Twelfth Night or What you Will first lecture

Twelfth Night, or What you Will first lecture “Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale? ”

“Shakespeare in Love” • Having successfully brought off R & J, but lost Viola de Lessip, “Shakespeare” sits down to write his greatest romantic comedy. • It will concern a lady whose spirit is “greater than the sea. ” • The sole survivor of a shipwreck. • And he begins to write Act 1, scene 2.

“So full of shapes is fancy. . . ” • In fact the play was written six or seven years later. • Viola, fortunately, isn’t the sole survivor of the shipwreck. Captain, sailors, Sebastian. • And besides, Shakespeare didn’t have as much hair as Joseph Fiennes!

The title and occasion • “Twelfth Night” the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, the last day of the Christmas season. • A time of festivity, merriment, cakes and ale, “what you will. ” • On Jan. 6, 1601, Virginio Orsino, Duke of Bracciano, was entertained by Elizabeth. • He saw a play that he described as “a mingled comedy, with pieces of music and dances. ” • Was this Twelfth Night? • Play written around 1601. • But possibly performed at Middle Temple for Twelfth Night celebrations in 1602.

The play • Shakespeare’s last romantic comedy. • Heroine disguised as boy, as in As You Like It, Merchant. • Mistaken identity of twins, as in Comedy of Errors. • New type of clown: Will Kempe retired in 1599. Robert Armin joined Lord Chambelain’s men. • Armin was known for his voice and musical ability. • Melancholy?

Clip from Trevor Nunn film of TW

Shakespeare’s most genderbending play? • Obviously Trevor Nunn wrote in the scene that Shakespeare unaccountably failed to give us. • But the scene supplies us with something of the fun of twins so unaccountably alike that, apart from their dress, they can’t be distinguished. • Officially, notice, there may be nothing too outrageous about the gender-bending. • Olivia falls in love with “Cesario, ” not Viola. • Orsino doesn’t really fall in love with Cesario – after all, he’s ready to kill “him” at V, 1, 123 ff. • Only after he’s learned the truth, does he offer himself to her, ll. 320 ff.

Gender-bending • But what are we to make of Olivia’s falling in love with a woman-boy? • And with Orsino’s apparent love for what he takes for a boy? • Not to mention Antonio’s warmly expressed love for Sebastian: II, 1, 31; III, 3, 4 ff. ; III, 4, 350 ff. • Elizabethan cult of friendship: “homosocial” bonding. • Does cult of fiendship explain it?

Cross dressing • Grounding in theatrical practice of Elizabethan stage. • Thomas Coryat’s reaction to Venetian theater: women playing women? not very convincing. • But cross dressing was also seen as deeply troubling to anti-theatricalists. • Deuteronomy 22: 5: "A woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garments: for all that do so are abominations unto the LORD, thy God. " • Shakespeare plays right into these fears. • Cross-dressing doesn’t have boys as boys, but something more complex.

Boy actors on Elizabethan stage • • Very high level of acting skill. Visually persuasive. Orsino’s judgment of Viola: 1, 4, 30 ff. Eventually played male parts, or older women.

The lady Olivia • Valentine’s report in I, 1: she has vowed seven years of mourning for her dead brother. • Feste “proves” her a fool for this, I, 5, 52 ff. • She’s independent of male authority, rules her own house. • Viola/Cesario calls her “too proud” (I, 5, 251). • But is there some justification in her rejection of Orsino? • Is her falling in love with Viola/Cesario “punishment” for her independence? • What does she love in Viola/Cesario?

Orsino • What do we make of his first speech? • Or of his wooing of Olivia by proxy? • His self-characterization of men’s desires: II, 4, 32 ff. • And Feste’s response to him: 72 ff. • His opinion of his love for Olivia: 88 ff. • And his threatened violence when he believes himself crossed by Cesario: V, 1, 117 ff.