Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Twelfth Nightby William Shakespeare

Comedy • Definition – a comedic play has at least one humorous character, and a successful or happy ending. • Characteristics of … • The main action is about love. • The would-be lovers must overcome obstacles and misunderstandings before being united in harmonious union. The ending frequently involves a parade of couples to the altar and a festive mood or actual celebration (expressed in dance, song, feast, etc.) Twelfth Night has three such couples. • Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable coincidences, improbable scenes of recognition/lack of recognition, willful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying commoners, beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked repent), enchanted or idealized settings, supernatural beings (witches, fairies, Gods and Goddesses). The happy ending may be brought about through supernatural or divine intervention (comparable to the deus ex machina in classical comedy, where a God appears to resolve the conflict) or may merely involve improbable turns of events. • In the best of the mature comedies, there is frequently a philosophical aspect involving weightier issues and themes: personal identity; the importance of love in human existence; the power of language to help or hinder communication; the transforming power of poetry and art; the disjunction between appearance and reality; the power of dreams and illusions).

Twelfth Night: What does the title refer to? • The play was written as a Christmas season production for presentation on Epiphany – the twelfth night after Christmas, when, according to religious tradition, Jesus was introduced to the world. • It is a time for celebrating, gifts are exchanged, and parties and other celebrations occur. • The full title of the play is Twelfth Night, or, What You Will – i.e. “Call it anything you choose.”

Twelfth Night • Type of work: play (Shakespeare also wrote: poetry) • Genre: comedy • Time written: between 1600-1602 • Place written: England • Tone: Light, cheerful, comic; occasionally frantic and melodramatic, especially in the speeches of Orsino and Olivia. • Tense: Present (the entire story is told through dialogue) • Setting (time): Unknown • Setting (place): The mythical land of Illyria (Illyria is a real place, corresponding to the coast of present-day Yugoslavia, but Twelfth Night is clearly set in a fictional kingdom rather than a real one.)

Viola (a.k.a. Cesario) Duke Orsino Olivia Sebastian Malvolio Feste Sir Toby Belch Maria Sir Andrew Aguecheek Antonio Twelfth Night Characters:

1. Viola • A young ___________ of aristocratic birth. Washes up on the shore of Illyria when her ship is ___________ in a storm, she decides to maker her own way in the world. She disguises herself as a _______, calling herself “Cesario,” and becomes a page to Duke Orsino. She ends up ___________ with Orsino, while the woman Orsino loves, falls in love with Cesario. Now she finds herself trapped: she cannot tell Orsino that she loves him and she cannot tell Olivia why she, as Cesario, cannot lover her. Her dilemma is the central conflict to the play. woman wrecked man falling in love

2. Duke Orsino • A __________ nobleman in the country of __________. He is lovesick for the beautiful Lady Olivia, but finds herself more and more fond of his handsome new page, Cesario, who is actually a __________ - Viola. He mopes around complaining how heartsick he is over Olivia, when it is clear that he is chiefly in love with the _________ of _______________ and enjoys making a spectacle of himself. romantic Illyria woman idea being in love

3. Olivia • A _____________, beautiful, and noble Illyrian lady, she is __________ by Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheeck, but to each of them she insists that she is in __________ for her __________, who has recently __________ and will not __________ for _____ years. She and Orsino are similar characters in that each seems to enjoy wallowing in his or her own __________. Viola’s arrival in the masculine disguise of Cesario enables Olivia to break free of her self-indulgent melancholy. Olivia seems to have no difficulty transferring her affections from one _______________ to the next, however, suggesting that her romantic feelings – like most emotions in the play – do not run terribly deep. witty/intelligent disgusted mourning brother died marry 7 misery love interest

4. Sebastian • Viola’s lost ____________. When he arrives in Illyria, traveling with Antonio, his close friend and protector, he discovers how many people seem to think that they ____________. Furthermore, the beautiful Lady Olivia, whom he has never met, wants to ____________. twin brother know him marry him

5. Malvolio • The straitlaced head servant in the household of Lady Olivia. He is very efficient but also very ____________, and he has a poor opinion of drinking, __________, and __________. His haughty attitude earn him the enemies of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria who play a cruel __________ on him, making believe that Olivia __________________. In his dreams about marrying his mistress, he reveals a powerful ambition to rise above his _________________. self-righteous singing joking trick is in love with him social standing

6. Feste • The _________ or __________ of Olivia’s household; he moves between Olivia’s and Orsino’s homes. He ________________ by making pointed jokes, singing old songs, being generally witty, and offering ___________ cloaked under a layer of __________. In spite of being a professional __________, he often seems the wisest character in the play. clown fool makes his money good advice sarcasm fool

7. Sir Toby Belch • Olivia’s __________. Olivia lets ___________ Belch lives with her, but she does not __________ of his rowdy behavior, __________, heavy drinking, late-night carousing, or friends (specifically the idiotic Sir Andrew). He also earns the anger of Malvolio, but he has an ally, and eventually a __________, in Olivia’s __________ serving-woman Maria. Together they bring about the __________ of the controlling, self-righteous Malvolio. Sir Toby uncle approve dancing/singing mate witty demise/downfall

8. Maria • Olivia’s __________, __________, young serving-woman. She is remarkably similar to her antagonist, Malvolio, who harbors aspirations of _______________ through __________. She succeeds where Malvolio fails. loyal witty rising in social class marriage

9. Sir Andrew Aguecheek • A __________ of Sir Toby’s. He attempts to __________ Olivia but he doesn’t _______________. He thinks he is witty, __________, __________, and good at languages and __________, but he is actually an __________. “friend” court stand a chance strong smart dancing idiot

10. Antonio • A man who rescues Sebastian after Sebastian’s __________. He is very fond of Sebastian, caring for him, accompanying him to Illyria, and furnishing him with __________. He is also an enemy of Duke Orsino. shipwreck money

Other characters… • Fabian – servant to Olivia; friend to Maria, Sir Toby, and Andrew. Assists in the practical joke on Malvolio. • Valentine – gentleman attending to the Duke • Curio – gentleman attending to the Duke • Priest - (named Sir Topas); he marries Olivia to “Cesario;” he is impersonated by Feste. • Captain (sea captain) – assists Viola (helps disguise Viola as Cesario)

A Closer Look at the play… • Plot Summary: In Twelfth Night, as in most of his works, Shakespeare has several different plot-lines going on at the same time. He expertly weaves these separate stories together throughout the play. As the play begins to move towards its conclusion the different stories begin to converge until they all come together for a resolution in the final scenes.

Dramatic Structure • Major Conflict (__________): Viola is in love with Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, who is in love with Viola’s male disguise, Cesario. This __________ is complicated by the fact that neither Orsino nor Olivia knows that Cesario is really a __________ (Viola). • _____________: The mounting __________, ___________________, and _______________, leading up to Act V. • __________: __________ and ________ are ________, and everyone realizes that Cesario is a woman. • ___________: Viola _______________ Orsino; Malvolio is freed and _______________. • __________________: Everyone goes off to celebrate. Problem love triangle woman Rising Action confusion mistaken identities professions of love Climax Sebastian Viola reunited Falling Action prepares to marry vows revenge Denouement/Resolution

Themes • __________ as a cause of _________ • The uncertainty of gender • The _____ of __________ suffering Love folly ambition

As you read the play, explore the Common Motifs (Patterns in Shakespeare’s plays) • Contrasting worlds • Rise of one person at the expense of another • Disguise and deceptions • The supernatural • Redemption / reconciliation • Disorder yields to order • Comic relief scene • Parallel characters / foils • Eavesdropping • Explore how each device occurs in the play? • What significance does it have in the overall plot or to the overall theme?

Shakespeare’s Language • The language Shakespeare used is an early form of Modern English that is different from today’s English in a variety of ways. The following list, with examples from Twelfth Night, describes some characteristics of Shakespeare’s English. Whereas some of the following practices were observed in everyday speech, others were poetic conventions. Shakespeare often used contractions or omitted syllables in order to maintain the meter.

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. 1. Shakespeare frequently made contractions of words that we write separately today. He also dropped letters, particularly vowels, at the ends of words and in the ending –est. Orsino: ’Tis [it is] not so sweet now as it was before. (1.1.8) Toby: She’ll none o’ [of] th’ [the] Count. (1.3.104) Toby: O knight, thou lack’st [lackest] a cup of canary! (1.3.79) Andrew: And you love me, let’s do’t [do it]. I am dog at a catch. (2.3.61) * Remember: if you see the apostrophe ( ’ ), then something has been omitted.

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. • Shakespeare omitted entire unstressed syllables or consonants from the beginning or middle of words. Viola: Whoe’er [whoever] I woo, myself would be his wife. (1.4.42) Malvolio: Were not ev’n [even] now with the Countess Olivia? (2.2.1)

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. 3. Shakespeare used many words (such as the adverbs hence, thence, whence, hither, thither, and whither and the pronouns thy, thou, thee, and thine) that we no longer or rarely use today. Words that have dropped out of the language are called archaic. Olivia: Whence [from what place] came you, sir? (1.5.175) Duke: Then let thy [your] love be younger than thyself [yourself], ( 2.4.36) [hence – from now; thence – from that time or place; whence – from what place?; hither – to this place, nearer, from here; thither – there; whither – from where?] [thy –your; thou – you; thee – you; thine – yours; prithee – please; Ay – yes; ho – look there]

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. 4. Archaic words include forms of verbs with endings such as –th and –st, as well as irregular verb forms such as spake (spoke). Olivia: Why, how dost [do] thou, man? What is the matter with thee? (3.4.24-25)

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. 5. Shakespeare freely used words as different parts of speech, sometimes inventing words in the process. The following slides are words and phrases credited to Shakespeare…

The human condition can be difficult to capture through words, especially when the English language is limited. In Shakespeare’s time, there simply wasn't a single word for "lonely" or "generous." So Shakespeare did what any person in search of the right word does in times of crisis: He made them up. He is credited for making up over 3,000 words. Here are some words that Shakespeare is credited with inventing: • accused • addiction • advertising • aerial • alligator • amazement • arouse • articulate • assassination • bandit • beached • bedroom • befriend • besmirch • birthplace • blanket • blushing • bloodstained • bump • buzzer • caked • cater • champion • circumstantial • cold-blooded • compromise • countless • courtship • critic • critical • daunting • dawn • deafening • demure • discontent • dishearten • dislocate • dwindle • educate • elbow • entomb • epileptic • equivocal • excitement • exposure • eyeball • fashionable • fixture • flawed • frugal • generous • gloomy • gnarled • gossip • gust • hint • hobnob • hoodwink • hurried • hurry • impartial • impede • investment • invulnerable • jaded • label • lackluster • lapse • laughable • leapfrog • lonely • lower • luggage • majestic • marketable • metamorphize • mimic • misplaced • monumental • moonbeam • mountaineer • negotiate • noiseless • numb • obscene • obsequious • ode • olympian • outbreak • pander • pedant • premeditated • radiance • rant • remorseless • savagery • scuffle • secure • submerge • summit • swagger • torture • tranquil • trickling • undress • unreal • varied • vaulting • wappened • worthless • zany

all corners of the world All that glitters is not gold as ____ as the day is long as luck would have it band of brothers blinking idiot budge an inch (or not) catch cold charmed life dead as a doornail devil incarnate didn't sleep a wink eat me out of house and home fair play fancy free flaming youth fool's paradise forever and a day for goodness' sake foul play give the devil his due good riddance green-eyed jealousy high time hoist by your own petard household word in a pickle in stitches in the twinkle of an eye into thin air It's Greek to me laughing stock love is blind make haste method to one's madness neither here nor there no rhyme or reason off with his head! Oh woe is me one fell swoop play fast and loose primrose path rotten to the core seen better days send one packing short shrift sink or swim Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them sorry sight sweets to the sweet the game is afoot the game is up the long and short of it there's the rub tongue tied too much of a good thing tower of strength Tut, tut! under the weather Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown What a piece of work is man What is past is prologue what the dickens wild goose chase your own flesh and blood Shakespeare also spent many of his hours trying to come up with that almost agonizingly appropriate phrase for some of his thoughts. After all, what are words but minds at play? Below is a long laundry list of the common phrases Shakespeare is credited with inventing (yes, he invented every phrase he wrote, but these are the ones that have lasted into current slang/prose/language):

Shakespeare’s Language cont’d. 6. Shakespeare also inverted his sentences (that is, he rearranged the parts of a sentence). Presently, the normal sentence structure is Subject + Predicate [Subject + verb + complements]. Shakespeare rearranged the parts of the sentence (i.e. by placing the complements before the subject or verb) in order to meet the meter or to emphasize one word or part of the sentence over another [also it was common practice in his day]. For example: Olivia (Shakespeare): Under your hard construction must I sit, / To force that on you in a shameful cunning / Which you knew none of yours. – 3.1.117-119 Olivia (Rearranged): “I must sit under your hard construction [harsh interpretation] to force that on you in a shameful cunning which you knew none of yours.” [Modern translation: You probably think poorly of me after I forced that [ring] on you with such outrageous trickery.]

Let’s practice translating Shakespeare’s Language to today’s English… Rewrite these lines from Othello in today’s English, replacing the italicized, archaic words and spellings with more modern forms. 1. Andrew: By my troth, the fool has an excellent breast. ... ’Twas very good i’ faith. I sent thee sixpence for thy leman. Hadst it? (2.3.19-26) 2. Toby: Th’ art i’ th’ right. (2.3.118) 3. Olivia: I prithee tell me what thou think’st of me. (3.1.140) 4. Clown: Nay, I’ll ne’er believe a madman till I see his brains. (4.2.119-120) 5. Sebastian: Fear’st thou that, Antonio? (5.1.222) By my truth (I swear), the fool as an excellent breast…It was very good in faith. I sent you sixpence for your leman. Did you have/get it? You are in the right. Please tell me what you think of me, No, I will never believe a madman until I see his brains. Do you fear that, Antonio?

Tools for The Text: Paraphrase • Reading a Shakespeare play can be a daunting task. Shakespeare's language can make it difficult to lose yourself within its pages. However, there are a few tools you can use to help break down the text into something more understandable and enjoyable. • The first tool is called Paraphrasing. This is when you take the text and put it into your own words. This is not only a useful tool for reading the language, but it is the primary method of deconstructing the text by the Shakespeare Festival's artists. Although the words used 400 years ago are similar, their meaning was quite different. • Examine the following lines from the very beginning of Twelfth Night, when Duke Orsino demands more music, hoping it will cure his lovesickness. If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again. It had a dying fall; O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more. 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. • One possible paraphrase might read: • If it's true that music is the food of love, keep playing. Give me too much so I'll be stuffed and I won't want it any more. Play that bit again! It definitely had the right sound to make my appetite die. It sounded as sweet as a breeze that blows across a patch of violets. Taking their scent and giving it to me. Stop, that's enough. It's not as sweet as it was before.

Tools for the Text: Imagery • Another great tool to further and deepen your understanding of Shakespeare is imagery. These are the pictures that Shakespeare paints with specific words. Just as pictures go through your mind when you read a book, Shakespeare used even more profound words to create very powerful images. • Let's look at Duke Orsino's monologue again: If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again. It had a dying fall; O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, • Take a look at the words in bold. Step one is to write down the first few images that come into your mind: • Food:___________________________________________________________ • Love:___________________________________________________________ • Excess:_________________________________________________________ • Sicken:_________________________________________________________ • Dying:_________________________________________________________ • Sweet:_________________________________________________________ • Breathes:_______________________________________________________ • Violets:_________________________________________________________ • Now ask yourself what those images mean to you. How do they make you feel? What kind of actions do they make you want to do? What words effect you most? • Now that you've found some personal connection to these words, say the monologue out loud and allow those images to fill your mind. Allow them to effect you and your audience as you speak.

Tools for the Text: Iambic Pentameter • Take a look at the monologue we used in the previous two examples. Did you notice a rhythm to the lines when you said them? Did you notice that the first letter of every line is capitalized? This is because Shakespeare chose to write much of his text in Iambic Pentameter. You'll find many explanations for what this means, but one simple way is to say that each line has 10 syllables - 5 stressed and 5 unstressed. Here is an example: • If music be the food of love, play on, • Count the syllables. You can see that it has 10 syllables. Now we will break the line up into smaller sections that have two syllables. These sections are called feet: • If mu sic be the food of love, play on, • Watch out when breaking a line into feet. You'll notice that sometimes a word can be broken up (like mu-sic). Now, within each foot there is usually one stressed and one unstressed syllable. In Iambic Pentameter, the second syllable in a foot usually gets the strong stress. • If mu sic be the food of love, play on,

Tools for the Text: Iambic Pentameter cont’d. • One easy way to remember how the stresses work in Iambic Pentameter is that is sounds like you were to say "eye-am" five times. Try it: • I am I am I am I am I am • There are several reasons why Shakespeare used this form for his writing. One was because of it's beautiful sound and the strong rhythm which is similar to the beating of the human heart. Another was that Iambic Pentameter is very close to the normal rhythm of every day conversation. This helped the actors memorize their lines since, 400 years ago, they only had a few days of rehearsal before performing a play. Another was that it gives the actor the choice as to which words are more important. When an actor goes through his/her script to mark the feet and decide what syllables get the stresses it is called scanning the script. Try it: • If mu sic be the food of love, play on, • Give me ex cess of it, that, sur feit ing, • The app et ite may sick en, and so die. • That strain ag ain. It had a dy ing fall; • Did you make every other syllable strong? Or did you decide that some syllables were more important than others? This is one thing that makes acting Shakespeare so unique. The actor gets to choose what words and phrases are important.

Tools for the Text: Variations to Iambic Lines • Not all Shakespeare lines are alike! He loved to break the rules in order to give instruction to the actors or make the lines more interesting. Sometimes you'll find line of text that has less than 10 syllables. If you look closely you might find a line right after it that is short as well. When you combine them, do they make 10 syllables? Here is an example where Olivia confesses her love to Viola. Viola: I pity you. Olivia: That's a degree to love. • This is an example of a shared line. The combination of the syllables suggests to the actors that these two lines really work as one. Therefore the actor knows the stage direction is that the actor playing Olivia should speak right away after Viola's line without pausing- she should "jump her cue". • But what about a line with more than 10 syllables? Viola: I am all the daughters of my father's house. • A line with 11 syllables contains what we call a feminine ending. This suggests that the character is in such a heightened emotional state that they are trying to cram extra words into their line. • FYI: There are many different theories about how Iambic Pentameter should be used. Some scholars believe that there can only be five strong or stressed beats per line. Many classical actors and directors believe that you can scan a line in any way you want and that the only way to tell is by trying it out loud. Basically what scanning comes down to is: What works for you? What makes the most sense to you and gives you the best connection? Hopefully you can use these tricks to help bridge the 400 years between Shakespeare and you.

Modern Translation of Twelfth Night • Sparknotes has a modern translation of Shakespeare on-line: No Fear Shakespeare. • http://nfs.sparknotes.com/twelfthnight/ • It’s a good idea to re-read the sections that were read in class using the Modern translation. • From Act I, Scene 1, it looks like this…

ORSINO If it’s true that music makes people more in love, keep playing. Give me too much of it, so I’ll get sick of it and stop loving. Play that part again! It sounded sad. Oh, it sounded like a sweet breeze blowing gently over a bank of violets, taking their scent with it. That’s enough. Stop. It doesn’t sound as sweet as it did before. Oh, love is so restless! It makes you want everything, but it makes you sick of things a minute later, no matter how good they are. Love is so vivid and fantastical that nothing compares to it. ORSINO If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again, it had a dying fall. Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more. 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, That, notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch soe'er, But falls into abatement and low price Even in a minute. So full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical. Original Modern (paraphrase)

Quotations: Who said it? If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. So full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical. The element itself, till seven years' heat, Shall not behold her face at ample view; What country, friends, is this? Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be: When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see. By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o' nights: Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than I am: these clothes are good enough to drink in; Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife. Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage; The lady bade take away the fool; therefore, I say again, take her away. I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal: Make me a willow cabin at your gate, And call upon my soul within the house; Unless the master were the man. How now! Even so quickly may one catch the plague?

Quotations: Who said it? cont’d. I left no ring with her: what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her! O time! thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me to untie! Come hither, boy: if ever thou shalt love, In the sweet pangs of it remember me; It gives a very echo to the seat Where Love is throned. There is no woman's sides Can bide the beating of so strong a passion As love doth give my heart; I am all the daughters of my father's house, And all the brothers too: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. This is the air; that is the glorious sun; This pearl she gave me, I do feel't and see't; Do I stand there? I never had a brother; You shall from this time be Your master's mistress. And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare