Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare
,Background
Behind the name:
‘Twelfth night’ references the theme of carnival, since twelfth night is the final night
of feasting after christmas (the 6th January). Scholars argue that the play was first
performed on this day, to an audience of Queen Elizabeth herself. Elizabethans
used the occasion to host rowdy celebrations, and a servant was often employed
as the “lord of misrule”, who organised the games and feasting. The setting of
Illyria evokes an atmosphere of mayhem, a world of revelry as well as melancholy,
indeed it is seemingly a place where anything goes, hinted at by the alternative
title “what you will”.
,Critical reception over time:
William Archer - 1884
‘The play has as much unity as two spheres in contact.’
William Hazlitt - 1817
‘Folly is indigenous to the soil.’
Charlotte Lennox - 1753
‘The passion for Olivia...for the disguised lady...make it appear highly improbable
and ridiculous’
, Act 1 Scene 1
● The play begins with music. Orsino, Duke of Illyria, speaks the first lines
which are a soliloquy about his love for the countess Olivia. His character is
characterised by excess and self-indulgence, presenting him as foolish.
Although he claims it to be love at first sight, it is very clichéd as he barely
knows her. His love is discussed in terms of appetite.
● Orsino’s servant Valentine (haha - good name for the go-between for Orsino
and Olivia) returns from Olivia’s household where Orsino’s courtship has been
rejected.
● Valentine tells Orsino that Olivia will remain in mourning for her dead brother
for seven years, and will permit no men to see her.
By William Shakespeare
,Background
Behind the name:
‘Twelfth night’ references the theme of carnival, since twelfth night is the final night
of feasting after christmas (the 6th January). Scholars argue that the play was first
performed on this day, to an audience of Queen Elizabeth herself. Elizabethans
used the occasion to host rowdy celebrations, and a servant was often employed
as the “lord of misrule”, who organised the games and feasting. The setting of
Illyria evokes an atmosphere of mayhem, a world of revelry as well as melancholy,
indeed it is seemingly a place where anything goes, hinted at by the alternative
title “what you will”.
,Critical reception over time:
William Archer - 1884
‘The play has as much unity as two spheres in contact.’
William Hazlitt - 1817
‘Folly is indigenous to the soil.’
Charlotte Lennox - 1753
‘The passion for Olivia...for the disguised lady...make it appear highly improbable
and ridiculous’
, Act 1 Scene 1
● The play begins with music. Orsino, Duke of Illyria, speaks the first lines
which are a soliloquy about his love for the countess Olivia. His character is
characterised by excess and self-indulgence, presenting him as foolish.
Although he claims it to be love at first sight, it is very clichéd as he barely
knows her. His love is discussed in terms of appetite.
● Orsino’s servant Valentine (haha - good name for the go-between for Orsino
and Olivia) returns from Olivia’s household where Orsino’s courtship has been
rejected.
● Valentine tells Orsino that Olivia will remain in mourning for her dead brother
for seven years, and will permit no men to see her.
