Twelfth Night Essays

“And then I stole all courtesy from heaven, And dressed myself in such humility, That I did pluck allegiance from men’s hearts, Loud shouts and salutations from their mouths, Even in the presence of their crowned King. Thus did I keep my person fresh and new…” (Henry IV 3.2.50-54 King Henry). This scene between Hal […]

The only reference to Twelfth Night during Shakespeare’s own lifetime is to a performance on February 2, 1602. A law student named John Manningham wrote in his diary about a feast he attended at the Middle Temple in London where he was a law student and where “we had a play called Twelfth Night; Or, […]

However, in independent study, the students are able to produce something of their own imagination, and according to their satisfaction with the result. The second benefit of independent assignments is that students feel more accountable to complete their homework. This is because the group is counting on them, and they do not want to disappoint […]

In this essay I will critically assess two adaptations of Shakespeare plays; Twelfth Night directed by Trevor Nunn (1996) and The Merchant of Venice directed by Michael Radford (2004). Both performances use famous British and American actors. Both plays confront the idea of girls dressing as boys, which was common theme in Shakespeare’s plays also […]

Twelfth Night is an interesting blend of the sadness of separation between brother and sister, romance as each of them falls in love, farcical comedy filled with mostly gentle sarcasm and irony, and a “bang-up happy ending” for the brother and sister, re-united and also now loved by the one each loves. In between there […]

Shakespeare manipulates the audience using a variety of different techniques and tries to make the audience feel certain emotions towards characters. The play Twelfth Night is centred on love, being someone you are not and social class. The play itself is set in the land of Illyria and has two grand households; the heads of […]

According to Northrop Frye in The Educated Imagination, literary conventions are typical patterned ways of writing that happen repeatedly over time in the world of literature. To write stories, the writers imitate other people’s work, which they have read before. Therefore literary conventions become commonplace as a traditional way of writing. Also, Frye has mentioned […]

Twelfth Night, also known as What You Will, is a romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare in the 17th century. The play has become very popular, and is now looked at as one of Shakespeare’s greatest works of art. This essay will be discussing the reasons why Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved and […]

Shakespeare ends twelfth night with a resolution for some characters but others have ending which are less satisfying for the audience. Violas first problem is that she believes her brother is dead. ‘My brother, he is in Elysium.’ (A1S2L4) Elysium to an Elizabethan audience would mean ‘heaven’; a place where the dead go, meaning that […]

I agree to a certain extent that twelfth night is a feminist play. What exactly is feminism? It simply means subversion of traditional ideas of gender. This means that men are supposed to be active, rational, wise, perceptive, loyal and trustworthy. On the other hand, Women are supposed to be passive, emotional, shallow, vain, deceptive […]

The story of the twelfth night is formerly the story of two twins, – Viola & Sebastian, who become shipwrecked, &, both believing the other is dead, adopt new lives in this foreign country. Viola, however, perhaps sensibly considering the 1600th view of women, decides to dress up as a boy, – coincidently, she looks […]

Malvolio initially seems to be a minor character, and his humiliation seems to be a little more amusing than the Viola- Olivio- Orsino- love triangle, but he becomes more interesting as the play progresses and I see him as one of the most complex and fascinating characters in Twelfth Night. When I first met Malvolio, […]

Although the role of Feste ‘the clown’ originally seems to be quite inconsequential in the play, he actually becomes vital to the play to hold and link it together. I am going to look at all his roles and purposes in the play, using evidence to support my opinions. Feste’s original comedy role, although not […]

Twelfth Night was written by William Shakespeare in 1600 and was performed at the Royal Palace on the 6th January 1601. Shakespeare’s men who were also known as the Lord Chamberlains men performed it for Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare wrote the play for the Queen herself so that on the 6th January, which is the […]

Olivia is the daughter of a very rich and powerful man. She is very intelligent, witty and refined. The Duke Orsino is madly in love with Olivia but, unfortunately for Orsino, Olivia is mourning her dead brother and swears to herself that she well continue this mourning for seven years and will have no relation […]

Viola arrives in Illyria after being shipwrecked. She makes a decision to disguise herself as a man while in Illyria. The fact that Viola wants to conceal her true identity is a sign that she is ‘out of balance’, one of the main themes of the play. Viola is involved in many of the main […]

Although Olivia and Viola possess a number of qualities which are not just different, but in complete opposition with one another other, they do in fact have a great deal in common. The names Shakespeare has given the two characters is perhaps a reflection of this; the words “Olivia” and “Viola” consist of almost exactly […]

William Shakespeare wrote the play ‘Twelfth Night’ to suit his Elizabethan audience, so that is why perhaps there is a lot of confusion in the play, as the Elizabethans loved puzzles. In this time and age we may find it difficult to believe that a woman could be successfully disguised as a man. However in […]

Twelfth Night, written by Shakespeare in the early 17th century, is a romantic comedy containing several sub-plots and one main plot. The main plot is the complex love triangle between Orsino, Olivia and Viola/Cesario. This is seen as extremely strange as Viola, a woman, is dressing up as a man to work for Orsino. She […]

This essay aims to explore how characters refer to, and react to, love in Twelfth Night. At the beginning of Twelfth Night, Orsino is quite a traditional man in his beliefs of love and courtship. This is illustrated in phrases like “Let the woman take an elder than herself. ” His idea of love is […]

In Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night (or What You Will); many different types of love are present and experienced by the characters. These range from true love, to friendship to unrequited love, which is unreturned. Such as the love triangle between the Duke Orsino, Viola/Cesario and Olivia. These three are the main characters; they form the […]

We have chosen a scene from Twelfth Night, Act 2 Scene 3, where Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek are sitting at night drinking as Feste, the fool, enters. It is not a turning point in the play and does not contain much value context wise; however, it was a great opportunity for both […]