BACKGROUND LECTURE ON TWELFTH NIGHT The following information is based upon my taped lecture on this play. Although this text version is not the same as the taped lecture‚ it does contain the same information. All references are based on the Signet paperback edition which you should consult in conjunction with this lecture. Twelfth Night was probably written in 1601 and first performed in January of 1602. We know this because the play is mentioned that year in the diary of a
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Shakespeare was a man that established his name in history books as a great writer. One of Shakespeare’s many sparks of innovative genius which laminated these pages was his use of masks. Masks are used throughout Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” as a character would choose to wear their selected mask to fit in to the particular situation. Shakespeare uses this imagery of a mask in many of the characters in his play‚ but mostly in two: Viola and Feste. These masks are used throughout the play
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depiction of love in Twelfth Night. “The course of true love never did run smooth” is one of Shakespeare’s infamous quotes from one of his plays‚ namely‚ A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It is a quote that remains timeless throughout the ages and is centered on the theme of love and it explores the hardships associated with being In ‘true love’. Such is the same in Shakespeare’s depiction and presentation of love in another play written by him‚ which will be the main focus‚ Twelfth Night. The quote addresses
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not dissimilar to the one that concludes Twelfth Night1 and leaves Feste at the finish-line. “But that’s all one‚ our play is done …” After everything has been sorted out‚ and the proper pairings are arranged‚ verbal and structural rhythms converge to frame a sort of closure—though playing is never done‚ as the next and final verse suggests: “And we’ll strive to please you every day.” Bradley‚ having come to the end of an essay on Feste‚ extends Twelfth Night speculatively beyond the fool’s song‚ and
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In Scene Four of the Second Act of Twelfth Night Orsino and Viola‚ dressed as Cesario‚ listen to music and have a conversation about love and more specifically about which kind of women Viola allegedly fancies. Furthermore‚ Orsino gives Viola advice on what sort of woman would suit her best. In this discussion‚ the relationship between love and time or more accurately‚ the changing nature of love in the passing of time seems to play a central role. This close relationship between love and time
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Twelfth Night is the merriest of Shakespeare’s romantic comedies‚ it is also the saddest. The Christian associations of the title suggests the carpe diem theme which runs through the play. Epiphany‚ according to Christian mythology‚ is the time when the shepherds recognized the birth of Christ. The feast of epiphany is the last festival of the Christmas season‚ after which death takes over. This cycle of life is an extension of the ancient pagan fertility rituals. The mood is similar in Keats’s ‘To
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When thinking of what true love really is it is known that people have many different perspectives on its meaning. Love can be viewed as the physical attraction that one has to another‚ the desire that one has to be in another’s company‚ or the longing to have someone to love and be loved by. Shakespeare writes about love on many occasions within several of his romantic‚ comical‚ and dramatic plays. He uses many of his male characters to redefine what it means to be in love with a female‚ and to
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ELIT 351 Final Exam Project The love in Twelfth Night The love in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is a mixture of miscellaneous emotions some of them derived from the events in the plot pf the play and others are caused by the nature of the characters and their inner worlds. This different compound of feelings such as desire‚ affection‚ madness and disguise naturally present such an extraordinary web of love in the play. Each major character in the play experience the love that includes these
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The overall ending of Twelfth Night is subversive‚ from Malvolio’s uncomfortable promises of revenge to Viola still in her Cesario attire after the grand unveiling of her identity. Feste’s song highlights these ambiguities: it is the only epilogue song with the exception of Love’s Labours Lost which is not celebratory (the latter being overshadowed by death). Feste’s lyrics emphasise the uselessness of material possessions when faced with the onslaught of time‚ and comes directly after Orsino’s professed
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The sub-plot of Twelfth Night‚ the gulling of Malvolio by Sir Toby Belch‚ Maria‚ Feste‚ and Aguecheek‚ is justly famous as one of Shakespeare’s funniest experiments in New Comedy‚ that is‚ in a style of comedy which is basically quite different from the pastoral romantic style of the main plot. The basis for the sub-plot is one of the oldest and most popular subjects for New Comedy - the unmasking of the hypocrite‚ a satiric exposure of apparent virtue so as to humiliate the hypocrite and make him
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