Twelfth Night or What You Will Lecturer Audrey

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will Lecturer: Audrey Tinkham

Twelfth Night l Performed on February 2, 1602 at the Middle Temple (written possibly as early as 1599); usually dated 1600 or 1601.

Twelfth Night of Christmas The Twelfth Night of Christmas is January 6, the Feast of Epiphany (Christian Feast of the Magi). l In Renaissance times, Twelfth Night was the last day of Christmas revels. l The purpose of allowing social roles to be turned upside down was to "channel potentially destructive insubordination into playacting and thereby promote harmony" (Bevington 326). l

Themes l Saturnalian release and the carnival pursuit of love and mirth l Friendship and marriage l Social mobility l “Will” or Desire l Illusion vs. “reality” l Twin characters & twin issues

Main Plot l Count Orsino & Olivia l Viola/Cesario & Count Orsino l Olivia & Viola/Cesario l Antonio & Sebastian (III. iii) l Olivia & Sebastian

Sub-Plot l Maria & Sir Toby l Sir Andrew & Olivia l Malvolio l Festes

Carnivale: Inversions of Order l Viola posing as a young man: I. iv. 24 -34 l I. v. 259 -72 -- Why does Olivia fall in love with Cesario instead of Orsino? l III. iv. 296 -303 l l Malvolio “courting” Olivia & his gender reversal: II. v. 34 l II. v. 85 -93, 157 -75 l

Carnivale: Inversions of Order l Feste’s role as the wise man: l I. v. 31 -69 l III. i. 1 -36 l V. i. 9 -21 l Sir Toby & Sir Andrew reveling in/to excess: II. iii. 1 -14 l Maria “posing” as Olivia: II. iii. 154 -75

Carnivale: Inversions of Order l Olivia courting and “marrying” Cesario: l V. i. 144 -8 l Maria marrying Sir Toby

“What You Will” l What kind of man is Orsino? II. iv. 73 -8 l Viola and Orsino on love & gender: l II. iv. 29 -41 l II. iv. 89 -118 l What kind of man is Malvolio? l II. iii. 113 -15 l II. iii. 139 -52 l V. i. 378

Questions for Conjecture l l Why is it okay for Viola to marry a nobleman, but it’s not okay for Malvolio to marry a noblewoman? (Consider the names, “Viola” and “Malvolio. ”) Viola withholds her identity until she can “give birth” to herself at the most opportune moment: I. ii. 41 -4, 53 -5. What does this tell us about her as a key figure in the play? What does the play’s sub-title refer to? Have Malvolio and Olivia been sexually intimate? II. v. 87 -96

Twins? l Viola and Sebastian l Cesario and Malvolio l Viola and Maria l Malvolio and Orsino

Shakespeare in Performance To think about: l Characterization: E. g. , how should Viola be played? Malvolio? Maria? l Staging: focus especially on the scenes between Orsino & Cesario and on the ending.

Sources Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 4 th ed. New York: Harper. Collins, 1992. Bristol, Michael D. “The Festival Agon: The Politics of Carnival. ” Twelfth Night. Ed. R. S. White. New York: St. Martin’s P, 1996. Callaghan, Dympna. “‘And all is semblative a woman’s part’: Body Politics and Twelfth Night. Ed. R. S. White. New York: St. Martin’s P, 1996. Malcolmson, Cristina. “‘What You Will’: Social Mobility and Gender in Twelfth Night. ” Ed. R. S. White. New York: St. Martin’s P, 1996.