools for the Text: Imagery
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Another great tool to further and deepen your understanding of Shakespeare is imagery. These are the pictures that
Shakespeare paints with specific words. Just as pictures go through your mind when you read a book, Shakespeare used
even more profound words to create very powerful images.
Let's look at Duke Orsino's monologue again:
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
That strain again. It had a dying fall;
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Take a look at the words in bold. Step one is to write down the first few images that come into your mind:
– Food:___________________________________________________________
– Love:___________________________________________________________
– Excess:_________________________________________________________
– Sicken:_________________________________________________________
– Dying:_________________________________________________________
– Sweet:_________________________________________________________
– Breathes:_______________________________________________________
– Violets:_________________________________________________________
Now ask yourself what those images mean to you. How do they make you feel? What kind of actions do they make you want
to do? What words effect you most?
Now that you've found some personal connection to these words, say the monologue out loud and allow those images to fill
your mind. Allow them to effect you and your audience as you speak.
Tools for the Text: Iambic Pentameter
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Take a look at the monologue we used in the previous two examples. Did you
notice a rhythm to the lines when you said them? Did you notice that the first
letter of every line is capitalized? This is because Shakespeare chose to write much
of his text in Iambic Pentameter. You'll find many explanations for what this means,
but one simple way is to say that each line has 10 syllables - 5 stressed and 5
unstressed. Here is an example:
– If music be the food of love, play on,
•
Count the syllables. You can see that it has 10 syllables. Now we will break the line
up into smaller sections that have two syllables. These sections are called feet:
– If mu
•
sic be
the food
of love,
play on,
Watch out when breaking a line into feet. You'll notice that sometimes a word can
be broken up (like mu-sic). Now, within each foot there is usually one stressed and
one unstressed syllable. In Iambic Pentameter, the second syllable in a foot usually
gets the strong stress.
– If mu sic be the food of love, play on,