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Learn about the plot, characters, and themes of Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy by Shakespeare. Find summaries, analysis, quizzes, flashcards, and more to help you ace your quizzes, tests, and essays.
- Themes
Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the...
- Sparklet Scene Summaries
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- Act Iii: Scene IV
Important quotes from Act III: Scene iv in Twelfth Night....
- Character List
Twelfth Night characters include: Viola, Orsino and Olivia,...
- Malvolio
A detailed description and in-depth analysis of Malvolio in...
- Plot Analysis
Full Play Analysis. Twelfth Night is a play about desire’s...
- Act Iii: Scenes I–Iii
A summary of Act III: Scenes i–iii in William Shakespeare's...
- Plot Summary
Twelfth Night Full Play Summary. In the kingdom of Illyria,...
- Themes
A comprehensive overview of Shakespeare's comedy of love and confusion in Illyria. Learn about the characters, the plot, the themes, and the jokes in this classic play.
Learn about the plot, themes, and characters of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare's comedy of love and disguise. Read the summary and analysis of Act I, scenes i and ii, where Orsino pines for Olivia and Viola disguises as a man.
Full Play Analysis. Twelfth Night is a play about desire’s power to override conventions of class, religion, and even gender. Several characters begin the play believing they want one thing, only to have love teach them they actually want something else. Orsino thinks he wants Olivia, until he falls in love with Viola (dressed as Cesario.)
- Love as A Cause of Suffering
- The Uncertainty of Gender
- The Folly of Ambition
- Love and Desire
- Disguise and Deception
- Gender and Sexuality
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Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims sudde...
Gender is one of the most obvious and much-discussed topics in the play. Twelfth Night, as with many of Shakespeare's comedies, employs cross-dressing as a narrative technique. When Viola disguises her identity, the situation creates a sexual mess: she falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him, because he thinks she is a man, while Olivia, the ...
The problem of social ambition works itself out largely through the character of Malvolio, the steward, who seems to be a competent servant, if prudish and dour, but proves to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to rise out of his social class. Maria plays on these ambitions when she forges a letter from Olivia that makes Malv...
Love and desire function as powerful drivers of plot because they seem to strike suddenly and unpredictably, and because they render characters helpless to change their feelings. Olivia is startled and somewhat dismayed to recognize the desire she feels in response to Cesario. Viola echoes this sentiment when, finding herself trapped in a love tria...
When she first finds herself stranded in Ilyria, Viola decides to “conceal me what I am” (1.2.), entrusting only the Captain with her secret. As a young woman who could be vulnerable to attack or sexual assault, she is also much safer if she is disguised as a man. However, Viola quickly learns the cost of maintaining a disguise. Her intentions and ...
In the play, gender and sexuality are portrayed as ambiguous, unstable, and sometimes fluid. When Viola disguises herself as a man, she stipulates that “thou shall present me as an eunuch to [the Duke]” (1.2.). In some cultures and historical periods, young men would be castrated in order to enter specific occupations, often as personal servants to...
Explore the main themes of Shakespeare's romantic comedy, such as love, gender, and ambition. Learn how the play explores the effects of love as a cause of suffering, the uncertainty of gender, and the folly of ambition through various characters and situations.
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A comprehensive guide to the plot of Twelfth Night, a comedy by William Shakespeare about love, deception, and identity. The summary covers the main events, characters, themes, and literary devices of the play, as well as the modern English translation and a quiz to test your understanding.
From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Twelfth Night Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.
