The twelfth night or epiphany eve is celebrated either on january 5 or january 6. Twelfth night translation shakescleare, by litcharts. Twelfth night and the great comedies and tragedies. The name likely comes from a performance of the play twelve days after christmas, on the feast of the epiphany, possibly at whitehall palace in 1602. I need a very short summary of plot, themes and characters in. Twelfth night study guide contains a biography of william shakespeare, literature essays, a complete etext, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Twelfth night, or what you will is a romantic comedy by william shakespeare, believed to have. Created for a year 9 class, but possible to use with any yeargroup. An aristocratic woman, she is tossed up on the coast of illyria by a shipwreck at the beginning of the play and disguises herself as the pageboy, cesario. Her brother had custody of her for a while, but then he died too.
This study guide consists of approximately 156 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of twelfth night. This line begins an extended metaphor comparing music to food which is another thing people tend to overindulge. See more ideas about twelfth night, drama class, costume design. Shakespeare text statistics open source shakespeare. The last dayor twelfth nightwas in shakespeares time a day of celebration and foolishness. Shakespeare characters, sorted by number of speeches open. The name twelfth night has no particular connection to the events in the play. In order to fully explore the role of feste in twelfth night, the first chapter will detail a history of the foollike characters to set up a formal structure from which shakespeare created fest. Orsino then asks cesario as a friend to send a love message to olivia for him sebastian arrives in illyria with his friend antonio and sir toby tries to start a duel with him. Character name characternamesort play name playnamesort line count. Cesario, a young man, and goes into the service of the lovesick count orsino. And in william shakespeares twelfth night it is no different. Pages in category characters in twelfth night the following 9 pages are in this category, out of 9 total.
Sparknotes is here for you weve got everything you need to ace or teach. However, shakespeare provides no stage directions and it is. Feste, a clown, through his mixed up words and songs enlightens the other characters whilst playing the role of the truthteller. He finds himself becoming more and more fond of his new page boy, cesario viola in disguise, the daughter of a nobleman who knew duke orsino. Essay on characters of twelfth night by william shakespeare. Slapstick comedy, satire and romance along with disguise and frivolity were all ingredients, which would have. Lords, priests, sailors, officers, musicians, and other attendants. They say shes totally sworn off men now, in memory of her brother. Surrounded by characters who express the extremes of emotionalism and melancholy that is, viola is caught between duke orsinos extreme melancholy and lady olivias aggressive emotionalism yet she represents the norm of behavior in this strange world of illyria. Twelfth night characters analysis features noted shakespeare scholar william hazlitts famous critical essay about twelfth nights characters. Dramatis personae orsino, duke of illyria sebastian, brother to viola antonio, a sea captain, friend to sebastian a sea captain, friend to viola valentine, curio, gentlemen attending on the duke sir toby belch, kinsman of olivia sir andrew aguecheek, suitor of olivia malvolio, steward to olivia fabian, an attendant to olivia the clown feste, olivias fool. Scenes from twelfth night by william shakespeare with study. In fact, in shakespeares time christmas itself was a more muted and religiouslyfocused event, and the celebrations grew larger every evening until twelfth night. As a member, youll also get unlimited access to over 79,000 lessons in math, english, science, history, and more.
Powerful and a gentleman, he is obsessed with gaining the hand in marriage of the fair lady olivia, unaware that he himself has a secret admirer. Scenes from twelfth night by william shakespeare with. Twelfth night is one of shakespeares liveliest and most accessible romantic comedies but also deals intelligently with issues of gender, sexual desire, class and social harmony. Character list orsino the duke of illyria and its ruler. A virtuous young woman, the daughter of a count who died last year. Viola cesario viola is twelfth nights genderbending heroine. Olivias butler, malvolio, disapproves of all the other members of her household her drunken uncle sir toby belch, his friend sir andrew aguecheek and her servants, maria, feste and fabia. Plus, get practice tests, quizzes, and personalized coaching to help you succeed. The plays contain 34,895 total speeches spoken by 1,223 characters. Through aiding the duke with his patience, helping viola with her love problems, and having a major role in malvolios downfall, feste holds one of the. Forced to dress like a boy in order to get a position in a royal household, viola takes on the name cesario.
Sort the character list below by name, play or number of lines. Fed up with malvolio constantly spoiling their fun, they decide to play a practical joke on him. Anthony has more lines than cleopatra but he was in julius caesar, too. The games of love in twelfth night feste and fabian. Nowadays, people count from dec 25 and so assume twelfth night falls on the 6th. Twelfth night first folio shakespeare theatre company. Orsino, the duke and count of illyria, is a young man deeply and fashionably in love with olivia. Learn all about how the characters in twelfth night such as viola and orsino contribute to the story and how they fit into the plot.
Her rejection of him leaves him in a deep and just as fashionable melancholy. Itd be a good way to hide from the world until the time was right to identify myself. Clicking on line count presents the list in ascending order. The shakescleare modern english translation of the play will help you comprehend shakespeares language, and the plays most important quotes. A bachelor, orsino is in love with the beautiful lady olivia, and he constantly compares his love for her with music. Female identity in twelfth night chaos and order in twelfth night the image and metaphor of drowning in twelfth night. William shakespeares twelfth night, or what you will is a comedy about a crossdressing, shipwreck surviving, poetryloving girl who finds herself at the center of a notsoaverage love triangle. Orsino is the powerful duke of illyria hes a bachelor and the object of violas. For that we have the dramatic poet nicholas rowe to thank.
Youll love working with the variety and flexibility of the scenes. Your actors will love the fast pace and fun characters. Character profile for count orsino from twelfth night page 1. The action of twelfth night takes place over three days.
Overview from folger education twelfth night synopsis. Instead of handcounting each, we can graph and order them. Twelfth night if music be the food of love overview readings page home if music be the food of love, play on. Orsino, as seen in the play, is a very passionate man. In the first folio the play is divided into acts and scenes, but no list of the dramatis personae is included. Behind cleopatra, rosalind from as you like it has the most lines for a female. At the beginning of the play orsino is obsessed by his unrequited love for olivia. Printable twelfth night character map handout teaching. From one classroom teacher to another tips for teaching shakespeare teaching shakespeare faqs. Orsino sends cesario to woo the lady olivia on his behalf, but olivia falls. Chapter two demonstrates the similarities between feste and viola that create the. Feste in william shakespeares twelfth night essay bartleby. We can visualise the number of lines of text per character to get a sense of who. Find, download, and install ios apps safely from the app store.
Characters of twelfth night by william shakespeare the title what you will is a perfect summary of the whole play. Viola and sebastian are twins who are separated after their ship wrecks near illyria. The alternative title, what you will, possibly was shakespeares own name for the play note the similarity to as you like it, which might have been changed to distinguish it from john marstons play, also called what you will, written in 1601. I need a very short summary of plot, themes and characters. At the beginning of the play, she has rejected both orsino and her ridiculous suitor, sir andrew aguecheek. Theatrefolk vignette plays cover themes from waiting to driving to communication to hair to snow and even to shakespeare. Suggested additional resources about the folger image 1 twelfth night poster. Twelfth night characters the main characters in twelfth night are viola, sebastien, orsino, olivia, and malvolio. Perchance line 5 perhaps perchance line 6 by good fortune perchance line 7 viola now plays on both meanings of the word stagecraft shipwrecked it is clear from the fi rst few lines of act 1 scene 2 that viola and the captain have been shipwrecked on the coast of illyria. The mood of twelfth night certainly suits the occasion. See below for a full list of all the characters in twelfth night orsino, duke of illyria. Shakespeare characters, sorted by number of speeches. Clicking on an individual line count take you to a page showing all the lines for that character. Detailed analysis of characters in william shakespeares twelfth night.
Character map for twelfth night by william shakespeare. Viola cesario viola is twelfth night s genderbending heroine. Act one, scene four is the shortest of its kind in the canon 42 lines. The opening is mostly straight pentameter, with a spondee, whose stress and position at the end that further emphasizes the command of orsino. Characters, sorted by number of lines shakespeare geek. See twelfth night translated to modern english see characters in shakespeares other plays. Twelfth night, or what you will introduction shmoop. This story is about deception in character, being something you are not. As it says the method that counts the 12th night following christmas i. For most critics, viola is one of shakespeares most delightful and beloved feminine creations from his comedies. In line with ancient judeochristian tradition the days began at sundown the evening before, which is why we still have such a focus on christmas eve. Character profiles she has a twin brother who she loves very much who she thinks died in the shipwreck. Key to abbreviations 12night twelfth night 2gents two gentlemen of verona ado much ado about nothing antony antony and cleopatra aww alls well that ends well ayli as you like it. The importance of the minor figures, then, does not rest in a single section of the play, nor do those characters act together as an example of a class or type.
He is a powerful nobleman who is trustworthy and kind to everyone he meets. In the comic subplot, several characters conspire to make olivias pompous steward. Violacesario after being shipwrecked, she disguises herself as a young boy, takes the name of cesario, and attains a position in. Romeo has substantially more lines than juliet, though they both have quite a few. To find a specific character, use the character search. A vignette play is a collection of short scenes on a theme. Othello and iago have almost an identical number of lines. The twelfth night marks the ending of the traditional 12 days of christmas or the christmas season. Famous quotes twelfth night royal shakespeare company. Violacesario, olivia, the dukeorsino, malvolio, sir toby, feste using links to online resources. It is observed in the united states, great britain and throughout europe mostly. Christensen sebastian madame tusk antonio, a sea captain, friend to sebastian alan davis drake a sea captain kara. Character profiling twelfth night teaching resources.
Twelfth night, or what you will cutting and notes by. Famous quotes there are many wellknown quotes in twelfth night here weve listed a few of them, in order of appearance in the play. An aristocratic woman, she is tossed up on the coast of illyria by a shipwreck at the beginning of the play and disguises herself as the pageboy, cesario read full character analysis the duke and ruler of illyria. See below for a full list of all the characters in twelfth night. After the shipwreck, he was rescued by antonio, and spent three months in his company. Speeches, character, plays click to see characters speeches.
Being in love with the idea of love, he sees olivia and immediately thinks up a fantasy, convincing himself any passion inside him is only for her. Viola goes into service with count orsino of illyria, disguised as a young man, cesario. What is twelfth night, or what you will about and why should i care. Twelfth night s main romantic lead is count orsino of illyria who starts the play in love with countess olivia and ends it with shipwrecked aristocrat viola, who has posed as a man for most of the. If a characters lines are written in verse we assume. Viola, orsino, olivia, sebastian, malvolio, feste, sir toby, maria, sir andrew aguecheek, antonio. Elizabethan theatre costume design sketch twelfth night theatre costumes 16th century me on a map disney characters fictional characters character design.
The enchanting story of viola dressed as the page cesario, with whom both orsino and orsinos erstwhile object of desire fall in love, is filled with rapturous. Twelfth night characters analysis absolute shakespeare. Database twelfth night navigator includes annotated text, line numbers, scene index with scene summaries, and a search engine. Twelfth night original public works cast twelfth night. The bill shakespeare projects breaks down twelfth night by the. At the opening of the comedy, he is desperately in love with lady olivia, who spurns his romantic overtures in spite of the fact that he is a perfect and ideal gentleman. Ok, most of us have no idea what it would be like to lose a twin sibling in a shipwreck before crossdressing as a singing eunuch, only to discover that we are in love with a man, who is in love with a woman, who is in love with our disguise. Twelfth night characters guide studies each characters role and motivation in this play. Written between 1601 and 1602 right around the same time shakespeare wrote hamlet and troilus and cressida, the play is most famous today for being a socalled transvestite comedy which just. Rising action cesario viola quickly becomes close with orsino and begins to fall in love with him. This is justly considered as one of the most delightful of shakespears comedies. In twelfth night, shakespeare introduces a cast of uproarious characters including malvolio, toby belch, and andrew aguecheek, and tells a story of fickle fortune, mourning, love, and reunion.
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