Search results
Characters in Twelfth Night frequently use metaphorical language to talk about love and desire. One especially evocative metaphor that appears more than once throughout the play likens the human heart to a book and the act of loving to the act of reading. In Act 1, Scene 4, Orsino compares his soul to a locked book:
(3.1). In this metaphor, Feste compares words to a glove in the hands of a wordsmith (or a playwright, like Shakespeare). He suggests that those who are good with words are able to twist and manipulate language for their own ends. Secret Love and Worms.
Twelfth Night Full Play Summary. In the kingdom of Illyria, a nobleman named Orsino lies around listening to music, pining away for the love of Lady Olivia. He cannot have her because she is in mourning for her dead brother and refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage.
Feste uses metaphors to get a third coin out of Orsino. “Play” is a reference to a child’s game in which players call out “one, two, three.” “Third plays for all” means third time’s a charm, and “triplex” is a musical beat played in triple time.
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.
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.)
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, 1958. A complete summary of William Shakespeare's Play, Twelfth Night. Find out more about the shipwreck that separates twins Viola and Sebastian and the resulting love story.
