This document provides an agenda and background information on William Shakespeare and his play Twelfth Night. The agenda outlines a lecture on Shakespeare and Twelfth Night, followed by a discussion. It then provides biographical details on Shakespeare, describing his early life, marriage, family and the lost years. It discusses the origins and plot of Twelfth Night, connecting it to traditions of the Feast of the Epiphany. Finally, it introduces the main characters and provides a brief three-sentence summary of the plot.

2. AGENDA
Lecture:
 Shakespeare: the man
 Twelfth Night
Discussion
Discussion Questions
QHQs
Recitation: Late sign-ups

3. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

4. THE EARLY YEARS
Born in Stratford-Upon-
Avon, England on or near
April 23, 1564
Son of John Shakespeare, a
glove-maker and leather
merchant, and Mary
Arden.
Received a good education
with heavy focus on
grammar and literature

5. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
MARRIAGE, FAMILY, AND THE LOST YEARS
 On November 28, 1582, Shakespeare married Anne
Hathaway. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26 –
and pregnant.
 Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583.
The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born
February 2, 1585. Hamnet died at age 11.
 For seven years, William Shakespeare disappeared from
all records, turning up in London circa 1592. These are
sometimes called “The lost years.”

6.  Shakespeare lived in London in the late
1500’s.
 England was a rich and powerful nation under
the leadership of Queen Elizabeth I, and the
theater was thriving, yet acting was not a well-
respected profession at this time.
 Shakespeare joined a theater company called
the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (which King
James I later called the King's Men) and was
successful as an actor, poet, and a playwright.
 By 1594, he was not only acting and writing
for the company but was a managing partner.

7. William Shakespeare
allegedly died on his
birthday, April 23, 1616.
This is probably more of a
romantic myth than
reality, but Shakespeare
was buried at Holy Trinity
in Stratford on April 25,
1616.
Shakespeare was a well-
loved writer in his lifetime;
and now, 400 years later,
he is the most produced
playwright in the world.

9. PLAY ORIGINSTwelfth Night, or, What You Will is a
comedy by William Shakespeare,
believed to have been written
around 1601–02 as an
entertainment for the close of the
Christmas season.
The play expanded on the musical
interludes and riotous disorder
expected of the occasion, with plot
elements drawn from the short
story "Of Apollonius and Silla"
by Barnabe Rich, based on a story
by Matteo Bandello.
The first recorded performance was
on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas,
the formal end of Christmastide in
the year's calendar.
The play was not published until its
inclusion in the 1623 First Folio.

10. THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY
“Twelfth Night” is the holiday celebrated on the
night after the twelfth day after Christmas, the
Feast of Epiphany. The Feast of Epiphany
marked the arrival of the Three Wise men who
brought gifts to baby Jesus, but the traditions
celebrating the holiday actually stemmed from
medieval customs that were carried on through
Renaissance times, customs that actually go all
the way back to Ancient Roman culture. In
medieval England the “Twelfth Night” marked
the end of a winter festival that started on All
Hallows Eve — On this day the King and all
those who were high-born would become the
peasants and vice versa.

11. One way in which we see both medieval and
Renaissance culture represented in Twelfth
Night is through the play's connection to the
the holiday. All Hallows Eve, or Halloween,
continued all the way until the Twelfth Night,
which also marked the winter solstice festival
that was celebrated in Ancient Rome. At
winter solstice, the Sun's orbit progresses to
the point that the Northern Hemisphere of the
earth starts turning to face the sun, while the
Southern Hemisphere starts turning away
from the sun. Hence the Lord of Misrule, a
peasant ruling over society rather than a king
ruling over society, represents the world
turning upside down. Furthermore, the
association with Halloween explains the
masquerades and revelries characteristic of
both Twelfth Night and Halloween that
Shakespeare clearly portrays in his play
Twelfth Night.

12. CHARACTERS AND PLOT
Let me
ask you!
Who is in this play?
What is going on?

13. CHARACTERS
Viola, castaway, disguised
as a man called Cesario,
in service to Orsino
Orsino, Duke of Illyria,
wooing Olivia
Olivia, a countess,
resisting Orsino's
wooing
Sebastian, castaway, twin
brother to Viola, thought
dead
Malvolio, steward (sort of
a head butler) to Olivia,
imagines himself equal to
his lady.
Maria, a Lady in waiting in
Olivia's household
Sir Toby Belch, Olivia's
drunken uncle
Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a
simple- minded
companion of Sir Toby's,
wooing Olivia
Feste, Olivia's jester

14. THE PLOT
Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are
shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria.
She swims ashore, but she loses
contact with Sebastian, whom she
believes to have drowned.
Disguising herself as a young man
under the name Cesario, she enters
the service of Duke Orsino through
the help of the sea captain who
rescued her.
Orsino has convinced himself that he is
in love with Olivia, whose father and
brother have recently died, and who
does not wish to see any suitor till
seven years, the Duke included.
Orsino uses Cesario as a messenger to
profess his passionate love before
Olivia.
Olivia, believing Viola to be a man, falls
in love with this handsome and
eloquent messenger, while Viola has
fallen in love with the Duke who
regards her as his close friend.

15. IN GROUPS
Discuss
your
answers to
the
homework
questions
and your
QHQs.

16. QUESTIONS
Compare and
contrast the
misidentification
in Twelfth Night
with that from A
Comedy of Errors.
Question: Is Viola
(Cesario) a
“Trickstar”?

17. FOOL Good madonna, give me leave to prove you a
fool.
OLIVIA Can you do it?
FOOL Dexteriously, good madonna.
OLIVIA Make your proof.
FOOL I must catechize you for it, madonna. Good my
mouse of virtue, answer me.
OLIVIA Well, sir, for want of other idleness, I’ll bide
your proof.
FOOL Good madonna, why mourn’st thou?
OLIVIA Good Fool, for my brother’s death.
FOOL I think his soul is in hell, madonna.
OLIVIA I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.
FOOL The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your
brother’s soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool,
Gentlemen. (56-70)
 How does the
clown prove that
Olivia is a fool? Is
he correct or
incorrect in his
assessment? (Act I
Scene 5) Explain
your answer with
evidence from the
text.

18. OLIVIA Have you any commission from your lord
to
negotiate with my face? You are now out of your
text. But we will draw the curtain and show you the
picture. (She removes her veil) Look you, sir, such
a
one I was this present. Is ’t not well done?
VIOLA Excellently done, if God did all.
OLIVIA ’Tis in grain, sir; ’twill endure wind and
weather.
VIOLA ’Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white
Nature’s own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
Lady, you are the cruel’st she alive
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy.
OLIVIA O, sir, I will not be so hard-hearted! 242
Consider common
practices of
traditional
wooing. In what
way would they
be different from
Cesario’s
endeavors to woo
Olivia for Duke?

19. In this clip we see the longer dialogue from
the wooing scene. The clip stars Mark
Rylance and Johnny Flynn in 'Twelfth
Night' at 'The Globe' 2012
Act 1, Scene
5, 151-318
29:16- 39:20
http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/Portal
Playlists.aspx?wID=237302&xtid=53275&loid=204314

20. The soliloquy is a speech in which
a character converses with himself
or herself by expressing thoughts
aloud while alone on stage.

21. Act 2, Scene 2, 17-41
VIOLA
I left no ring with her. What means this
lady?
(She picks up the ring) Fortune forbid my
outside have not charmed her!
She made good view of me, indeed so
much
That methought her eyes had lost her
tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
She loves me, sure! The cunning of her
passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord’s ring? Why, he sent her
none!
I am the man. If it be so, as ’tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper false
In women’s waxen hearts to set their
forms!
Alas, (our) frailty is the cause, not
we,
For such as we are made editorial
(of) such we be.
How will this fadge? My master
loves her dearly,
And I, poor monster, fond as much
on him,
And she, mistaken, seems to dote
on me.
What will become of this? As I am
man,
My state is desperate for my
master’s love.
As I am woman (now, alas the
day!),
What thriftless sighs shall poor
Olivia breathe!
O Time, thou must untangle this,
not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t’ untie.

22. THE SOLILOQUY
This next video is from John Barton's "Playing Shakespeare" video series.
In this clip, Dame Judi Dench showcases an approach to the “ring” speech
from Twelfth Night, where she carefully allows for the shifts in thought by
playing the text as though she needs the words to work through a problem.
Playwrights have to deal with real human issues and emotions, which tend to
be quite personal like hope, desire, mortality and jealousy, in a way which
makes the audience respond sympathetically to those emotions. The
playwright must compress life into a reasonable time period.
The soliloquy opens up the character's soul and speaks the words that are
universally spoken by each and every one us -- words we have been hearing
most of our lives. Shakespeare just does it eloquently, and often. So think of a
soliloquy as an attempt to get past the thin crust of the events and plot into the
truth of how people react and reflect on the world inside of them, as well as
around them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxftRZ
_Uzq0

23. SUBPLOT IN TWELFTH NIGHT
In the comic subplot several
characters conspire to make
Olivia's pompous steward,
Malvolio, believe that his lady
Olivia has fallen in love with him.
It involves Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby
Belch; another would-be suitor, a
silly squire named Sir Andrew
Aguecheek; her servant Maria;
and her fool, Feste.
They plant a false letter in the
garden for Malvolio to find,
which he, in his vanity,
misinterprets as a love letter

24. ACT 2 SCENE 3 LINES 85- 175
49:56 minutes in the film to 58: 48
http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/Portal
Playlists.aspx?wID=237302&xtid=53275&loid=204317
In the next clip, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are up late, drinking; Feste
joins them, and they request that he sing a song about love. They
proceed to make a great deal of noise, by singing, drinking, and
talking nonsense; Maria tries to get them to be quiet, but Malvolio is
awakened by the noise, and comes down to berate them for
disturbing the household. Once Malvolio leaves, Maria concocts a
plan to make Malvolio look like a complete fool: since Maria's
handwriting is similar to Olivia's, she will write love letters to
Malvolio and make it look like the letters have come from Olivia.

25.  Analyze Maria’s
speeches in Act
2 scene 3.
Explain carefully
her motive to
entrap Malvolio.
Do you believe
that she is
justified in doing
it?
MARIA The devil a puritan that he is, or anything
constantly but a time-pleaser; an affectioned ass
that cons state without book and utters it by great
swaths; the best persuaded of himself, so crammed,
as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his grounds
of faith that all that look on him love him. And on
that vice in him will my revenge find notable cause
to work.
TOBY What wilt thou do?
MARIA I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of
love, wherein by the color of his beard, the shape of
his leg, the manner of his gait, the expressure of his
eye, forehead, and complexion, he shall find himself
most feelingly personated. I can write very like my
lady your niece; on a forgotten matter, we can
hardly make distinction of our hands. (145-160)

26. Q: Why do we have
comparatively few female
tricksters? Is there something
about the idea of a female as
a trickster that makes people
uncomfortable?

27. Recitation: A Sonnet or Soliloquy 50
points
Each person in class will do one presentation
of either a sonnet or soliloquy
(speech/monologue), including a written
summary—half a page describing the content
and the formal elements —and a memorized
performance.
Bring a copy of
your sonnet or
soliloquy suitable
for overhead
projection!
Reminder

28. Read: Twelfth Night: Acts 3 to 5 (to end)
Post #5 Choose one
1. As Olivia is in the process of revealing her feelings for Cesario, she makes use of
metaphors drawn from the animal kingdom— Act III, Scene 1, lines 115-140.
State what these animal metaphors are, and then explain their significance.
How do they illuminate the depth of Olivia’s feelings at the moment?
2. Many characters in Twelfth Night adopt a role or otherwise disguise their
identities. Viola is the most obvious example of this ruse in the play, but what
others can you name? What is their motive? Consider Fester, Orsino, and Olivia
among others.
3. Discuss the outcome of the plot
against Malvolio. Is the yellow
garter scene funny or cruel? Is
his fate deserved? How does his
reappearance affect the end of
the play?
4. QHQ
Use Textual Support!