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Nov 3, 2023 · Twelfth Night Summary. S hakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a 1602 comedy about the confused romantic pursuits of the nobles of Illyria. After being shipwrecked off the coast of Illyria, Viola ...
Overview. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, written around 1601, is an entertaining comedy that navigates the themes of love, mistaken identity, and the topsy-turvy nature of human relationships. Set in the fictional kingdom of Illyria, the play follows the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck.
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.)
Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again, it had a dying fall. 5 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.
Plot Summary. Duke Orsino of Illyria is in love with Olivia, but his advances are rejected. A shipwrecked Viola arrives on his shores, and with the help of a Captain, disguises herself as a boy, calling herself Cesario, and enters Orsino’s service. Orsino takes to Cesario, and sends ‘him’ to woo Olivia for him.
Twelfth Night is sometimes called a "transvestite comedy" for the obvious reason that its central character is a young woman, Viola, who disguises herself as a pageboy, Cesario. In Shakespeare's time, Viola's part, like all the parts in Twelfth Night, would have been played by a man, because women were not allowed to act.
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