by William Shakespeare

A comedy about a cross-dressing, ship-wreck surviving, poetry-loving girl who finds herself at the center of a gender-bending love triangle.

Written between 1601 and 1602, the play is most famous for challenging commonly accepted gender roles of the Elizabethan era and being a ‘Transvestite Comedy’

Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.

In mediaeval and Tudor England the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the Twelfth Night festival, a cake that contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would rule the feast. Midnight signaled the end of his rule and the world would return to normal.

The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. 

Gl'ingannati (The Deceived Ones) is a 1531 comedy play written collectively by the Accademia degli Intronati (the center of intellectual life in Siena). It was the Academy's first publicly hosted event, performed on the last day of carnival.

It uses stock characters of Commedia dell'Arte.

Shakespeare rewrote this comedy as Twelfth Night in 1601.

The prose tale of ‘Apolonius and Silla’ in Barnabe Riche's Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581). 

Shakespeare drew upon several plot elements from this short story for his play Twelfth Night.

Why is it important to know about the sources used by Shakespeare?

Useful article

Review the article and consider the differences between the various sources and the play, Twelfth Night.

Tone – exploration of serious issues with a lighthearted tone

Dialogue – clever and witty Disguise – cross dressing, Malvolio’s

stockings Mistaken Identity – use of twins Family Drama and Reunification Comedic Sub-Plot Love – conquers all in the end

Twelfth Night is set in the imaginary Dukedom of Illyria. This setting is important to the romantic nature of the play.

Illyria was an ancient region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea covering parts of modern Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia, Albania, Croatia, and Montenegro.

Illyria the city – mysterious, romantic, confusing Duke Orsino’s house – love-sick and music filled Lady Olivia’s house – festivity versus sobriety

Viola – a shipwrecked young lady, later disguised as a young man named Cesario, in service to Orsino

Duke Orsino – Duke of Illyria Olivia – a wealthy countess Malvolio – steward in the household of

Olivia Sebastian – Viola's twin brother Antonio – a captain and friend to

Sebastian

Maria – Olivia's gentlewoman Sir Toby Belch – Olivia's uncle Sir Andrew Aguecheek – a rich man

who Sir Toby brings to be Olivia's wooer Feste – the clown, or court jester, of

Olivia's household Fabian – a servant and friend to Sir Toby Valentine and Curio – gentlemen

attending on the Duke

Folly/Foolishness Rules and Order Deception/Lies/Disguise Communication – letters, love poetry Social Class – master/servant dynamic Love and Desire Art/Culture Identity – Gender and Gender Roles

Act 1 – Scenes 1-5

Act 2 – Scenes 1-5

Act 3 – Scenes 1-4

Act 4 – Scenes 1-3

Act 5 – Scene 1

by William Shakespeare