n   “Journeys end in lovers meeting.” n

Fuck, I loved this: I heard about the play (watch She's the Man and you get it), but the original story is so much wilder?! We have a gay pirate, a rather cruel Catfish situation, and love-triangles so complex (thanks to the cross-dressing) that even the characters give up. Love, just play on.

But at the centre of this story are the twins Viola and Sebastian, who, regardless of a lovesick Duke and a charming Countess, keep trying to find each other. I’m certain Shakespeare took inspiration from his own twins, and in other places family-bonds shine as well.
Because why does Sir Toby drink so much? Does he try to cope with his dead brother and nephew, just like his niece? And apart from all the scheming, doesn’t everyone in Olivia’s household rallies to keep Orsino away?

n  n    Maria: "Will you hoist sail, sir? Here lies your way."
Viola (as Cesario): "No, good swabber, I am to hull here a little longer. Some mollification for your giant, sweet lady.” n  n

So underneath all the foolish shenanigans, love stands at the heart of Twelfth Night. It’s such a fascinating play: definitely a romance and a comedy, but with some bitter edges. Only look at Feste, mysterious hilarious Feste, who’s jokes can be quite mean (see, Sir Topaz).
And what about poor Andrew being played by Sir Toby? Olivia marrying Sebastian too quickly (how happy with that marriage be?) and Antonio, passionate Antonio, ending up alone.

Oh Illyria, you're a world full of miracles, music and some tears: what an amazing and multi-layered play you are. 5 stars, no doubt.

Romanian review: Din câte auzisem, Shakespeare este mai ceva ca George R.R. Martin. Dar, spre norocul meu, această carte a avut un final fericit.
Am observat influența mitologiei romane în această piesă de teatru. Sunt menționați zeii Jupiter, Vulcan și, dacă îmi aduc bine aminte, și Mercur. Shakespeare a fost iubitor al culturii romane. De altfel, personajele pozitive au nume de italieni (Viola, Olivia, Antonio), iar cele negative, deși în opinia mea nu sunt foarte conturate în opera de față, au nume de englezi (Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Aguecheek).
O altă observație făcută de mine este că personajele cu statut social mai scăzut sunt mai inteligente decât cele cu statut social mai ridicat. De exemplu, bufonul, Maria, Viola (în cazul ei lucrurile sunt puțin diferite, originea ei era nobilă, dar se dădea drept un eunuc care muncea la curtea ducelui) sunt mai inteligenți decât Sir Toby și Sir Andrew care erau doi bețivi. Sir Andrew, în special, are o inteligență redusă și este ușor de manipulat.
Personajul meu preferat este clar bufonul— a fost genial:

,,-Bună madonna, de ce ești cernită?
-Bunule nebun, pentru că a murit fratele meu.
-Presupun că sufletul său a descins cu bine în căldările iadului, madonna!?
-Știu că e-n ceruri, nebunule.
-Acestea fiind premisele, te declar nebună de legat, pentru că porți doliu după un om care petrece-n rai. Ridicați-o pe această nebună, domnilor!''

Unul din motivele pentru care îi dau acestei cărți patru stele este faptul că am rămas curios până la sfârșit să văd dacă Viola va ajunge să se căsătorească cu Orsino. Până la urmă, finalul este următorul: Viola și Sebastian (fratele ei) sunt confundați între ei și, în cele din urmă, se reîntâlnesc, bucurându-se că au scăpat din naufragiu. Antonio este eliberat, în ciuda fărădelegiilor din trecut, iar Viola se căsătorește cu Orsino .
Aceasta este prima piesă de Shakespeare pe care o citesc, iar începutul este promițător. Sper să-mi placă și celelalte.
Închei cu sfârșitul piesei, reprezentat de celebrul cântec al bufonului:

,,Când eram flăcău la mama,
Hei, ce ploaie și ce vânt!
Dam și eu prin fete iama,
Fiindcă plouă pe pământ.

Iar când mi-a mijit mustața,
Hei, ce ploaie și ce vânt!
Tot în râs am luat viața,
Fiindcă plouă pe pământ.

Dar de când m-a ars năpasta,
Tii, ce ploaie și ce vânt!
Și mi-am luat și eu nevastă
Plouă într-una pe pământ.

Și de-atuncea, lua-o-ar gaia,
Fie ploaie, fie vânt,
Beau și eu cât toată ploaia
Care cade pe pământ.

Piesa-i gata, trag oblonul,
Tii, ce ploaie e afară!
Dacă v-a plăcut bufonul,
Mai poftiți și mâine seară."



English review: From what I had heard, Shakespeare is even more ruthless than George R.R. Martin. But, fortunately, this play had a happy ending.
I noticed the influence of Roman mythology in this play. The gods Jupiter, Vulcan, and, if I remember correctly, Mercury are mentioned. Shakespeare was a lover of Roman culture. Moreover, the positive characters have Italian names (Viola, Olivia, Antonio), while the negative ones, who, in my opinion, are not very well-developed in this work, have English names (Sir Toby, Sir Andrew Aguecheek).
Another observation I made is that the characters of lower social status are more intelligent than those of higher status. For example, the fool, Maria, and Viola (her case is a bit different as she was of noble origin but disguised herself as a eunuch working at the duke’s court) are smarter than Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who are two drunkards. Sir Andrew, in particular, has a limited intellect and is easily manipulated.
My favorite character is undoubtedly the fool—he was brilliant:

"Good madonna, why mournest thou?"
"Good fool, for my brother's death."
"I think his soul is in hell, madonna."
"I know his soul is in heaven, fool."
"The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen."

One of the reasons I gave this play four stars is that I was curious until the end to see if Viola would end up marrying Orsino. Ultimately, here’s the ending:  Viola and Sebastian (her brother) are mistaken for each other, but eventually, they reunite, rejoicing that they survived the shipwreck. Antonio is forgiven for his past crimes, and Viola marries Orsino .
This is the first Shakespeare play I’ve read, and the start is promising. I hope I'll enjoy the others as well.
I’ll end with the closing of the play, represented by the fool’s famous song:

"When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gates,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my beds,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
With toss-pots still had drunken heads,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain;
But that's all one, our play is done,
And we'll strive to please you every day."

When I was in college a professor once told me this was one of Shakespeare's least interesting and a "skip-able" play. That statement boggled my mind. I know this is an extremely unpopular opinion, but it's honestly my favorite of his plays.

Why does this one work so well for me? First off, I think it's downright the funniest work he ever wrote. Some of the lines/scenes are laugh out loud funny. In particular I'm rather fond of the following:

Viola: Save thee, friend, and thy music: dost thou live by thy tabour?

Feste: No, sir, I live by the church.

Viola: Art thou a churchman?

Feste: No such matter, sir: I do live by the church; for I do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the church.

Twelfth Night is a screwball comedy from the 30s that just happened to be written in the 1600s.

On a more serious note; I love the quote "I was adored once too" said Andrew Aguecheek. I love this line so much, as in an otherwise comedic play, it adds a depth and melancholy to one of the more foolish characters. It's not the most well known line in the play, but it's one that when delivered properly just kind of stops the show as it makes the viewer almost uncomfortable about having mocked this character.

It also it a lovely meta-comedy as in Shakespeare's time, it would have been all male actors. So, we have a lead, played by a male, whose character is female, and pretending to be a male. I imagine at that point that Shakespeare just delighted messing with his audience a bit.

Is it his greatest work? No, of course not. It was intended as a silly comedy... it just happens that this specific silly comedy just works for me. A full 5/5 stars.

My mind says that I should read Shakespeare, but my heart cringes and holds back. I know it is a left-over feeling from High School. I remember reading both Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth. They were both so excruciatingly slow reading at the pace of class. It seems that we took weeks just to read one play. I remember falling asleep quite a bit.

Contrast that experience with today. Twelfth Night was a silly comedy. It was full of puns, dirty references, and disguised identities. I was able to read the play in one evening. Perhaps if I read a few more I can overcome my reticence to read Shakespeare.

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.

I do love this story, and not only because She's The Man ranks as a favorite movie of mine. It is one of the few Shakespeare stories I know by heart without ever intentionally learning (or, apparently, reading it.) But I just really love Viola.
I wish I could love Duke as much.

This was 1) incredibly gay and 2) incredibly funny, though not my favorite comedy. I really enjoyed it, but also I was underwhelmed by Viola (I much prefer Rosalind) and feel like we didn't see enough of her.

Shakespeare ve eserleri hakkında fazla söz söylemeye gerek yok sanırım. Belki ele aldığı çoğu konu farklı versiyonlarda defalarca karşımıza çıkarıldığından eserleri günümüz için fazla orijinal veya yaratıcı gelmiyor olabilir, ancak şimdiye kadarki (az sayıdaki) Sheakespeare okumalarımdan zevk aldım. Onikinci Gece'yi de aynı şekilde keyifle okudum. Eğlenceli bir oyun. Çeviriden şikayetim yok ancak orijinal dilinde okumak hoş bir deneyim olabilir.

“Bazıları büyük doğar, bazıları büyüklüğe erişir. Bazılarınınsa büyüklük gelir başına konar.”

"Sen aşk, ne zapturapta gelmez,
Ne delişmen şeysin sen.
Bağrın açık enginler gibi, yine de
En yükseklerde kanat çırpan bile
Bu ummana dalmaya görsün.
O dakika ne hükmü kalır ne şuncacık değeri,
Öylesine ustadır ki sevgi kılık değiştirmede
Havsalan almaz, aklın şaşar."

"Ben asıl böyle yapmacıklı soytarılara gülerek, onlara şakşakçılık eden akıllı kişilere içerliyorum.

"Kadınların balmumundan yüreklerine mühürlerini basmak
Yakışıklı düzenbazlar için ne kadar kolay.
Ne yazık, zayıf yaratılmışız.
Kabahat bizde değil, yaradılışımızda."

"Delikanlı, biz ne kadar övünürsek övünelim,
Kadından daha kaypak, daha gelgeç gönüllü, daha şıpsevdiyiz.
Erkekte vefa ne gezer."

"Benim kara tabutum,
Servidendir, serviden.
Gel Azrail, yoldaşım ol,
Ölmüşüm aşkın elinden.

Bir insafsız güzel attı,
Bana şu ecel okunu.
Ölüm kanat ger üstüme,
Son nefesim al senin olsun.

Ak kefenlerim biçilsin,
Eş dost çevremde dikilsin.
Kara toprağa yatırsın,
Nerde sadık dostum nerde?

Tabutumun üstüne,
Çiçek serpmeyin istemem.
Kemiklerim çukura atılsın
Yas bağlamayın başımda.

Hiç gerek yok iç çekmeye,
Başıma bir taş dikmeye.
Bir gün gelirse ağlamaya sevgili,
Mezarımı bulamasın."

"Soytarılarla kocalar arasındaki fark sarıkanatla lüfer arasındaki kadar. Yani koca daha büyük soytarıdır."

"Bir taş yürekliye içimi döktüm,
Onurumu çiğnettim düşüncesizce.
İçimden bir ses suçlusun diyor;
Ama öyle güçlü, öyle küstah ki o suç,
Azarlara gülüp geçiyor."

"Doğada çirkinlik yoktur, zihinden gayrı.
Hiçbir şey çarpık değildir, zulümden gayrı.
Erdem güzelliktir.
Ama n’etmeli güzeli, zalim olunca.
Güzelliğe bürünen kötüler şeytanın kullarıdır."

"Bir deliye inanmak için beyninin içini görmeliyim."

"Dostlar yüzüme gülüp beni eşek yerine koyuyorlar.
Oysa düşmanlar eşekliğimi yüzüme vurup beni hizaya getiriyorlar.
Dostlarım düpedüz aldatıyor.
Öpücüklerde olduğu gibi, nasıl dört eksiden iki artı çıkarsa, düşmandan yana şanslı, dosttan yana şanssızım."

"Some are born great
Some achieve greatness
And some have greatness thrust upon them" oh Malvolio

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).

2023 reread: Our cast is fantastic and I can't wait to get to work on this brilliant script. The pun on "understand" is still my favorite thing ever. Sir Toby and Maria are the embodiment of raucous fun, Feste has a razor wit, and Malvolio is overdramatic to the point of leaving us all sobbing from laughter. Viola is adorably earnest and Olivia so regal. Here I am four years later still shipping the hell out of Sebastian and Antonio.

Original review, January 2019: Excellent. And so punnily clever! I wasn't expecting that (not sure why - this is Shakespeare after all, he of the HILARIOUS Act I of Romeo & Juliet). I mean, he made a pun on the word "understand". Who does that?? Amazing.

The resolution in Act 5 was quickly and efficiently wrapped up. Sidenote: W Shakes seems to like resolving things with double weddings - didn't the same thing happen in Much Ado, among others?

And for being cast as the villain, I didn't see a whole lot of treachery in Malvolio. Guy just seemed to have different priorities than everyone else, which is clearly a reason to be made fun of tortured and shiz.

I definitely ship Sebastian/Antonio. Hopefully Olivia doesn't mind when Sebastian sneaks his boi into the house.

I would've finished this much sooner if Michelle Obama hadn't shown up, but #NoRegrets

The Fool's wordplay and the wordplay in general were excellent. Good show, I say.

كوميدية ولطيفة... شكسبير كتب هنا بعيدًا عن التراجيديا، ولكن لم يفته أبدًا أن يبدأها بمأساة،
هكذا أنت دائمًا يا شكسبير، لن تتغير...