Twelfth Night

While one can never be completely sure why Shakespeare titled his plays as he did, it can be assumed that Twelfth Night refers to the Eve of Epiphany. This was a holiday celebrated twelve days...

As the title Twelfth Night suggests, the play was written for an Epiphany celebration held at one of the Inns of Court in 1602. Epiphany is celebrated as the moment when the Magi, or three wise...

As with all great plays, Twelfth Night has a number of morals that one can discern. Arguably the most significant of these is the importance of staying true to oneself. And yet, on the face of it,...

Before you can answer this, you must know what the term "dramatic techniques" encompasses. Dramatic techniques are tools the playwright uses to create theatrical, dramatic effects in a theater...

Antonio looks after Sebastian. He really cares about Sebastian, and wants to protect him. This is why he stays in Illyria even though his legal history is such that he really should not be seen...

Feste, Olivia's fool or clown, sings the "Carpe diem" song. Despite being a "fool," Feste, like King Lear's fool, is a sharp observer of those around him who, as a witness to the main action,...

A literary device is any technique an author uses to relay the intended message or the intended image. There are many different kinds of literary devices to become familiar with, including...

The Duke has been telling Viola, who loves him but is keeping her love a secret, how women don't know anything about what it is to love, unlike men. Viola's response has been to tell him about a...

Maria and Sir Toby Belch of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, introduce the audience to the lower class characters of Illyria, and as such their language is more bawdy that that of Orsino and Olivia....

As a romantic comedy, Twelfth Night is about love, and it certainly teaches the audience some lessons about love. While love in this play love is true, but it is also fickle, irrational, and...

In Act 2 Scene 3, many of the characters in Twelfth Night are discussing matters jovially and joking around with the Clown. Sir Andrew, enticing the Clown to sing a song, instructs him to sing a...

In Maria's contemptuous speech in act I, scene 3 about Sir Andrew, she uses alliteration and irony. Alliteration occurs when the same consonant appears at the beginning of words that are in close...

DUKE ORSINO If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. (I.i) Some background and a couple of definitions will...

Society was dominated by men and the only position available in the Duke's household was that of a manservant to the Duke. A woman certainly could not have held that position so she was required to...

According to the Ancient Greeks, there are eight types of love: Erotic Love ("Eros"), Affectionate Love ("Philia"), Familiar Love ("Storge"), Playful Love ("Ludus"), Obsessive Love ("Mania"),...

The literary devices that William Shakespeare employs in act 1, scene 4 of Twelfth Night include blank verse and rhyme. The scene is written in blank verse, or unrhymed iambic pentameter, and ends...

Olivia is taken with "Cesario," who is really Viola, after their first encounter. Cesario's only goal is to convey Orsino's affections to Olivia, but Olivia ends up falling in love with Cesario...

You have asked a very perceptive question. Obviously, the fact that Shakespeare decided to give this play a subtitle makes us ask what relevance the subtitle has to the play at large and causes us...

Maria is a stock character, that is to say a readily identifiable stereotyped character that crops up time and again in plays. Her particular stock character is that of the wily, clever servant who...

'By my life!' is an exclamation of surprise, something like the modern 'Oh my God!' - and Malvolio is surprised because he has recognised what he believes to be his lady's 'hand' (which means...

Duke Orsino is a true romantic. He is in love with the idea of love and craves the excitement and stimulation of emotion. Even though he gets carried away with his feelings, he also understands...

Act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night takes place on the seacoast of Illyria, which is located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula on the eastern shore of the Adriatic...

This action occurs in act 2, scenes 3 and 5. The meaning of “MOAI” is one of the hotly debated subjects in Shakespearean scholarship. There are three aspects to your question. One is, why would...

In the main plot, Duke Orsino uses the shipwrecked Viola, who is disguised as a man named Cesario, to help him woo the Countess Olivia. However, comic mayhem follows as Olivia instead falls in love...

The setting of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is the fictional country of Illyria, which corresponds with the coast of present-day Albania, located on the Balkan Peninsula, across the Adriatic...

Viola is shipwrecked in Illyria and separated from her twin brother, Sebastian. However, from the words of the ship's captain, she has reason to hope her brother might still be alive and not...

Shakespeare scholars believe that Twelfth Night, or What You Will was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I as part of the Twelfth Night celebration held at Whitehall Palace on January 6, 1602. The...

Maria dislikes Malvolio for his pompous attitude. Because of his supervisor-level status as Olivia's steward, he bosses the other servants around and believes he is better than them. He also acts...

The first song that the fool sings is to Sir Toby. The lyrics begin by addressing his “mistress mine,” which is Olivia, to ask where she is “roaming.” At this point in the play, Olivia is searching...

In a soliloquy, a long speech made by a character who is alone on stage, there is a revelation of the inner thoughts and feelings of this character to the audience only. In Act II, Scene 2, for...

Shakespeare is the king of double entendre, and Twelfth Night does not disappoint. The Bard employs double entendre (words that have several meanings, with one usually being sexual or profane) a...

Twelfth Night is a mistaken-identity comedy by William Shakespeare. The character of Malvolio is an upstanding citizen with illusions of chivalry and grandeur. After he scolds a group of revelers...

Many different relationships can be found in Twelfth Night. Some of those relationships include friendships and false friendships, and there is even an antagonizer-victim relationship that gets...

Differences between Twelfth Night and She's the Man include the setting, the reason for Viola's deception, and the impersonation of Viola's twin, Sebastian. Similarities include Viola's...

In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Viola firmly believes that love is inconstant and irrational, and she sees clear evidence for this in the behavior of Orsino and Olivia. Viola believes,...

In Act 1, Scene 2, Viola sees herself in what the Captain describes of Olivia: A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count That died some twelvemonth since; then leaving her In the protection of his...

It's debatable what scene is the most "famous" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; various audience members might have different preferences on this matter. Some people are more partial to the more...

Dramatic irony occurs when audiences know what characters in a book or play do not. In act I, we as an audience know that the "male" "Cesario" is actually Viola, a woman, something that everyone in...

In this play of "erotic lunacy," as Harold Bloom dubs Twefth Nigh/What You Will, the passage, from Act II, Scene 2, is a soliloquy by Viola/Cesario. As the central character who is the only one...

Hi- We are not an essay writing service, but I can give you some direction. Olivia refuses the Duke's proposal because she is has unwittingly fallen in love with Cesario, who is really Viola in...

Valentine tells Orsino in Act 1, Scene 1 that Olivia is uninterested in Orsino's romantic feelings for her, and that she doesn’t even bother to read the letters he sends expressing his devotion to...

While it's hard to find precise hints, it can be surmised from certain lines that the entirety of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night takes place over the course of three months. In act 5, scene 1, Antonio...

A pun is a play on words in which you use two words that sound alike but have different meanings. Many puns can be found all throughout Twelfth Night. Both Sir Toby and Feste especially make use of...

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night the two main protagonists are Sebastian and Viola. They are fraternal twins, but apparently they look enough alike that Viola, thinking Sebastian is dead, and being a...

The humour in this scene comes through the role and action of Sir Toby in fooling both Viola and Sir Andrew into thinking that the other is a virtuoso with a sword and therefore having a great deal...

The ring is a symbol of Olivia's infatuation with "Cesario," whom she does not know is really a woman, Viola, in disguise. Viola is initially a bit oblivious to Olivia's obvious affections, but...