Today is officially Twelfth Night or Epiphany. The day celebrated as the twelfth day after Christmas and the day when the Wise Men arrived to see the baby Jesus. In Spain, children receive their gifts from the wise men and leave their shoes on their window-sills full of straw for the Wise Men’s mounts.
It is considered bad luck to take down your Christmas decorations before Twelfth Night.
However, today’s blog is in honour of a different Twelfth Night - the play by William Shakespeare, “Twelfth Night or What You Will”. Believed to be written around 1601-1602 for Twelfth Night (Epiphany) as a way of bringing the Christmas festivities to an end. It has all the hallmarks of a Shakespeare comedy; mistaken identity, "comedy, love and a bit with a dog - that's what they want."...sorry I couldn’t resist the quote from Shakespeare in Love!
Plot Summary
Viola, surviving a shipwreck, walks ashore at Illyria, and immediately embarks on a gambit to allow her to make her way in a world of men. Dressed as a man, Viola, now Cesario, insinuates herself into the service of the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. Orsino longs for the love of a neighbouring countess, Olivia, who as she is in mourning for the death of her brother, repels his advances. When Cesario (Viola) undertakes Orsino's bidding and gains admittance to Olivia's chamber, she becomes infatuated with the messenger. Viola (Cesario) then falls in love with Orsino. To add to the farce Viola's (Cesario) identical twin, Sebastian arrives on the scene. Sebastian has also survived the shipwreck, although Viola thinks he has drowned.
Sebastian has been rescued by a sea captain, Antonio. But Sebastian is sad, for he believes his twin sister has drowned. The kindly Antonio gives him money to get along in Illyria but remains behind for the time being because the Illyrians think he is a pirate.
Living in Olivia’s household is her uncle, Sir Toby Belch, a merry character. Belch pretends to promote Sir Andrew Aguecheek as Olivia’s rightful suitor. Belch just wants to use Aguecheeck's money. The steward of the household is the conceited Malvolio. Late one night Belch, Aguecheek and Olivia’s jester, Feste, are drinking and singing as they often do. Olivia's handmaiden, Maria tries to quieten them but they take no notice. Malvolio catches them and blames Maria for allowing them to behave so badly in Olivia's house. Maria and the others plan to gets their own back by forging a love letter from Olivia to Malvolio.
More confusion ensues with jealousy, mistaken Identity and fights and duels. Sebastian and Olivia fall in love and marry. Orsino realises that it is Viola that he loves and she agrees to marry him. Sir Toby Belch and Maria also decide to marry! Twelfth Night ends and everyone, except Malvolio, is happy and Shakespeare speaks of the madness of love. (www.william-shakespeare.info)
Viola, surviving a shipwreck, walks ashore at Illyria, and immediately embarks on a gambit to allow her to make her way in a world of men. Dressed as a man, Viola, now Cesario, insinuates herself into the service of the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. Orsino longs for the love of a neighbouring countess, Olivia, who as she is in mourning for the death of her brother, repels his advances. When Cesario (Viola) undertakes Orsino's bidding and gains admittance to Olivia's chamber, she becomes infatuated with the messenger. Viola (Cesario) then falls in love with Orsino. To add to the farce Viola's (Cesario) identical twin, Sebastian arrives on the scene. Sebastian has also survived the shipwreck, although Viola thinks he has drowned.
Sebastian has been rescued by a sea captain, Antonio. But Sebastian is sad, for he believes his twin sister has drowned. The kindly Antonio gives him money to get along in Illyria but remains behind for the time being because the Illyrians think he is a pirate.
Living in Olivia’s household is her uncle, Sir Toby Belch, a merry character. Belch pretends to promote Sir Andrew Aguecheek as Olivia’s rightful suitor. Belch just wants to use Aguecheeck's money. The steward of the household is the conceited Malvolio. Late one night Belch, Aguecheek and Olivia’s jester, Feste, are drinking and singing as they often do. Olivia's handmaiden, Maria tries to quieten them but they take no notice. Malvolio catches them and blames Maria for allowing them to behave so badly in Olivia's house. Maria and the others plan to gets their own back by forging a love letter from Olivia to Malvolio.
More confusion ensues with jealousy, mistaken Identity and fights and duels. Sebastian and Olivia fall in love and marry. Orsino realises that it is Viola that he loves and she agrees to marry him. Sir Toby Belch and Maria also decide to marry! Twelfth Night ends and everyone, except Malvolio, is happy and Shakespeare speaks of the madness of love. (www.william-shakespeare.info)
This is one of my favourite Shakespeare comedies and although I have not yet seen it live, I have seen it many times on TV and it never fails to make me laugh. The characters and plot are so cleverly written and the humour still so fitting that it is something which audiences can enjoy even today.
There are also many great quotes that are still cited:
“But be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”
“Why, this is very midsummer madness.”
“Out of the jaws of death.”
One of my personal favourites, although not as regularly quoted, “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage.”
I think one of my favourite scenes (and I share this with my friend Heather) is where Malvolio, convinced of Lady Olivia’s love for him, comes to her dressed in yellow cross-gartered stockings, according to her wishes expressed in a letter to him and supposedly written by her. It’s all a hoax of course and adds to the general confusion and deception in the play, but is nevertheless very funny.
If there was ever a play guaranteed to banish the post Christmas blues, then this would be it. Twelfth Night or What You Will is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. The quick & witty humour is not outdated and whilst some of the comedy may seem rather slapstick it is still nonetheless a great play. Why not see it for yourself and decide.
I "seriously" love this play and I haven't seen it live, either (as well as my other top Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing). This is just wrong!!!
ReplyDeleteBut this movie should be required viewing for everyone who is interested in Shakespeare. 1:38 in the preview = the best display of cross-gartered yellow stockings ever filmed!
I saw it live at my high school since one of my friends was in it. The most impressive part was that they actually found two completely unrelated students and got them to look alike. The boy had curly hard, so they had him grow it out. The girl had super long straight hair so they had her hair curled in mini ringlets so they actually did almost look identical from the audience after makeup and everything. So impressive.
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