Context Flashcards
When was Twelfth Night written?
1600-1602
What does the play’s subtitle “What You Will” mean in context of the play?
laden with innuendo
a version of ‘anything goes’
SETTING
What is Shakespeare’s country of Illyria remarkably like? Why is this?
the London of Shakespeare’s day
Antonio recommends that Sebastian stays at ‘the Elephant’ public house in ‘though south suburbs’ - this is near the London Globe theatre and in reality is not a reputable place
SETTING
What is the difference in Orsino and Olivia’s houses?
Orsino’s house is an Italian-style court, embracing lesiurely life of music,hunting and fantasies
Olivia’s house is more of genteel English establishment, with its garden and population of servants
RELIGION
What kind of term was the word ‘Puritan’ in 1600?
a strong term in the politics of religion
RELIGION
What does a Puritan mean?
anti-theatre, anti-drinking and feasting, anti-Catholic
RELIGION
What winter celebrations were strongly associated with the ‘Old Religion’ or Roman Catholicism?
Christmas, Twelfth Night, Candlemas
RELIGION
What were the tensions Catholicism caused?
it has caused many tensions in 16th century England as for the Puritans, the entire year must be equally sober, only a perpetual, law-abiding Lent
What ex-Puritan wrote about disliking Twelfth Night? Why is this perhaps? State what this person wrote concerning this.
Samuel Pepys.
He had a continuing sympathy for Malvolio: ‘ the business of abusing the Puritans begins to grow stale, and of no use’
‘they being the people that, at last, will be found the wisest’
THEATRE
What was early modern theatre not concerned with? In fact, what was key to the theatrical experience?
making its audience believe that what they were watching was happening
recognising the artificiality of the spectacle
THEATRE
Rather than be lost in the experience as audiences go to the theatre for today, why did early modern theatre audiences go?
to be seen as much to see, they ewre lit by natural light and wore same clothing
THEATRE
What did the Elizabethan convention of women played by men add to the performances?
complexity
profoundly affects the erotic interplay between the actors and hence the audience’s reaction
THEATRE
What did Shakespeare use this convention for?
while male actors were convincing as women, there wa still that awareness
rather than suppressing/ignoring this, Shakespeare enjoyed playing on these confusions it creates
THEATRE
What did this convention allow for Shakespeare?
the apparent restraint that was placed in Shakespeare becomes an artistic freedom, enabling the characters to switch their sexual identities
TWELFTH NIGHT EVENT
When does Twelfth Night happen?
at the end of the festive season
TWELFTH NIGHT EVENT
What is it an event for?
music, elaborate fancy-dress masked balls, parties
TWELFTH NIGHT EVENT
Explain the ‘Lord of Misrule’ convention.
whoever found the bean bakes into a special cake would be declared the ‘Lord of Misrule’ for the night
this was an inversion of the current relationships for one night
TWELFTH NIGHT EVENT
What was Twelfht Night ruled by?
licensed misrule and topsy-turvy inversion of normal social relationships
e.g. survatns being waited on by their masters and men wearing women’s clothing, or being ruled by their wives
CLOTHING
What are sumptuary laws?
Laws that regulate consumption and luxuries, as wella s make a person’s place in life legible at a glance
CLOTHING
What was it illegal to do?
wear fabrics or colour that were deemed inappropriate to one’s station
CLOTHING
In this way of sumptuary laws, why did anti-theatrics want to shut down theatres?
spectators coudl show up thier own inappropriate clothes
CLOTHING
How are these laws incorporated into the play?
subtly shaming Malvolio through clothing
Malvolio imagines himself toying with ‘some rich jewel’ and is wearing a ‘branched velvet gown’ during an extended daydream about how marriage to Olivia will enable him (sleep with employer and rebuke her aristocratic uncle Sir Toby)
CLOTHING
What the play offer an glimpse into?\ when one wears inappropriate clothing
comic sexual self-delusion
a potentially subversive upward social mobility
CLOTHING
How else is clothing used?
this time to more obviously shame Malvolio
Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and servants trick to trick Malvolio into wearing an inappropriate outfit (yellow, cross-gartered stockings)
cross-gartering was hopelessly outmoded by 1601
and brightly coloured hose was a badge of the young, free and single (a popular Elizabethan song in which a husband sings for his carefree bachelordom ‘Give Me My Yellow Hose Again’)
PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM
What does Aristophanes decribe his idea of love to be in Plato’s Symposium?
humans were conjoined, with each pair making a complete person (both male, both female or male and female)
but Zeus decided to punish humans for their arrogance, splitting the creatures down the middle and detaching us from our literal other halves’
PLATO’S SYMPOSIUM
Where does this idea come into play?
when Antonio says ‘How have you mad a division of yourself?’ when the twins finally meet
COMEDY
What type of comedy is Twelfth Night?
Farce
Romantic
Satire
COMEDY
What is a farce comedy?
creates comedy through a series of ludicrous event staking place in rapid succession
atmosphere is one of panic, confusion and hilarity tinged with an element of cruelty
slapstick and sexual innuendos
COMEDY
What is a romantic comedy?
light-hearted comedies that focus on foolish mix-ups between young lovers
happy endings, one or more marriages
COMEDY
What is a satire comedy?
individuals, institutions and societies are ridiculed in order to criticise their failings
ranges from gentle teasing to a biting attack
COMEDY - Carnivalesque feature
What did C.L. Barber interprets carnivals and festivals in the real world in the play’s context?
in 1957, Barber interpreted the topsy-turvy unruliness of in the context of real life festivals when, just for a day, rules were suspended and the normal hierarchies were inverted
COMEDY - Clowns and fools feature
How were clowns categorised?
- the licensed fool - professional jester, joke about the world, self-conscious humour, poke fun at society, satirical
- the natural fool - simple, lacking common sense, capable of providing surprising truths, provoke cruel laughter as a scapegoats, or sympathetic laughter for thier sweet innocence
COMEDY - Comic structure
What is the conventional structure?
- movement from misfortune
- discord and separation towards good fortune
- accord
- reconciliation
- restoration of order
COMEDY - Comic structure
How is the harmonious conclusion marked?
some some of communal celebration
COMEDY - Comic structure
What is the main body of the play characterised by?
disorder, chaos and confusion
overturning of social conventions and rules
misunderstandings which must be resolved
obstacles that must be overcome
