Shakespeare‘s Twelfth Night or What You Will- Introduction and Analysis Dr. Preeti Oza St. Andrew‘s College University of Mumbai Introduction: Twelfth Night or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare which was originated as an entertainment for the close of the Christmas season in 1601. The play expanded on the musical interludes expected on the occasion. Twelfth Night was written possibly in 1599 but it is dated usually in 1601. The first record of this play is found in the performance in 1603 at the Middle Temple. Shakespeare was most likely influenced by the Italian plays of his age. Written most likely after his comedies Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like It and before the great tragedies Hamlet, Macbeth and King Lear, this comedy of Shakespeare are considered to be the highest comic piece. It is a nearly perfect construction of a comedy form as the 19th-century critic William Hazlitt describes, ―This is just be considered as one of the most delightful of Shakespeare's comedies.‖ 20th-century director and critic B.Parker called the ―Twelfth Night the last play of Shakespeare‘s golden age.‖ The background of the ‘Twelfth Night’ The setting of some of Shakespeare's plays in England in the two centuries before Queen Elizabeth. Others are in the Britain of the remote and little bit forgotten days of the antique past. In some other plays, the setting and scenes are foreign or continental while in some again the setting is romantic and cannot be identified with any particular country. In all of them, however, even in the Roman plays, the actors speak in the language of Elizabethan England and their dialogues, customs, their manners or thought are those of Englishman of Shakespeare's times. The Elizabethans loved superstitions and believed firmly in the existence of fairies and all kinds of supernatural beings. We have ghosts in Macbeth and Hamlet and witches in the former plays and strong Supernatural machinery in The Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream. Most of the plays reflect some major aspects of Shakespeare‘s days. The public taste was then for a strong melodrama and so the travelling companies liked to serve up plays hot and sensational. There was a time of plenty of bloodshed and supernatural happenings on the stage and people also liked wit and humour and this has produced a boisterous kind of comedies as well. The sources of Twelfth Night Many of Shakespearean plots are not considered to be original. Shakespeare is believed to have taken many stories from the classical sources, the British history, old French or Italian literature, the tales of ancient Rome and many other sources. The common things in all of these seem to be the dramatic possibilities and striking incidents. Shakespeare has transformed several national folklores by judicious selection and rejection and combination with other stories or with original material of his own and created some of the master characters which were originally wooden or an interesting dull characters of the interesting tales. The Title The title of the Twelfth Night or What You Will, means the Night of the 12th day after Christmas on which the church celebrates the religious festival of Epiphany -the manifestation of Christ. The play was prepared for entertainment on that night as the festival is for rejoicing and good fellowship. It is believed to be played for the first time the Night of the Epiphany, February 2nd, 1602. The characters of the play are Cosmopolitan in nature and do not belong to any particular country so this would make it suitable for a Christmas entertainment without any national distinction or identity. The composite nature of the play gives rise to the second title. There are many elements which work in the parallel plot like the spirit of the romance of comedy of Feste and even of morality. Time and Place of Twelfth Night In many of his plays Shakespeare has used a definite period of history or a particular location but in Twelfth Night Shakespeare does not postulate any time or place. Even the area has no more real existence than prosperous Rose Island and no particular time is indicated but the language, beliefs and mannerisms are those of England in the days of Queen Elizabeth. There are English, French and Italian names like Sir Toby is a typical English hard-drinking Squire while the Duke and Olivia have an Italian flavour in their names. Viola is no particular National type. Olivia exists in the imagination and the name sounds classical. The romantic setting and the composite nationality was very appropriate for a play named after a favourite Christmas festival in which we usually do not hold down the accuracy in time or place. Use of Comedy Comedy in its Elizabeth usage had a very different meaning from the modern comedy. A typical Shakespearean comedy has a happy ending, usually involving a marriage between unmarried characters in a very light-hearted tone, unlike another genre. The setting of Twelfth Night is very peculiar and very important to the romantic atmosphere. The place is called Illyria which is the old Balkan coast. This is also a place which is mentioned in Shakespeare's earlier play Henry VI. Twelfth Night is driven by two interrelated plots: the main plot concerns many love angles in the relationships of four noble lovers. The whole play is revolving around the main plot and the comic subplot. When the play opens, we find Viola shipwrecked on the coast of an unknown area and saved by a captain. In the opening of the play, we come to know that there is a shipwreck on the shore of Illyria. From this Wreck Viola and her twin brother, Sebastian has separately washed ashore. Each is unharmed although distressed at the thought that the other may have been drawn. Viola decides to disguise herself as a eunuch taking the name Cesareo to enable her to find employment in a foreign land. She is then taken on in the service of Duke Orsino. He believes that she is indeed a boy and commissions her to deliver a declaration of love on his behalf to the lady Olivia who is the neighbouring countess and is mourning for her dead brother. This job becomes very vexing to Viola as she realises gradually that she is in love with Orsino and Olivia who is unaware about it takes her as the messenger and in turn falls in love with her. This unhappy triangle is rescued by the arrival of Viola‘s twin brother Sebastian. Sebastian pleases Olivia just as much as Viola had done and unlike Viola, is happy to reciprocate Olivia's feelings. The subsequent revelation that she is a woman in disguise prompts Orsino to declare his love for her. Thus these four characters can end the play happily as two newly formed couples. Plot and Subplot: In English Renaissance drama, the relation between plot and subplot is usually complementary. The main action are often explained, emphasized, or contrasted by the subplot. William Shakespeare used this device well in his comedy on merriment, love, and mistaken identity. In Twelfth Night, the main plot follows the love triangle of Olivia, Orsino, and Viola, while the subplot follows the hilarious Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria additionally to their misadventures with Malvolio, Sebastian, and eventually the love triangle of the most plot. Shakespeare uses this mirror-like main-plot-to-subplot relationship to enlarge the most points of his play, and develop the thematic and dramatic significance of the subplot. Twelfth Night consists of the many love triangles, however many of the characters who are knotted up within the web of affection are blind to ascertain that their emotions and feelings towards other characters are untrue. They are being deceived by themselves and/or the others around them. There are certain instances within the play where the emotion of affection is true, and therefore the two people involved feel very strongly toward each other . Viola‘s love for Orsino may be a great example of true love. In the subplot, the gulling of Malvolio is linked to the most plot thematically within the obvious sense that it deals with a spread of affection , namely self-love, a general preoccupation with self-interest, and a refusal to see anyone as important other than oneself. Such preoccupation, as within the case of Malvolio, results in a misconception of the planet and a complete vulnerability to being manipulated into betraying oneself, as Malvolio does, by trusting that one‘s desires match the reality of the situation. Malvolio is punished— and is relatively easy to punish—because he is so wrapped up in his importance that he sees no value in anything else or anyone other than himself, and his conceit about himself, along side his secret desire for social advancement and power, make him easy to tempt into ridiculous behaviour. Malvolio suffers from self-deception, he feels that Olivia loves him which is why she agrees with him in everything he does including insulting not only the opposite servants but also even her relative Sir Toby and his guest Sir Andrew. According to Malvolio, it's love that creates his commands as if they were her own and his opinions taken into consideration. But consistent with reality, this is often the position that was always given to any household steward within the Elizabethan period and not only to Malvolio. As a result, the audience is formed conscious of the theme of appearance and reality. . Malvolio, in other words, may be a kill-joy, an individual with no sense of humour and with no place in his scheme of things for love or money aside from what he thinks is vital . Everyone (other than Malvolio) recognizes this. Olivia tells him he's ―sick of self-love‖, and Sir Toby famously roars at him later, “Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?” (II.iii.1098). This quality makes Malvolio the character most at odds with the comic nature of the play. The love equation in the play: As at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet Romeo believes himself in love with Rosalind, similarly, for Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino believes himself in love with the inaccessible lady Olivia. Like Romeo, Orsino proves to be more self-indulgently fascinated by the nature of his fascinating soul than in the object of his affection. Orsino‘s elaborate rhetoric is full of imagery. Indeed so obvious he becomes at navelgazing that Olivia is frequently little more than the excuse for further maudlin contemplation of his love-lorn condition. “That instant was I turned into a Hart And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds Ever since pursue me.” Conventionally in a hunting metaphor authored by a lover, the lady would be represented as the hunted object of her lover‘s desire. Here however Orsino instinctively claims for himself the metaphorical role both of the hunter and the hunted. He exclusively shifts from the ground of the chase and his love for Olivia. It is much more about himself than it is about her as it is evident from Act 1 Scene 4 and acts 2 scene 4. He is more attentive and more sensual than Olivia. Some Important Characteristics of the Play: Twelfth Night has always been a play which is seen as the most entertaining one amongst other contemporary plays. Its charm lies primarily in the union of humour with romance, of diversely action with masterly characterization. Use of Humour: There is the obvious humour of the scene in which Malvolio is tricked; of the revelling- scenes wherein sir Andrew is made the butt of his wittier companions; of the dual scene; and of the confusion that arise through the resemblance of the brother and sister. And less obvious but equally delightful humour animates many other incidents and ideas in the play. Orsino‘s protesting a changeless love for Olivia- and transferring that love to Viola ( with Olivia‘s full approbation); Olivia‘s protesting that for seven summers she will keep fresh a ―brother‘s dead love‖ in cloistered seclusion from the sight of men- and falling in love with the first handsome young man who crosses her path ( we hear no more of the dead brother) Orsino‘s protesting a changeless love for Olivia- and transferring that love to Viola ( with Olivia‘s full approbation); Olivia‘s protesting that for seven summers she will keep fresh a ―brother‘s dead love‖ in cloistered seclusion from the sight of men- and falling in love with the first handsome young man who crosses her path ( we hear no more of the dead brother); the famous Sir Andrew‘s presumption in paying court to the rather imperious Countess; Sebastian‘s calm acceptance of Olivia for a wife, and easy self-confidence in his love affairs, so unlike the tortures of anxiety endured by Olivia, Viola and Orsino: All these things surely were ―intimated‖ to the poet by the very ―spirit of humour‖. Harmony of Design and Execution: Another notable quality of this play is its harmony of design and execution, it is a complete and uniform work: ―appearing to have been struck out at a heat, as if the whole plot, its characters and dialogues, had presented themselves at once, in one harmonious group, before the ‗mind‘s eye‘ of the poet, previously to his commencing the formal business of writing‖ (Lewis). Thus the plot and the subplot are worked out, with no omission or superfluous details, so that each part is fitted to its place; and they are combined to a harmonious whole. The action, characterisation and the diction of the play are suited to each other. There is no elaborate or subtle character-drawing, except possibly in the case of Malvolio. Another feature is the genial spirit that pervades the play, as Hazlitt puts it; ―This is justly considered as one of the most delightful of Shakespeare‘s comedies. It is full of sweetness and pleasantry. It is perhaps too good-natured for comedy. It has little satire and no spleen. It aims at the ludicrous instead of the ridiculous, it makes us tease the follies of mankind, not despise them, and still less-bear any ill-will towards them.‖ Characters: 1. Orsino He is the Duke and Count of Illyria. He is a young man deeply and fashionably in love with Olivia. Her rejection of him leaves him in deep and just as fashionable melancholy. Instead of going personally, he sends messengers to Olivia, and he may have never actually met her. He has merely seen her at a distance. Now that he is in love, he no longer hunts, but he has a deep love of music that he frequently indulges in. He has a great affection for his newly-acquired page, Cesario (Viola in disguise), and gives him sage advice about love and women. He also uses Cesario as a messenger to Olivia. He wasn't always so weary and has fought in sea-battles, including one against Antonio. Discovering that Cesario is loved by Olivia, he swears to tug them apart. Discovering that they're married, he turns his rage against Cesario face to face . Discovering that Cesario is, in fact, a woman, who loves him dearly and isn't married to Olivia, he decides to marry her instead. 2. Sebastian: He is Viola‘s twin brother. He plays an important role as a balancing factor in the play. After the shipwreck, he was rescued by Antonio and spent three months in his company. He decides to reach to Orsino in search for dome work. On arriving in Illyria he discovers that Antonio has followed him. He proceeds to possess a really confusing day, where his enjoyment of the standard touristy activities of sightseeing is continually interrupted by a series of mad people that claim to know him, including a pair of insulting ones with whom he almost finishes up during a fight. His bafflement and belief that each one Illyrians are insane don't stop him from following the gorgeous woman who breaks up the fight, however. He is not entirely unconvinced that he‘s dreaming but can find no good reason to not follow this woman and therefore the priest she drags in, then goes along with her plans of a secret marriage. Meeting his two opponents again, he shows them no mercy, breaks their heads, and rushes to apologize to his wife—only to get that his sister is alive which Olivia originally fell crazy together with her , not him. He is a loyal and well-poised character in the play. 3. Malvolio He is the main character in the play who creates confusion and also diffuses it in due course. His name can be translated as ‗ill-will.‘ he is Olivia‘s steward who is a puritan by nature and abhors disorder and drunkenness, along with bear-baiting and for that matter laughter: he does not smile at all. He is disgusted that Olivia takes pleasure in the jokes of Feste, a professional jester. He also has a more than healthy self-regard; in fact, he is appallingly full of himself. His social aspirations are also somewhat unbounded: he dreams of acceding to the nobility, for which he believes himself well-suited. His fantasies about marrying Olivia are almost entirely non-erotic, focusing rather on the power, wealth and respectability he would thus gain. When Sir Toby pulls rank on him in the middle of the night, reminding him that he is nothing but a steward, his immediate reaction is to pull rank on Maria, who is even lower in the social hierarchy. He is, therefore, well-primed to interpret the letter in the garden the way he does, especially as it urges him to act towards others in the way that is his natural bent . 4. Feste: He is the clown is the comic element of the play who also provides the counter-narrative of many seemingly stupid acts and dialogues in the play. He was Olivia‘s father‘s jester, and is now hers, though it appears that he wanders around a bit. An expert in wordplay, he attempts to bring Olivia out of her melancholy and mourning, though this brings him Malvolio‘s scorn. His wordplay is also useful in convincing people to give him money. Though he joins in the plot against Malvolio, it is clear that his first loyalty is to Olivia: he runs to find her when Sir Toby and Sir Andrew set upon Cesario and refuses to let Fabian read the letter the steward sends Olivia from his prison, apparently thinking the prank has gone long enough. When Malvolio is freed, however, Feste does make certain to remind him of the scorn he has poured on his underlings. He appears to be the only member of Olivia‘s household who thinks she should be cheered up. As he was her father‘s jester, he has likely known her all her life. 5. Olivia She is the countess and seen in mourning when the play opens. She claims to be in mourning for seven years after the recent death of her brother. She is not influenced by the count Orsino or his love proposals... She is fond of Feste, relies on Malvolio, and has her patience strained by her uncle Toby. She is nevertheless caring and patient, as demonstrated in her treatment of Malvolio when he appears to lose his mind. She has few illusions about the world, being as well-aware of Malvolio‘s defects as of her uncle‘s drunkenness as of her mind. She is ready to fall topsy-turvy in love with Cesario, however, bowled over by his wit and willingness to toss away the script. Despite his rejection of her, she begs him to return, hoping to bring him to love her by degrees – not entirely unlike Orsino. She is quite capable of losing her temper, especially when her uncle is on the verge of fighting with Cesario. She is similarly impulsive enough that when Cesario suddenly starts treating her well, she rushes to find a priest who will marry them in secret. She is therefore deeply hurt when he later denies this and runs away after Orsino, swearing he loves the Duke more than he does her. This confusion is cleared up when it is discovered that the Cesario Olivia fell for is, in fact, a woman by the name of Viola, while the one who was taken with her and married her is Viola‘s twin brother Sebastian. She is somewhat shocked at this but accepts that Viola, who will now be marrying Orsino, will be her sister. 6. Viola: She is the main woman character is having a double role in the play- Viola and Cesario. She is a lady of Messaline whose brother Sebastian is lost and feared dead in a shipwreck. She disguises herself as a man for her safety and seeks refuge at Orsino‘s court, where she quickly becomes his favourite page under the name of Cesario. Sent to woo Olivia, she so impresses that lady, partly by her willingness to throw her script away, that Olivia falls in love with her, which is unfortunate seeing as she‘s a woman and happens to be in love with Orsino. She defends her gender‘s ability to love to Orsino, can be readily terrified at being forced to fight and is quick-witted enough to realise that her brother may still be alive when Antonio recognises her. Despite this, she is confused enough when accused of having married Olivia that she does not consider that Sebastian may be an answer to the enigma. References:  Lewis, Clive Staples. The discarded image: An introduction to medieval and renaissance literature. Cambridge University Press, 1994.  Parker, Brian. "Bowers of Bliss: Deconflation in the Shakespeare Canon." New Theatre Quarterly 6.24 (1990): 357-361.  Wu, Duncan, et al. The Selected Writings of William Hazlitt Vol 5. Routledge, 2020.