My favorite play! I enjoy reading it every single time.

Here Shakespeare borrows as so often in his comedies, from Plautus for the overarching plot--the separated siblings, the twinning (recall his Errors, and the Menaechmi), the arrival from sea. But he adds so much as to make it unrecognizable as a Roman comedy. He adds an attractive drunk, Sir Toby, who fleeces a silly aristocrat who--perhaps alone in literature-- knows himself to be silly. (Sir Andrew prides himself on recognizing, "I knew 'twas I, for many do call me fool"II.v.80.) The Bard also adds a parody of Renaissance psychiatry (well, more theology*, but since "psyche" in Greek is both "soul" and "mind," that's fair) practiced on Shakespeare's only American. Instead of the common psyche ward question, "What does 'the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence' mean to you?" Feste as Reverend Psychiatrist asks, "What is the opinion of Pythagoras concerning the soul?" Remember, you can't get out of the psyche ward unless you answer right. Well, Malvolio DOES get it right, he hits it out of the park, "that the soul of our grandam might inhabit a bird" Iv.ii.54). Feste keeps him in lockdown anyway. Why?

Herein lies a tale. Malvolio is portrayed as stark raving mad simply because he wants to marry the boss's daughter--or really, the boss herself. A crazy idea. An American idea, one that would take a couple centuries and a Revolution to be accepted by anybody at all. Those rejects on the other side of the Atlantic.
Yes, Malvolio is Shakespeare's only American (except possibly Othello?). And he is indeed, as he himself pleads at plays end, notoriously abused. He vows revenge on the whole pack--which we, as delighted playgoers, cannot support, though justice, and America, are on his side.

Feste the Fool speaks with great wit, one line I've said of myself for decades. When asked how he does, the Fool says, "The better for my foes, and the worse for my friends"(IV.ii.94). The Duke asks, surely, the better for thy friends. Feste explains, "No, they praise me and make an ass of me. My foes tell me plainly I am an ass, so that by my foes, sir, I profit..." The Duke reacts, "Why, this is excellent" as indeed it is. Shakespere rarely remarks on his own brilliance.

Marriage, a religious ceremony, was forbidden onstage at the time, though all modern film directors ignore that. Other Renaissance ceremonies are abridged, like Olivia's mourning. But tokens and gifts abound, especially rings which commemorate vows. Most in the canon here. Viola/Cesario is given two, one by messnger, one to deliver to Olivia, in the first few scenes, five in all, though Sebastian intercepts two. Gratiano later diminishes his quarrel, and its subject a ring for its simple inscription,
"About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me, whose posy was
For all the world like cutler's poetry
Upon a knife, 'Love me, and leave me not'" (V.i.147ff)
The words may be diminished, but for the audience, the ring can not: as token for meaning an offstage marriage. Engagement rings were not necessarily gold; in Roman times, Pliny says they were iron (Schiffer, 221) Diamonds did not feature until centuries later, roughly once DeBeers monopolized them. [See my article, "Early modern Rings and Vows in TN," in Schiffer, "Twelfth Night: New Critical Essays." 2011.]

As always Shakespeare anticipates recent modern insights, such as the "objectification of women," here Malvolio complains of objectification, "They have propertied me" (IV.ii.94). Yes, Shakespeare once again has the better word for it.

Music takes prominence, too, and ceremonial dance, though the best dancer is shown to be foolish--not sexist, because he's Sir Andrew. The Duke opens the play, "If music be the food of love, play on," and again, "Give me some music.../ Now good Cesario, that piece of song" (II.iv). Viola / Cesario earns her place at court, and as messenger by her singing. She delivers rings and vows, as well as song.
Perhaps Shakespeare invented the Musical, except that aristocratic entertainment at the time featured the Masque, with music throughout, though serious roles for those same aristocrats onstage. The Bard's competitor Ben Jonson wrote many, like the Masque of Blackness, and the Masque of the Queen. The Bard's Tempest includes a brief masque, with goddesses like Iris, of the Rainbow. Not comedies like TN and musicals since Gilbert and Sullivan to Lerner and Lowe

*Re-reading TN at Easter, '21, I find the Clown/Fool proving Olivia a Fool. He quizzes her, "Why mourns thou?" She, "Good Fool, for my brother's death."
He, "I think his soul is in hell, madonna."
"I know his soul is in heaven."
He,"The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool."

This is a fun play. Not my favorite. Makes me want to watch She's the Man.

i feel like i would enjoy shakespeare plays a thousand times more if i actually understood what this man was saying

i was only going to rate it one star because i was utterly confused, but i added another for: genderfluid viola and antonio being in love with sebastian

3.5/5

I'm glad I read this in class because I wouldn't have gotten much out of it otherwise. Shakespeare may be Shakespeare, but I am also I, and I know my tastes well enough to have before reading this thought "Bro I love certain pieces of your work but I'm fairly certain this is not going to have a honeymoon ending." Comedies tend to make me nervous with their glee and their joy and their soap bubble ideologies, and while the playwright did some wonderfully complex things with gender and the tropes of romance, this would have gone much better seen rather than read. The resulting decrease in reading comprehension and increase in visual hilarity would have made the actual honeymoon ending (is that really a spoiler? it's a comedy, after all) of the play closer to my own enjoyment.

I didn't start seriously contemplating this play until the first group presentation (this and 'King Lear' are being taught with groups taking apart an act a piece. group work. ugh) put for a discussion question about Orsino's ridiculous conceptions of romance. The great thing about these survey courses is the natural inclination of my brain to store away my most recent readings for random connection time with future reads becomes useful for more than just review writing. Before the class reached Shakespeare, we were on King Arthur and Sir Gawain and all that religiously strictured socioeconomic academics like to call 'courtly love', a mental state that many a male sonnet writer in the line of Spencer and Raleigh utilized and those such Wroth and Shakespeare made a mockery of. Shakespeare does a lot more to deconstruct the ideals of love and its lot in his sonnets than this particular play, but picking up on subtle critiques propagates its own breed of readerly pleasure.

As for the gender. I'm also getting this from others in terms of character foils, which I rarely pay attention to and may need to start doing so in light of what can be derived from this work. If you think about it, Viola and Olivia are the sort of characters that rarely coexist because, at their most basic tenets, they're the same character archetype. They're both young, they're both within the same class bracket, they were both raised with brothers and are at the time of the play completely without parents. The clincher, of course, is that they're both female, a gender that is rarely going to be differentiated along complex and humanizing lines by the creator because, frankly, it's not going to be necessary with all the well wrought men running around. The reason why this is worthy of note is how both characters would normally have both been rich wilting delicate flower beauty types, making out the condition as a natural tendency of women rather than the inevitable result of a constricting and emotionally deprived situation except, well, they're not. Sure, Viola disguises herself as a man, but no one catches her out for acting in such a way that could not be anything other than "womanly".

For further character foil business, see Malvolio and the treatment of his acted out fantasies versus Viola's fully embraced desires of illusion and dreams. One cannot expect to play only half the fool and fully win the day.

"If music be the food of love, play on"

“Twelfth Night” is probably one of Shakespeare's best known plays so I don't intend to say too much about the plot other than to say that it features a mistaken identity and a love 'triangle' of sorts.

'Twelfth Night' features some of the best known lines in English literature but personally I found the mistaken identity device was a bit of a stretch even for twins and it simply just wasn't as funny as another comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream". However, it does have some very funny moments, particularly those involving two plotting drunken Lords, Sir Toby Belch (kinsman to Olivia) and Sir Andrew Aguecheek (a Don Quixote-esque knight) and as always you just have to sit back and admire the writing.

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”

Πιο πολύ και απο την ιδια την ιστορία ξεχωρίζει το χιούμορ και η ειρωνεία του ποιητή. Ανεκδιήγητες φάρσες και ερωτικά μπερδέματα, δηλητηριώδεις και παιχνιδιάρικες ατάκες αποτελούν τον πυρήνα του θεατρικού αυτού. Θα ήταν πολύ ενδιαφέρον αν δινόταν περισσότερος χρόνος στον υποτιθέμενο τραβεστισμό της Βιόλα που ντύνεται Σεζάριο για να εισχωρήσει στην αυλή του Δούκα Όρσινο, προκειμένου να εξασφαλίσει την επιβίωση της. Όμως ο Όρσινο είναι ερωτευμένος με την Ολίβια η οποία πενθεί τον χαμό του αδερφού της και αποκρούει τα ερωτευμένα και εμμονικα βέλη του δούκα. Οταν ο Σεζάριο θα πηγαίνει καθε μερα στην αυλή της Ολίβια για να την πείσει για τον έρωτα του αφέντη του, εκείνη θα ερωτευτεί αυτόν/αυτη. Μπορεί να υπονοούνται και να μην τους δίνεται ο απαραίτητος χρόνος όμως τα θέματα της σεξουαλικής ταυτότητας και της ερωτικής έλξης είναι ορατά. Βέβαια το τέλος αποδεικνύει το εφήμερο του ερωτικού ενθουσιασμού με τον Σαίξπηρ να ειρωνεύεται υποθέτω τις μεγάλες και απόλυτες αγάπες. Αν παρατηρήσετε την τελευταία σκηνή θα αντιληφθείτε οτι υπάρχει ένας πιθανός ομοερωτισμός μεταξυ του Δουκα και του Σεζάριο. Ακόμα και μετα την αποκάλυψη της πραγματικής της ταυτότητας η Βιόλα δεν αλλάζει αμέσως και ο Δούκας φαίνεται να είχε γοητευτεί ευθύς εξαρχής απο εκείνη ως νεαρό.

Μεγάλη μορφή ο τρελός γελωτοποιός Φέστε που αποδεικνύεται ο πιό σοφός και διορατικός απο όλους. Ευαγγέλιο τα λόγια που ξεστομίζει, χιουμοριστικά και κυνικά. Ξεγλιστράει απο όλους σαν το χέλι.

Only Shakespeare can make falling in love with someone and then marrying their nearly identical sibling sound classy. Anyway, this is a pretty light and fun play, with lots of crazy tricks, misunderstandings and shenanigans (so fairly typical).

And all those sayings will I overswear;
And those swearings keep as true in soul
As doth that orbèd continent the fire
That severs day from night.

All the forbearance unrolled for display. Insomnia rasps and we struggled with Moloch and the gurgle of the deep.
There's nothing original about the reader. This reader.

He cheered for Viola.

The distemper of lad culture tends to rancor as I pondered whether Some Like It Hot or Mrs. Doubtfire will ever resonate with lyrical fire? The pat ending of Twelfth Night couldn't usurp, "Nobody's perfect," but the Bard knew questions unspoke which will greet the other half of the quartet, what was the attraction---really?

I've just written another review for a more modern play, complaining about how they're not made for reading, but watching. Although I'd say Shakespeare kind of breaks that rule. I often enjoy the words on the page as much, if not more than watching a stage performance. However, I feel like Twelfth Night needs to be seen. There's quite a lot of stage direction and subtleties that are missed just by reading, or at least they are if you're not familiar with the story. I chose to watch a production of this first (Mark Rylance at The Globe, utterly brilliant), as I knew I might get confused otherwise. Coming back to the text, I realised that I'd have missed a great deal if I hadn't seen it first. Nor did I find myself particularly captivated by the language, as I had been with his other plays. So all in all, a mean 3 stars, which for a play, equals about 4+ novel stars.

4 Stars

Overview

n   "Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them." n

While not his most well-known work, The Twelfth Night is certainly one of my favorite works by Shakespeare. I've always enjoyed his comedies more than his tragedies, and this one was filled with his trademark wit and crazy situations

Pros:

Shakespeare loved him some wordplay, and as always, it's masterful. The jokes were quick and hilarious, while still revealing things about the characters-- such as Sir Andrews misunderstanding of the word "accost" allowing the audience to learn how truly "refined" he is.

While this was most certainly a comedy, there were several gorgeous passages dedicated to love and life, and I found Shakespeare's prose as beautiful and smooth as ever.

This whole play revolves around Viola, a young lady who survives a shipwreck and decides to get ahead in life by dressing as a man and the antics that result from this. In itself this was quite funny, but I loved imagining it the way Shakespeare intended. With an all male cast, Viola would have been a man playing a woman playing a man.

Who do I have to pay to get a retelling where Antonio and Sebastian end up together?

Cons:

Parts of this felt like Shakespeare just wanted to cut to the action, so most of the build-up or character motivation was just glossed over. For instance, why does Viola dress as a man? We're told it's to get ahead in the world, but how she plans on doing that just never made sense to me.

Quite a few dated jokes-- which seems like a ridiculous complaint to make about something written in 1602, but it did impact my enjoyment of the story. I had to suspend disbelief that there could be a pair of fraternal twins who looked so alike people could confuse them. And one particular vulgar joke relies upon Elizabethan slang for a woman's lady bits.

In Conclusion:

As always, Shakespeare is the king of wit, and this was hilarious-- even if a bit rushed or absurd in places.

Read aloud with my family this Christmas. So much fun!