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Twelfth Night; or, What You Will

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will. Lecturer: Audrey Tinkham. Twelfth Night. Performed on February 2, 1602 at the Middle Temple (written possibly as early as 1599); usually dated 1600 or 1601. Twelfth Night of Christmas.

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Twelfth Night; or, What You Will

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

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

  3. Twelfth Night of Christmas • The Twelfth Night of Christmas is January 6, the Feast of Epiphany (Christian Feast of the Magi). • In Renaissance times, Twelfth Night was the last day of Christmas revels. • 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).

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

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

  6. Sub-Plot • Maria & Sir Toby • Sir Andrew & Olivia • Malvolio • Festes

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

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

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

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

  11. Questions for Conjecture • 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

  12. Twins? • Viola and Sebastian • Cesario and Malvolio • Viola and Maria • Malvolio and Orsino

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

  14. Sources Bevington, David, ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins, 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.

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