| Twelfth Night |
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Period written: 1601-1602 First known performance: February 2, 1602 (Middle Temple, Inns of Court) The setting of Twelfth Night is especially important to the play's romantic atmosphere. "Illyria" refers to a place on the east coast of the Adriatic Ocean (between what is now Greece and Albania), but in Shakespeare's time the name may not have suggested a real country. Illyria may have been as fantastical a place as Camelot. Like so many of Shakespeare's comedies, this one centres on mistaken identity. The leading character, Viola, is shipwrecked in the shores of Illyria (today Albania) during the opening scenes. She loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes dead. Masquerading as a young page under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino is in love with the bereaved Lady Olivia, and unsuccessfully uses Viola as an intermediary. The latter thenceforth poses as a male. Olivia, believing Viola to be male, falls in love with her. Viola, in turn, falls in love with the Duke, who believes that Viola is male. When Sebastian arrives on the scene, confusion ensues. Mistaking Sebastian for Viola, Olivia asks him to marry her. The play ends in a declaration of marriage between the Duke and Viola, Toby and Maria, and Olivia and Sebastian, though the marriage is never actually seen. Much of the play is taken up with the comic subplot, in which several characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous head steward Malvolio believe that the lady Olivia wishes to marry him. It involves Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch; her would-be suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek; her servants Maria and Fabian; and her father's favorite fool, Feste. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew disturb the peace of their lady's house by keeping late hours and perpetually singing catches at the very top of their voices. The company convinces Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him, and writes a letter in Olivia's hand, asking Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, be rude to the rest of the servants, and to smile under all circumstances. Olivia, saddened by Viola's attitude to her, asks for her chief steward, and is shocked by a Malvolio who has seemingly lost his mind. She leaves him to the contrivances of the group above. In fact, many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, such as Viola, Malvolio and Feste. Shakespeare uses it to raise questions about human identity and whether such classifications as gender and class status are fixed entities or can be altered with a simple shift of clothes. Although this is one of Shakespeare's most popular and funniest comedies, it has a dark side, as the behaviour of Sir Toby and Feste towards Malvolio becomes increasingly cruel towards the end. Malvolio is locked in a dungeon for alleged madness and forced to swear his submission to the heretical doctrines of Pythagoras. Malvolio departs in a bad humor, vowing revenge "on the whole pack of you." Orsino dispatches several servants to attempt to placate him. Discuss this play in our forums.
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