FREE ESSAY ON TWELFTH NIGHT

TWELFTH NIGHT

The complex plot - full of mistaken identities, misdirected passions, high comedy, low
tricks, and
unexpected poignancy - begins as a ship, carrying the identical twins Viola and Sebastian
is wrecked
off the coast of a fictional country, Illyria. Viola is washed ashore on this alien coast
and becomes
convinced that her beloved brother is dead. She learns that she is near the home of
Olivia, a young
countess who is also in mourning, for her recently dead father and brother. Accordingly,
Olivia has
sworn to have no contact with men for seven years, and in particular she is rejecting the
amorous
advances of the young Duke Orsino
Desperate to know how to survive, and to keep the spirit of her twin brother alive, Viola
decides to
disguise herself as a boy. She transforms herself into Cesario, enters into the service
of Orsino
and is soon sent to woo Olivia on the Duke's behalf. Olivia remains unmoved by Orsino's
attentions
but finds herself instead attracted to young Cesario, who in turn begins to fall in love
with Orsino.
As Viola says, My master loves her dearly; And I, poor monster, fond as much on him. And
she,
mistaken, seems to dote on me. When Viola's twin Sebastian suddenly emerges, alive and
well, this
triangle is complicated almost to a breaking point.
While Orsino, Viola, Olivia, and Sebastian are preoccupied with their romantic destinies,
Olivia's
household is equally occupied with a power struggle between the ill-tempered, repressive
steward,
Malvolio, and her boisterous and bibulous uncle, Sir Toby Belch, accompanied by his
vacuous, misfit
friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Olivia's maid, Maria. For his own financial ends, Sir
Toby
encourages Sir Andrew to woo Olivia, while plotting Malvolio's humiliation. Throughout,
Feste, the
most enigmatic of entertainers, comes and goes between the two households, sparing no one
he
meets his barbed insights and his wit.
Written in 1600 or 1601, this play is Shakespeare's last romantic comedy. The comedies
which
followare much darker. Twelfth Night embodies many of the themes from his earlier
comedies. For
instance, he employed the device of having a woman fall in love with another woman
disguised as a
man. In some ways, Twelfth Night can be termed Shakespeare's apology to Phebe.
Whereas Rosalind dominates As You Like it, we have many centers of interest in Twelfth
Night.
Orsino continues the theme of overly idealistic love we have seen in Orlando. The setting
has a
different feeling from Merchant of Venice and As You Like It--two plays in which
Shakespeare
clearly contrasts the world of reality with some more tranquil environment. Instead
(rather like the
single setting of Much Ado About Nothing), we see in Twelfth Night the twin centers of
power--the
estate of Orsino and the estate of Olivia. Illyria itself is a very different place from
the Forest of
Arden, and before the play began, Antonio has been in battle against the forces of
Orsino.
The interpretation of Malvolio will be crucial to your overall response to the play. I
would observe
that his appearance cross-gartered with yellow stockings almost inevitably delights
audiences. But
how much sympathy do you give to Malvolio? Unlike Jaques and Duke Frederick, he is an
unwilling
scapegoat. I propose that the older the actor playing Malvolio, the more seriously and
tragically the
audience will take him.
One must also consider the similarities and differences between two other sorts of
characters from
As You Like It: Viola vs. Rosalind and Feste vs. Touchstone.