Imam Al-kadhim Collage (IKC)

Department of English
Third Stage
Morning Study /A/
Drama

Twelfth night
By: Hussein Abbas kadhim Karim
Supervised by: Hawraa Ali Hadi
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English
poet, playwright and actor of the
Renaissance era. He was an important
member of the King’s Men company of theatrical players from roughly 1594
onward.
Known throughout the world, Shakespeare’s writings capture the range of human
emotion and conflict and have been celebrated for more than 400 years. And yet,
the personal life of William Shakespeare is somewhat a mystery.
There are two primary sources that provide historians with an outline of his life.
One is his work — the plays, poems and sonnets — and the other is official
documentation such as church and court records. However, these provide only
brief sketches of specific events in his life and yield little insight into the man
himself.
His birth: No birth records exist, but it is believed he was born on or near April
23, 1564.
His Childhood and Education: Scant By biography.com
records exist of Shakespeare’s childhood and
virtually none regarding his education.
Scholars have surmised that he most likely attended the King’s New School, in
Stratford, which taught reading, writing and the classics.
His Wife and Children: Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway on November 28,
1582, in Worcester, in Canterbury Province. Hathaway was from Shottery, a small
village a mile west of Stratford. Shakespeare was 18 and Anne was 26, and, as it
turns out, pregnant. Their first child, a daughter they named Susanna, was born on
May 26, 1583. Two years later, on February 2, 1585, twins Hamnet and Judith
were born. Hamnet later died of unknown causes at age 11.
His work
Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays and over 150 short and long poems, many of
which are considered to be the finest ever written in English. His works have been
translated into every major living language, and some others besides (the Folger’s
holdings include translations in Esperanto and Klingon), and nearly 400 years after
his death, they continue to be performed around the world.
Some of his famous work
William Shakespeare is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time as well
as the most influential writer in the history of the English language. He originated
hundreds of words and phrases that English speakers use to this day. His impact on
literature is so massive that one could make an argument that every one of his
works deserves a spot on this list, but these seven plays and one poetry collection
are undoubtedly among his most important achievements.
 Romeo and Juliet (c. 1594–96)
 Much Ado About Nothing (c. 1598–99)
 Julius Caesar (c. 1599–1600)
 Hamlet (c. 1599–1601)
 King Lear (1605–06)
 Macbeth (c. 1606–07)
 Sonnets (1609)
 The Tempest (1611)
His Writing Style
Shakespeare’s early plays were written in the conventional style of the day, with
elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases that didn’t always align naturally with
the story’s plot or characters.
However, Shakespeare was very innovative, adapting the traditional style to his
own purposes and creating a freer flow of words.
With only small degrees of variation, Shakespeare primarily used a metrical
pattern consisting of lines of unrhymed iambic pentameter, or blank verse, to
compose his plays. At the same time, there are passages in all the plays that deviate
from this and use forms of poetry or simple prose.

His death
Tradition holds that Shakespeare died on his 52nd birthday, April 23, 1616, but
some scholars believe this is a myth. Church records show he was interred at
Trinity Church on April 25, 1616.
The exact cause of Shakespeare’s death is unknown, though many believe he died
following a brief illness.

The Characteristics Of Shakespearean Comedy

Comedy is not necessarily what a modern audience would expect comedy to be.
Whilst there may be some funny moments, a Shakespearean comedy may involve
some very dramatic storylines. Usually what defines a Shakespearean play as a
comedy is that it has a happy ending, often involving a marriage. The main
characteristics in Shakespeare’s Comedies are:
Mistaken Identity and/or Misconceptions
Situations where characters impersonate or are mistaken for somebody else are a
long-standing comic tradition which Shakespeare only cemented in his time. This
can be seen in Shakespearean comedies such as “ You Like It”, in which Rosalind
impersonates a man in order to mentor her would-be lover into the man she
secretly desires; or in “Twelfth nights”, where a shipwrecked Viola washes up in a
strange land and decides to dress up as a man to enter into service of the nobility.
How characters get embroiled in gender mix-ups can be due to circumstances or
just plain old-fashioned deception, but, all in all, the humour arises from the
audience’s awareness of their predicament, in contrast to how others remain
oblivious to it.
Reason versus Emotion
The historical period in which Shakespeare wrote his plays was defined by an
intellectual battle between Apollonian values (such as reason) versus Dionysian
values (like desire). How does one act in the world—by following our passions, or
by listening to our heads? It’s no surprise, then, that many of Shakespeare’s
comedies toy with this dichotomy, challenging audiences to consider matters of the
heart, whilst comparing it to the more rational considerations of the human mind.

Fate and the Fantastical

Shakespeare’s comedies enjoy invoking the supernatural and tend to portray
humans as mere play-things in some grand mystical game. The fairies Puck and
Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream mischievously toy with the characters’
emotions throughout the play, so everything the characters experience is
interpreted as being due to the impish wiles of magical beings. Whether through
strife or tenacity, all character revelations in Shakespeare’s comedies are seen as
being due to events beyond human control, or even our mortal understanding,
which is why audiences still find it funny today.
Idyllic Settings
It’s remarkable just how many settings in Shakespeare’s comedies are given idyllic
and almost fantastical settings—there’s the Forest of Arden in As You Like It, an
enchanted wood outside the city of Athens in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and
the mysterious island of Illyria in Twelfth Night. Each location has been carefully
brought to life by Shakespeare to depict perfection—lands which only convey the
world as we would wish it to be, havens of tranquillity and rich in nature. This is
no accident on Shakespeare’s part, of course.
Separation and Reconciliation
Naturally, love is the central theme in most Shakespeare plays, but they are even
more pronounced in comedies. In particular, the idea of lovers being separated—
such as Berowne and Rosaline in Love’s Labour’s Lost—is a frequently-recurring
element in a Shakespearean comedy. Where there is separation, of course, there is
also reconciliation, so it’s hardly surprising when we see lovers reunite, although
in some cases the journey to that point can be arduous and fraught with
uncertainty, particularly when cross-dressing is involved.
Happy Endings
Lastly, but perhaps most crucially, one of the most notable elements of a
Shakespearean comedy is a happy ending. Unlike tragedies, which always end with
death, Shakespeare’s comedies ended in a celebratory manner, often with love and
marriage as the biggest focal points. To modern eyes, this may seem trite given
how cynical modern readers can be about the pitfalls of holy matrimony. For its
time, however, marriage was a symbolic event, not just a means of achieving unity
and higher purpose, but also of providing resolution to life’s woes. Ultimately, it
was a means of allowing Shakespeare to end on a hopeful note.
Twelfth Night (Summary)
In the kingdom of Illyria, Duke Orsino lies around listening to music, pining away
for the love of Lady Olivia. He can’t have her because she is in mourning for her
dead brother and refuses to take any
proposals of marriage. Meanwhile, a
storm has crushed a ship. A young,
woman named Viola is swept onto
the Illyrian shore. She find herself
alone in a strange land, she assumes
that her twin brother, Sebastian, has been drowned in the wreck, and tries to figure
out what sort of work she can do. The captain of the ship tells her about Orsino so
she decides to disguise herself as a man, she named herself Cesario, and goes to
work in the household of Duke Orsino.

Viola (disguised as Cesario) and work with Orsino she quickly becomes a favorite
for him, who makes Cesario his page. Viola finds herself falling in love with
Orsino—a difficult love to pursue, as Orsino believes her to be a man. But when
Orsino sends Cesario to deliver Orsino’s love messages to Olivia, Olivia herself
loved beautiful young Cesario, believing her to be a man. So now Viola loves
Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario and everyone is miserable.

Meanwhile, we meet the other members of Olivia’s household: her rowdy

alcoholic uncle, Sir Toby; his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying
in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia’s witty and pretty waiting-
gentlewoman, Maria the clever clown of the house; and Malvolio, the dour,
prudish steward of Olivia’s household. When Sir Toby and the others take offense
at Malvolio’s constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria plans a joke to make
Malvolio think that Olivia loves him. She wrote a letter, supposedly from Olivia,
addressed to her beloved (whose name is signified by the letters M.O.A.I.), telling
him that if he wants to earn her favor, he should dress in yellow stockings and
crossed garters, act haughtily, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself to
anyone. Malvolio finds the letter, assumes that it is addressed to him, and, filled
with dreams of marrying Olivia and becoming noble himself, happily follows its
orders. He behaves so strangely that Olivia comes to think that he is mad.

Meanwhile, Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be
dead, arrives in Illyria with his friend and protector, Antonio. Antonio has cared
for Sebastian since the shipwreck and is passionately attached to the young man so
much so that he follows him to Orsino’s domain, in spite of the fact that he and
Orsino are old enemies.
Sir Andrew, observing Olivia’s attraction to Cesario, challenges Cesario to a duel.
Sir Toby, who sees the prospective duel as entertaining fun, eggs Sir Andrew on.
However, when Sebastian—who looks just like the disguised Viola—appears on
the scene, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby end up coming to blows with Sebastian,
thinking that he is Cesario. Olivia enters amid the confusion. Encountering
Sebastian and thinking that he is Cesario, she asks him to marry her. He is baffled,
since he has never seen her before. He sees, however, that she is wealthy and
beautiful, and he is therefore more than willing to go along with her. Meanwhile,
Antonio has been arrested by Orsino’s officers and now begs Cesario for help,
mistaking him for Sebastian. Viola denies knowing Antonio, and Antonio is
dragged off, crying out that Sebastian has betrayed him. Suddenly, Viola has
newfound hope that her brother may be alive.

Malvolio’s supposed madness has allowed Maria, Toby, and the rest to lock
Malvolio into a small, dark room for his treatment, and they torment him at will.
Feste dresses up as “Sir Topas,” a priest, and pretends to examine Malvolio,
declaring him definitely insane in spite of his protests. However, Sir Toby begins
to think better of the joke, and they allow Malvolio to send a letter to Olivia, in
which he asks to be released.

Eventually, Cesario and Orsino make their way to Olivia’s house, where Olivia
welcomes Cesario as her new husband, thinking him to be Sebastian, whom she
has just married. Orsino get angry, but then Sebastian himself appears on the
scene, and all is revealed. The siblings are joyfully reunited, and Orsino realizes
that he loves Viola, now that he knows she is a woman, and asks her to marry him.
We discover that Sir Toby and Maria have also been married privately. Finally,
someone remembers Malvolio and lets him out of the dark room. The trick is
revealed in full, and the embittered Malvolio storms off, leaving the happy couples
to their celebration.

Characters
Viola (Cesario)
Is a lady of Messaline. When dressed as a man she is identical to her twin brother
Sebastian.
Shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria, convinced that her brother is drowned, she
disguises herself as a man for her own safety, and seeks refuge at Orsino’s court,
where she quickly becomes his favorite under the name of Cesario. Sent to Olivia,
she so impresses that lady, partly by her willingness to throw her script away, that
Olivia falls in love with her, which is unfortunate seeing as she’s a woman and
happens to be in love with Orsino. She defends her gender’s ability to love to
Orsino, can be readily terrified at being forced to fight, and is quick-witted enough
to realise that her brother may still be alive when Antonio recognises her. Despite
this, she is confused enough when accused of having married Olivia that she does
not consider that Sebastian may be an answer to the enigma. When her brother,
Sebastian, arrives on the scene and all is unravelled, she admits to her gender and
accepts Orsino’s proposal of marriage.
Olivia
Lady Olivia who has sworn to remain in mourning for seven years after the recent
death of her brother.
Though aware of all his qualities, she cannot fall in love with Orsino, despite his
pestering her with love letters. She is fond of Feste, relies on Malvolio, and has her
patience strained by her uncle Toby. She is nevertheless caring and patient, as
demonstrated in her treatment of Malvolio when he appears to lose his mind. She
has few illusions about the world, being as well-aware of Malvolio’s defects as of
her uncle’s drunkenness as of her own mind. She is ready to fall in love with
Cesario, however, bowled over by his wit and willingness to toss away the script.
Despite his rejection of her, she begs him to return, hoping to bring him to love her
by degrees – not entirely unlike Orsino. She is quite capable of losing her temper,
especially when her uncle is on the verge of fighting with Cesario. She is similarly
impulsive enough that when Cesario suddenly starts treating her well, she rushes to
find a priest who will marry them in secret. She is therefore deeply hurt when he
later denies this and runs away after Orsino, swearing he loves the Duke more than
he does her. This confusion is cleared up when it is discovered that the Cesario
Olivia fell for is in fact a woman by the name of Viola, while the one who was
taken with her and married her is Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. She is somewhat
shocked at this, but accepts that Viola, who will now be marrying Orsino, will be
her sister.
Malvolio
Malvolio, whose name might be translated as ‘ill-will,’ is Olivia’s steward.
Something of a puritan, he abhors disorder and drunkenness, along with bear-
baiting and for that matter laughter: he does not smile.
He is disgusted that Olivia takes pleasure in the jokes of a professional jester. He
also has a more than healthy self-regard; in fact, he is appallingly full of himself.
His social aspirations are also somewhat unbounded: he dreams of acceding to the
nobility, for which he believes himself well-suited. His fantasies about marrying
Olivia are almost entirely non-erotic, focusing rather on the power, wealth and
respectability he would thus gain. When Sir Toby pulls rank on him in the middle
of the night, reminding him that he is nothing but a steward, his immediate reaction
is to pull rank on Maria, who is even lower in the social hierarchy. He is therefore
well-primed to interpret the letter in the garden the way he does, especially as it
urges him to act towards others in the way that is his natural bent. Locked away in
a dark room and left with no option but to beg the fool he has earlier humiliated for
help, he is still unable to do so in a truly humble manner, and on discovering that
he has been completely fooled, his only reaction is a promise of revenge.

Orsino
Orsino, the Duke and Count of Illyria, is a young man deeply and fashionably in
love with Olivia. Her rejection of him leaves him in a deep and just as fashionable
melancholy.
Rather than press his suit in person, he sends messengers to Olivia, and it is in fact
quite possible that he has never actually met her, merely seen her at a distance.
Now that he is in love, he no longer hunts, but he has a deep love of music that he
frequently indulges in. He has a great affection for his newly-acquired page,
Cesario, and gives him sage advice about love and women. He also uses Cesario as
a messenger to Olivia. He was not always so weary, and has fought in sea-battles,
including one against Antonio. Discovering that Cesario is loved by Olivia, he
swears to drag them apart. Discovering that they are married, he turns his rage
against Cesario in person. Discovering that Cesario is in fact a woman, who loves
him dearly and is not married to Olivia, he decides to marry her instead.
Sebastian
Sebastian is Viola’s twin brother. After the shipwreck, he was rescued by Antonio,
and spent three months in his company.
Deciding that he cannot continue moping over his sister’s death, he sets forth for
Orsino’s court, but on arriving in Illyria he discovers that Antonio has followed
him. He proceeds to have a very confusing day, where his enjoyment of the usual
touristy activities of sightseeing are continually interrupted by a series of mad
people who claim to know him, including a pair of insulting ones with whom he
almost ends up in a fight. His bafflement and belief that all Illyrians are insane do
not stop him from following the beautiful woman who breaks up the fight,
however. He is not entirely unconvinced that he’s dreaming, but can find no good
reason not to follow this woman and the priest she drags in, and so goes along with
her plans of secret marriage. Meeting his two opponents again, he shows them no
mercy, breaks their heads, and rushes to apologize to his wife—only to discover
that his sister is alive and that Olivia originally fell in love with her, not him. He
confusion is quickly cleared up, and all is well. Sebastian seems an uncomplicated
fellow, as quick to anger as to calming down, loyal and generally well-disposed.
Antonio
Antonio is a sea captain. Though considered a pirate by Illyrians, he considers
himself an honorable opponent.
Though due to his history of capturing Illyrians ships, he is not very welcome in
Orsino’s lands, he knows which is the best inn in town. He is deeply infatuated
with Sebastian, whom he saved from drowning, to the extent of following him to
Illyria despite the personal danger to him. He is shocked and wounded when
Sebastian (as he thinks) later refuses to acknowledge knowing him, let alone
having borrowed his purse. When the real Sebastian rushed up to embrace him and
return his money, he is deeply confused, and incapable of telling the difference
between the twins. What happens to Antonio, who discovers that Sebastian has
been married since they last saw each other that afternoon, is uncertain. Generally
he joins in with the reveling, if in a bit of a lonely way; but it is not impossible that
everyone forgets about him and that he’s executed after all.

Themes
Love
The love theme in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is confusing. The love triangle
involving Viola, disguised as Cesario, is in love with Orsino. Orsino is in love with
Olivia. Olivia, however, loves Cesario. Orsino tries to Olivia with the language of
love; however, his many attempts fail because the heart cannot be controlled.
Orsino, a man in love with love itself, is on a mission to win the heart of his
current object of affection, the Lady Olivia. She, however, has somewhat different
plans as she envisions herself married to the lovely Cesario.
Deception and Disguise
Viola is successful in deceiving Orsino and all the court members by pretending to
be a man. Malvolio deceives himself and loves Olivia because he wants to be part
of a noble circle. Olivia deludes herself by saying that she would mourn for seven
years but breaks her vow when she meets Cesario.
Maria and Sir Toby’s pranks is also a disguise of their severe hatred towards him.
They tease Malvolio to make others laugh at his lovesickness. On the other hand,
Feste becomes a scholar, Sir Topas. Olivia and Orsino also disguise their
unrequited love.

References
 Biography.com Editors, April 6, 2021. “William Shakespeare”. Biography
website, https://www.biography.com/writer/william-shakespeare
 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “William Shakespeare’s
Important Works”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Oct. 2020,
https://www.britannica.com/summary/William-Shakespeares-Important-
Works. Accessed 7 April 2021.
 Essay Examples, The love theme in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
https://benjaminbarber.org/the-love-theme-in-shakespeares-twelfth-night/
 Literary Devices, Twelfth night themes, https://literarydevices.net/twelfth-
night-themes/#
 Playshakespeare.com, Twelfth Night Overview: Sources & Statistics,
PlayShakespeare.com editions. https://www.playshakespeare.com/twelfth-
night