Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
Unit
Literary Text: Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Organizational Patterns
Twelfth Night is divided into five acts which are divided into 18 relatively short
scenes. In a good critical edition of the play (such as the Folger Shakespeare
Library edition) there are notes on facing pages or footnotes at the bottom of the
page to explain archaic references. The play has thirteen fairly prominent
characters and a few other attendants, sailors, etc.
The first act starts in the middle of the action, with
the Duke Orsino pining after the love of fair Olivia
and Viola being washed ashore from a shipwreck
in which we assume everyone, including Viola’s
twin brother, has drowned. We are introduced to
the other major characters: Olivia, who is in
mourning for her brother and has sworn to avoid
the company of men (which is a problem for
Orsino, who is in love with her); Feste, the Fool
whose songs bring out many of the passions and
feelings in the play and who seems to have his
fingers in everything; Sir Toby Belch, Maria, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and
Malvolio, around whom the action of the secondary story line revolve. By the end
of Act One, Viola has offered herself as a male servant to the duke Orsino and
subsequently fallen in love with him, and Olivia has fallen in love with “Cesario”
(Viola’s male alter ego). At the beginning of Act Two we find out that Sebastian,
Viola’s identical twin brother did not drown, and a complicated farce of mistaken
identities ensues.
Issues Related to this Study of Literature
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
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THEMES
Gender – Viola is a woman who dresses like a man for
most of the play, but who still has the feelings of a
woman. She falls in love with Orsino but can’t love him
in the garb of a man, and Olivia falls in love with her
believing she is a man. There’s also the issue of why
Viola has to dress as a man in the first place, which
could lead to interesting discussion of the role of
women in Shakespeare’s time.
Power, Ambition, and Greatness – Twelfth Night gives us a lighter version of the
ambition themes present in Julius Caesar and other Shakespeare plays.
Malvolio’s desire for Olivia’s love (in order to become great and powerful) and his
willingness to believe that she loves him provide an interesting commentary on
those who seek power.. One of Shakespeare’s most quoted lines occurs in
Maria’s letter to Malvolio: “Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some
live great, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” (Act 2, Scene 5, 148151) The line is ironic in the context of the play as Malvolio expects to have
greatness thrust his way by virtue of his superiority as a person, and instead he
finds himself viciously abused because of his aspirations.
Love: Painful and Bizarre – In the opening lines of the play we find Orsino in the
throes of unrequited love. Later in the play Viola tells the story of her love of
Orsino as if she were her brother and she says her life is a blank because she
never told her love. Olivia’s love of her brother causes her to mourn to excess
when he dies, and Viola also feels the pains of a loss that she cannot openly
mourn. In the end everyone somehow seems to get what he or she wants
(except Malvolio, who is more in love with himself than with anyone else, and Sir
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
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Andrew, who has no qualities to recommend him for happiness yet) but only
because of a very convenient string of events. Although it seems unlikely, love in
the real world is also unpredictable, a truth that students will likely acknowledge.
Identity – The question of identity becomes central to the play’s climax; mistaken
identities cause temporarily painful circumstances (such as Antonio’s arrest
because the person whom he thinks is Sebastian is actually Viola) and some
very tricky circumstances (such as the marriage of Sebastian and Olivia, and
Orsino’s reaction when both he and Olivia think it is Cesario who is married to
her.) The reader or viewer must wonder whether Olivia will really be content with
Sebastian when she fell in love with Cesario (Viola) and how Viola and Orsino’s
relationship will change when he knows her true identity and gender.
SETTING
Twelfth Night is set in Illyria, a fictional kingdom (not to be confused with the real
Illyria) governed by the duke Orsino. The time period is unknown, but adaptations
of the play are set in varying times (i.e. Trevor Nunn’s 1996 film sets the story in
the 1890s).
DRAMATIC IRONY
Throughout the play there are things the audience knows that are not revealed to
the characters until the end, resulting in a great deal of confusion and hilarity.
Neither of the twins is aware that his or her sibling has survived the shipwreck;
Orsino doesn’t know that Cesario is in love with him and is actually a woman;
Olivia doesn’t know that she is in love with a woman, Malvolio doesn’t know that
he is being duped with Maria’s letter, etc.
POINT OF VIEW, NARRATIVE VOICE
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
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Since this is a play, there isn’t a narrative voice, but this isn’t necessary since the
action doesn’t focus on one character in particular. We know a bit more about the
major characters who speak to the audience because we know a little about their
thoughts and motivations, but for the most part we are observers of everyone’s
story and all of the main characters are treated somewhat equally.
TONE
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s light comedies, but there are moments of
melodrama, and Sir Toby’s malicious insistence that the prank with Malvolio
continues beyond the point of entertainment is darker than one would expect.
VOCABULARY ISSUES
Because Shakespeare wrote approximately 400 years ago, much of the
vocabulary is unfamiliar or archaic. Some students will be bogged down by the
poetic structure of some of the speeches, and even with an annotated, critical
edition of the text, it will be difficult to wade through the text without some
modeling of how to read Shakespeare.
One of the most important things to remember is that Shakespeare was meant to
be seen. It might be helpful to show part or all of a movie adaptation to help the
students to see how actors can make the meaning of the text clear through their
actions and tone of voice. Try to help students to realize that it takes practice to
understand the language of Shakespeare, but that the more they read and listen
to it, the easier it will be to understand how the structure works and what the
characters are saying.
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
There are some things that students need to know about Shakespeare, the way
he used certain types of characters and some of the history of the theater during
his time. For example, it is important to remember that during Shakespeare’s
day, women were not allowed to act on the stage, so Viola, Olivia, and Maria
would all have been played by men. Viola would have been a man playing a
woman playing a man.
Shakespeare’s comedies almost always end with marriage, but unlike many of
the writers of his day, his plays always contained a little bit of ambiguity. This
play ends happily, but Malvolio leaves a curse on the heads of all of the merrymakers (and perhaps rightfully so), which mars the utter bliss of the resolution.
It’s also important to know the role of the Fool in Shakespeare’s plays. Feste
comes from a long tradition of Fools who speak more truth than any of the other,
seemingly more sophisticated characters. Although Feste is more playful than
some, he is still full of wisdom, and his songs (and Orsino’s affinity for them) are
important to the mood of the story.
GENDER ISSUESIt is interesting to note that this is not the only play in which a
woman dresses like a man. As You Like It, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The
Merchant of Venice also have women who play men in order to gain a little more
freedom or accomplish a specific task, but they almost always lose this freedom
when they return to their true selves at the end of the play (usually to get
married).
IMPLICATIONS FOR STUDENTS
OF DIVERSITY
This work will be difficult for native
English speakers, so it will
probably be even more difficult for
ELL students. The more
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background the teacher can give, the more sense it will make for these students.
Students who have not always lived in the United States may enjoy the
connection they have to Viola and Sebastian: as strangers to a new land, they
feel confused, and in Viola’s case especially, as if they must play a part in order
to protect themselves. While it may not be appropriate to single out these
students to bring up these universal feelings, it may be a good thing to point out
and have students brainstorm about times they have felt confused, alone, and in
need of another face to present to the world. Students may find they have more
in common with each other than they had previously believed.
Research Issues/Project Ideas
IF MUSIC BE THE FOOD OF LOVE
This idea comes from www.folger.edu (under the
heading “Lose the Lute!”), where a teacher
suggests a way to make the music in the play more
applicable to the students.
The teacher should talk to students about the
impact of music in a movie or on our lives, perhaps
showing examples (the teacher who submitting
Chariots of Fire, but St. Crispin Day speech the
1989 version of Henry V would also work well if you wanted to introduce your
students to more Shakespeare.)
Give the students an assignment to “dust off” Shakespeare by adding modern
music to it. Break the students into groups. Assign one of the ___ songs in the
play to each group and have them work together to understand the meaning and
the mood of their song.
The major songs in the play are located in Act 2, Scene 3, 40-53; Act 2, Scene
4,58-73; Act 5, Scene 1, 412-431.
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
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You may consider showing the students scenes from a film version in which
Feste is singing – showing them more than one version might give them a more
complete idea of the mood of the song.
After the students have summarized the meaning/mood of the songs, have them
write down two or three sentences and collect the papers. (The teacher who
created the lesson plan suggests doing this part of the activity as a pre-reading
strategy and then returning to it after the students have read the entire play, but it
could also be done after the students are more aware of the context of the play.)
Have the students brainstorm popular songs that fit the mood of Shakespeare’s
songs. You may want to set some limits (no profanity, etc.). Have them write a
paragraph or two with specific reasons for their song choice, and then have them
bring in a version of the song they can play for the class. Have them justify their
song to the class with references to the text and then allow them to play the song
for the class. You may consider allowing them to act out the scene, inserting the
song into the appropriate place.
THE FILM’S THE THING
In place of a conventional research project, you might give students a chance to
be film critics. Explain that every production of a Shakespeare play is an
adaptation because the actors and directors must interpret the play the way they
read it. You could give students the opportunity to see the play performed, either
in a movie or in a live production if there is one available. (You could offer to
show the movie after school for those who are interested if there isn’t time to
show it in class – if the paper is one of several options, students can decide
whether they want to take the time.) Have the students consider the following
ideas as they are view and develop one or more of the ideas into a critical paper.
1. How does our understanding of the text change when we see it
performed? What do the actors do to contribute to our understanding of
the play? Were there scenes that you thought would be performed
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
differently? Was your interpretation of that scene wrong because they had
a different one?
2. Most film versions of Shakespeare leave out some scenes. What scenes
were skipped in this version? Why might the director have decided to
leave those lines out of the play? How does the decision change the
meaning of the play and the overall tone of the production?
3. Watch the 2006 movie She’s the Man, which is a modern adaptation of
Twelfth Night. How does this movie use Shakespeare’s story? Where
does it deviate from his basic plot (aside from the obvious modern
deviations, i.e. Viola is a soccer player.) Do you think the story works in a
modern context? There are several direct references to the original play in
the movie; where are they, and do they mean the same thing in this
context? (For example, in Twelfth Night, the line about greatness is an
ironic jab at Malvolio’s ambition and vanity, but in She’s the Man the line is
used to propel a soccer team to victory, a serious change in the meaning
of the lines.)
Informational/Functional Texts
SUMMARIES
Knowing what’s going on in the play before hand can contribute a great deal to a
student’s understanding of
the text. Resources like
Sparknotes.com can offer a
useful overview.
The Shakespeare
Sketchbook by James C.
Christensen and Renwick
St. James offers brief, very
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accessible (and sometimes funny) summaries of each Shakespeare play
(complete with fun pictures).
ANALYSIS
Marjorie Garber’s Shakespeare After All has an essay for each of Shakespeare’s
plays. They are scholarly, but interesting. You may consider taking the most
applicable passages from this or other essays and giving them to your students
to help them see how critical analysis works.
Many critical editions of the book will also have essays geared toward students.
For example, the 2004 Folger edition has an essay entitled “A Modern
Perspective” after the play.
FILMS
Twelfth Night or What You Will (1996) directed by Trevor Nunn, starring Ben
Kingsley, Helena Bonham-Carter and others.
Twelfth Night (1987) BBC made for TV movie
She’s the Man (2006) Modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s play
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Twelfth Night Concept/ Vocabulary Analysis
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