Twelfth Night Flashcards
What does Ralph Berry say of the play
it is the most often performed of all Shakespeare’s comedies
when was the play first performed
consensus between modern editors is around 1600-1601
What did Samuel Pepys say of the play
seeing the 60 years after it was first written, when twelfth night ceremonies were better remembered or preserved he found it
but a silly play and not at all relating to the name or day
What charecterises the play from the beginning
Uncertainty
the play opens on a conditional clause
“if music be the food of love…”
All critics have noted desire or what you will is the motivating force in the play, but this will or appetite is often hungry for what
not only music, drink or love but also improved social position
What is twelfth night
the last day of the Christmas period
when the normal rigid households allowed a degree of topsy turvey for day of festivity
How have recent adaptations made Malvolio a very sympathetic character
in the 1988
What collapses distinctions between sexed bodies and social roles enhancing comic confusion
sound
Cesario/ viola ‘ small pipe’ identifies her as boy and woman
no one hears any difference in the voice of Viola and Sebastian
Why does the play festive language seem at odd with its festive structure
29 references to madness
22 references to disease
25 references to devilry
37 references to destruction and death
What kind of world does Shakespeare present in Twelfth night
a world given over to hedonism encompassing freedom, pleasure and intoxication
Why does the play dramatise the superiority of women to men
in order to call into question the rigid structure of traditional order.
What is the meaning of Malvolio and Violas name
Malvolio- mal; evil voglio; i will or desire
sugests he peruses his ends for the wrong reasons rather than the right
Viola sugests a positive female version of Malvolio
What is Malvolio a reincarnation of
scapegoat figures victimised in previous comedies
most noticeably Falstaff in the Merry Wives of Windsor
what is an alternative meaning of the plays subtitle
In Elizabethan usage will could also suggest irrational desire and unbridled passion.
as Shakespeare persistent puns on the word in his sonnets to the dark lady testify
alternative title reinforces the carnalesque connotations of TN
What did Charles Lamb say of Malvolio
morality and his manners are misplaced in Illyria
