Context Twelfth Night is the only play with an alternative title Twelfth Night is considered by many to be about the Epiphany the twelfth night following Christmas During Shakespeares time this day would be the day everything was turned upside down like Illyria ID: 591980
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Slide1
Act 5, Scene FiveSlide2
Context
Twelfth Night is the only play with an alternative title.
‘Twelfth Night’ is considered by many to be about the Epiphany (the twelfth night following Christmas.
During Shakespeare’s time, this day would be the day everything was turned upside down- like Illyria.
Most critics consider this to be one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies.
Shakespeare seems to have taken inspiration from a 1530s
Italian play:
Gl’Ingannati.
Puritans were one of the sources of mockery- portrayed through Malvolio.Slide3
Themes
Self Discovery:
Cesario is revealed as Viola who is Sebastian’s brother “That I am Viola” (line 250).
Malvolio is found to be full of anger due to the trickery.
Sir Toby is revealed/we discover he is quite mean to Sir Andrew: “An asshead, and a coxcomb, and a knave – a thin-faced knave, a gull!”
Revenge:
Malvolio swears revenge on everyone for abusing him “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!”
Love:
Viola loves
Orisino
: “And all those swearings keep as true in soul” (line 266) does
Orsino
love Viola? He doesn’t claim her to be his wife but his “mistress”.
Redemption:
Sir Toby comes clean about the practical joke: “Alas Malvolio this is not my writing”.
(line 344)
Viola comes clean about her illusion, “I was preserved to serve this noble count” (line 253)Slide4
Literary Devices
Allusion: Fabian says "to give a dog, and in recompense desire my dog again," that proves he knows something about happenings that are contemporary to the play The story he refers to was published shortly before the play was finished, and was about a man who gave his dog to Queen Elizabeth per her request, and then asked to have it back. This could perhaps be mirroring how Lady Olivia goes back on her word to Duke
Orsino
by deciding to wed Sebastian, despite telling Duke
Orsino
that she has dedicated the next couple of years to mourning her brother and father deaths.
Paradox: Feste sets upon
Orsino
a paradoxical premise that his well-being is "the better for [his] foes and the worse for [his] friends". The explanation, which is somewhat facetious in its tone and intent, shows how expectations are sometimes thwarted, and how things can be the opposite of the way one expects. Deception is a key theme in twelfth night as we see with Viola’s disguising herself as a young man and managing to keep up this appearance/Feste’ ability to be the most wise and cunning among the characters
Dramatic
irony: Shakespeare gives a sense of suspense with the audience as people wait for the characters to find out the truth and resolve these issues. The issue of time Antonio says that Sebastian has been in his company for three months, despite the fact that they landed in Illyria only earlier that day, which he also admits.
Orsino
echoes this time discrepancy, telling Antonio “Fellow, thy words are madness: Three months this youth hath tended upon me...”/ Viola's casting off of Olivia, leading to Olivia's claim that she married Viola, is a scene that is humorous because of the oddity of the situation. this foreknowledge of the resolution of this issue distracts from how greatly upset Olivia is by being brushed off by Viola, “Hast thou forgot thyself? Is it so long? Call forth the holy father.” Viola's genuine confusion at Olivia's insistence, and
Orsino's
anger at the suggestion that Viola would do something like that behind his back shows that the actions being presented are very dramatic as far as the characters are concerned, but comedic for the audience; Shakespeare's doubling of these elements is testament to his great skill in blending the elements of tragedy and comedy.
Climax
: There is huge climax in the act since everything seems to be rapping up, there have been numerous encounters with the characters and either Sebastian or Viola/
Cesario
, it is only a matter of time before they bump into each other ,the characters are in clear shock ,Antonio says “How have you made division of yourself? An apple, cleft in two, is not more twin than these two creatures. Which is Sebastian?”