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Twelfth Night | Why is the play set in Illyria?
Although all of the characters speak English and there are noteworthy resemblances between Olivia's lifestyle and those of an Elizabethan gentlewoman, Shakespeare elects to specify "Illyria" as the setting of Twelfth Night. Illyria was known to Shakespeare and his contemporaries as an actual region off the coast of the Adriatic Sea in what is today Albania. As such, it was a distant land with which English had very little contact, and therefore a generically exotic setting for a play replete with romance and intrigue, as well as one that offered the preconditions for a shipwreck....
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- Twelfth Night: Introduction
- Twelfth Night: Summary
- Twelfth Night: William Shakespeare Biography
- Twelfth Night: Reading Shakespeare
- Twelfth Night: List of Characters
- Twelfth Night: Historical Background
-
Twelfth Night: Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act I, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act II, Scene 5 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act III, Scene 4 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 2 Summary and Analysis
- Act IV, Scene 3 Summary and Analysis
- Act V, Scene 1 Summary and Analysis
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Twelfth Night: Quizzes
- Act I, Scene 1 Questions and Answers
- Act I, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
- Act I, Scene 3 Questions and Answers
- Act I, Scene 4 Questions and Answers
- Act I, Scene 5 Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 1 Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 3 Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 4 Questions and Answers
- Act II, Scene 5 Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 1 Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 3 Questions and Answers
- Act III, Scene 4 Questions and Answers
- Act IV, Scene 1 Questions and Answers
- Act IV, Scene 2 Questions and Answers
- Act IV, Scene 3 Questions and Answers
- Act V, Scene 1 Questions and Answers
- Twelfth Night: Essential Passages
- Twelfth Night: Themes
-
Twelfth Night: Character Analysis
- Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Character Analysis)
- Sir Toby Belch (Character Analysis)
- Fabian (Character Analysis)
- Feste the Clown (Character Analysis)
- Malvolio (Character Analysis)
- Maria (Character Analysis)
- Olivia (Character Analysis)
- Orsino (Character Analysis)
- Sebastian (Character Analysis)
- Viola (Character Analysis)
- Antonio (Character Analysis)
- Other Characters (Analysis)
- Twelfth Night: Principal Topics
- Twelfth Night: Essays
- Twelfth Night: Criticism
- Twelfth Night: Selected Quotes
- Twelfth Night: Suggested Essay Topics
- Twelfth Night: Sample Essay Outlines
- Twelfth Night: Modern Connections
- Twelfth Night: FAQs
- Twelfth Night: Bibliography and Further Reading
- Twelfth Night: Pictures
- Copyright
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