Or What You Will
By William Shakespeare
Study Guide by Nathan Davies, Lindsey Kolek,
and Emily Strobel
The Author
William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616 (1). He was
born and raised in an English town known as Stratford-upon-Avon (10). At the age of 17,
Shakespeare married his pregnant girlfriend, 26-year-old Anne Hathaway. Their first child was
born only six months into their marriage, which undoubtedly forced Shakespeare into an earlier
adulthood. The whole situation was scandalous in their village. Soon after his first child was
born, Shakespeare began doing what he is most well-known for: writing.
Over a 23 year span, Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets (1). Academics agree
that Shakespeare wrote his first play, Henry VI, Part One around 1589 to 1590, making him
about 25 years old (10). Shakespeare was said to have enjoyed playing the part of the ghost of
Hamlet and also played Adam in As You Like It, moving him from behind the scenes to an
onstage actor (11). Shakespeare was sometimes able to write four plays in a single year, all with
varying themes. Even through the busy theater seasons, Shakespeare still found time to fill books
upon books of sonnets (10). These works were first published in 1609, without the consent of the
author.
Shakespeare’s plays are written partly in verse and partly in prose, freely alternating
between the two in the same acts and scenes. It was not unusual for a character to address a
second character in verse while that second character responds in prose. Verse is a collection of
lines that follow regular, rhythmic pattern in Shakespeare, usually iambic pentameter, a metric
scheme in which each line has ten syllables consisting of five unaccented and accented syllable
pairs (11). This style has become synonymous with Shakespeare himself.
Shakespeare died in 1616, and his body was buried in the Holy Trinity Church. It is said
Shakespeare would put a curse on anyone who would try to move his body (10). Engraved on a
stone that rests upon his tomb in the church is the following:
“Good friend for Jesus sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.”
The History
Twelfth Night is most commonly referred to as the eve before Epiphany, which falls
twelve days after Christmas. This holiday marks the end of the Christmas season and leads into
the Carnival season that ends on Ash Wednesday. In Shakespearean times, Twelfth Night was a
night of large celebrations (7). It was traditionally celebrated with masquerades, feasts, and
games. Each year, a “Lord of Misrule” was appointed. He and his assistant, the Fool, acted as
grandmasters of the festivities. To appoint the Lord, a Twelfth Night cake was traditionally
baked. Inside the cake was placed either a pea or a bean. The person who was served the piece of
cake that contained the pea or bean was declared the Lord of Misrule. If a woman discovered the
pea or bean, she was to choose the Lord from the men available. A mock court was then set up to
help the Lord carry out his duties of decorating and celebrating over the Christmas season. Each
member of the mock court was assigned a character that they were to act out through the
remainder of the season at the many social events. Revelers would then comically pay homage to
the Lord and his court as they watched over the festivities. Though the traditional celebrations
are not common in England any longer, Twelfth Night cakes are still made by many.
It was common for people to dress up to celebrate the end of Christmas. Costumes were
very common, and, in the spirit of the Lord of Misrule who turns things on their head, it was
quite common for men to dress as women and vice versa. The topsy-turvy antics that were led by
the Lord and his court were of this nature. The characters played by the court were out of the
norm for their actual personality (6). Here we see how the character Viola and her predicament
in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night were inspired. As Viola dressed up like Sebastian, many people
who celebrated Twelfth Night found themselves acting as their opposites.
Though strongly popular in the Elizabethan era of England and in many other countries in
Europe, the Twelfth Night holiday and celebrations began to die out as time passed. The final
Lord of Misrule was appointed just before the death of King James in 1553, and the familiar
tidings associated with the night all but died out by the mid-Victorian era (5). In America, the
only semblance of a Twelfth Night celebration comes with removing the Christmas decorations
the day before Epiphany (6).
The Era
During the Elizabethan era in England, plays were performed in three different venues:
inn-yards, open air amphitheaters, and playhouses. Inn-yards were used in the early days of what
we know as Elizabethan theater. Shows were held either in private inns or actually in yards.
Open air amphitheaters held the most patrons, seating between 1500 and 3000 people. The
famous Globe Theater where Shakespeare performed the vast majority of his works is a type of
open air Amphitheater: a round and stadium-like structure with no roof. As times progressed,
plays began being shown in playhouses. These venues were much smaller than the
Amphitheaters, but held a more professional and modern style (2).
The earliest amphitheaters came to be in the late 1570s. Not only home to plays, they also
had events for locals such as bear baiting and gambling. It wasn’t until 1595 that the first
connection between Shakespeare and the theater was made. Unfortunately, the next 10 years
would prove to be tumultuous for all involved in theater production. In 1596, London officials
banned all performances within city limits due to the associated debauchery that townspeople
had seen and complained about. After being forced from the stage for a year, playwrights
flooded the city again as all amphitheaters were reopened in 1597 (2).
The most notable theater, the Globe, was opened on Bankside in 1599 after the fall of
another establishment, the Theatre, and enjoyed great success as Shakespeare’s primary
playhouse. Built as a sort of miniature Coliseum, the Globe boasted the ability to present “eleven
performances of ten different plays” in two weeks. Regrettably, the initial success was fleeting.
All of London was drastically hit by a resurgence of the Bubonic Plague in 1603. This outbreak
killed at least 33,000 people within the city and required all theaters and playhouses to be shut
down until the vicinity was deemed safe (2).
The decade following the tragic outbreak saw business as usual. Plays went on daily on
the South bank of the Thames River and followed their traditional means of advertising and
performing. Flags on the amphitheaters and playhouses denoted what type of show was being put
on. A white flag meant comedy, red a historical play, and black was a tragedy. Shows were filled
with all male casts, having young boys usually play the females. This practice occurred because
the profession of acting was seen as being unseemly and something ladies should never enter
into. And, as before, actors only received copies of their parts in the play for rehearsal, leaving
the playwright as one of the few, if not only, to have a full copy of the work. All in all the
industry rebounded successfully from the plague (2).
Everything was on track for Shakespeare until 1613 when the Globe went up in flames.
Performances works were halted until his theater could be rebuilt. Though reconstruction took
one year, the peak of the era had come and gone. Shakespeare passed away not more than two
years after the reopening of the Globe. As time passed on, a Puritan party began to grow in
London. After seizing power in 1642 the Puritans banned theater for its lewd themes and
associated behavior and tore down the Globe as a symbolic move. Once their Lord Protector,
Oliver Cromwell, took charge of England, all playhouses and amphitheaters had been
demolished. It was not until the royal line took control once again that plays were allowed to be
performed, but by then Queen Elizabeth, a primary patron of the theater district, was long gone
and her era had all but vanished (2).
The Play
“Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have
greatness thrust upon them.” -Act II, Scene V. Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night, or What
You Will was written between 1600 and 1601 in England. It is completely fictional, except that
Illyria is a real place (part of Ancient Greece). The main source for writing this play was most
likely “Farewell to the Military Profession” (1581) by Barnabie Riche. Twelfth Night was first
published in 1623 in the First Folio. Shakespeare didn’t want any of his plays published, but his
actors would write them down and have them published after his death. The first recorded
production of Twelfth Night is February 2, 1602 at Middle Temple Hall, one of the law schools
in London (9). It still continues to be performed all over the world. A movie version was
produced in 1996 featuring Helena Bonham Carter. There have been other movie versions
produced in 1910, 1980, and 1987 (4).
The Story
Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy about hidden identities and a mixed-up love triangle.
The main character, Viola, dresses up as a man and goes by the name Cesario. In doing so, she
falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who is in love with Lady Olivia. When Olivia meets Cesario
(Viola) she falls in love with “him.” More drama is added when Viola’s supposedly dead
brother, Sebastian, comes to town and looks exactly like Viola dressed as a man and everyone
confuses the two (11). This theme of the mystery of identity connects to the motif of disguise and
changing appearances. Viola is the most obvious character who wears a disguise, but we also see
Malvolio (Servant) and Feste (Clown) wear disguises in order to get what they want. Clothes, or
disguises, are a powerful symbol in the play and symbolize changes in gender and also class
distinction. “The play suggests that clothes have a power that transcends their physical function.
Through these disguises, the play raises questions about what makes us who we are, compelling
the audience to wonder if things like gender and class are set in stone, or if they can be altered
with a change of clothing” (8).
Another theme that comes out of hidden identities is that of the mysteries of love, sexual
attraction, and sexual identity. “Among the wild variety of love and desire that Twelfth Night
explores, the only kind of love that the play admonishes is self-love. When characters finally
overcome their self-absorption and express their desire outwardly to another person, however, all
kinds of erotic entanglements follow” (Ford, 87). Olivia becomes enamored by Cesario, who
really is Viola, and it brings up questions of sexuality and whether or not she falls in love with
“his” femininity or Viola’s inward masculinity (3). Shakespeare not only shows us
unconventional female/male relationships and what kinds of sexual connotations they have, but
also gives us insight into the relationships of the same sex, especially the strong bond of Antonio
and Sebastian and the complex elements of their friendship. “Recent scholars are more willing to
see the passionate friendship between Antonio and Sebastian, as well as the misdirected sexual
energy flowing from Orsino to Viola to Olivia, as signs of the play’s experimentation with
alternative, homoerotic forms of social desire that may or may not operate within a conventional
heterosexual code” (Ford, 88).
Another symbol in the play is that of letters and gifts being passed along to others. Olivia
gives both Cesario and Sebastian a gift, thinking they were the same person. She gives Cesario a
ring to show her love and then later gives Sebastian a pearl. But these gifts do not only show her
love and affection. She says, “Youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed,” which
suggests that they are intended almost as bribes from Olivia in that she would buy Cesario’s love
if she could not win it. Also the letters play an important role as they are used as forms of
communication and miscommunication—sometimes deliberate and sometimes accidental. They
bring about confusion when there are characters manipulating the information, especially
Maria’s letter to Malvolio (8). The themes of hidden identities, love, and disguises make this
play unique and highly entertaining.
The Tidbits
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Shakespeare has been dead for a near 400 years and there are 15 million pages referring
to him on Google. There are 132 million for God, 2.7 million for Elvis Presley and 14.7
million for George W. Bush (10).
Shakespeare used the word “dog” or “dogs” over 200 times in his works (10).
Macbeth is one of the most produced plays ever, with a performance beginning
somewhere in the world every four hours (10).
Many young male actors died of lead poisoning during the Elizabethan period. The
deaths were traced back to the make-up used to make them appear as females.
The ceiling of Shakespeare’s stage was called the heavens (11).
Suicide occurs in Shakespeare’s plays thirteen times (10).
All of Shakespeare's family was illiterate.
Shakespeare is listed as a writer in over 780 films on the International Movie Database,
which do not include rewrites and adaptations such as West Side Story.
The most recent adaptation of Twelfth Night was a feature film titled She’s the Man.
The Citations
(1) Absolute Shakespeare. 2005. Web. 8 Apr. 2010. <http://www.absoluteshakespeare.com/>.
(2) "Elizabethan Theatre History." Elizabethan Era. Web. 4 Apr. 2010. <http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk>.
(3) Ford, John R. Twelfth Night: a Guide to the Play. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2006. Print.
(4) "IMDb Search." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 12 Apr. 2010.
<http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=twelfth+night>.
(5) "Lord of Misrule." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
07 Apr. 2010 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/385345/Lord-of-Misrule>.
(6) "Twelfth Night History & Cartoon Fun by Brownielocks." BROWNIELOCKS and THE 3 BEARS
- Educational, Fun and Colorful For Ages 12 on Up! Web. 07 Mar. 2010.
<http://www.brownielocks.com/twelfthnight.html>.
(7) "Twelfth Night." The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. Columbia UP, 2000. 2909. Print.
(8) "Twelfth Night." Spark Notes. 2010. Web. 3 Apr. 2010. <http://nfs.sparknotes.com/twelfthnight/>.
(9) "Twelfth Night." William Shakespeare. 2005. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. <http://www.william-shakespeare.info>.
(10) "Shakespeare Facts." No Sweat Shakespeare. 2009. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.
<www.nosweatshakespeare.com/resources/shakespeare-facts.htm>.
(11) “Shakespeare Study Guide." Cummings Study Guides. Web. 7 Apr. 2010.
<www.cummingsstudyguides.net/xfacts.htm>.
The Images
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http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/dec/24a.htm
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http://www.arktimes.com/blogs/rockcandy/Image/twelfth-night.jpg
http://drama.cua.edu/HartkeSeason/Archive%20Photos/pages/twelfth%20night%201956_jpg.htm
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