Twelfth Night
Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night is an Elizabethan situation comedy. Each character has a problem to solve, and each one finds a different way to attempt to solve it. For most of the characters their difficulties revolve around members of the opposite sex. By the time the play has been completed, it is the female characters who have accomplished their goals to the satisfaction of all the parties involved. Olivia, Viola and Maria all demonstrate their ability to accomplish their romantic goals far better than the men in the play can on their own.

Orsino, a man of high birth, believes himself passionately in love with Olivia. He believes his love to be the most passionate, most sincere and most ardent of any man alive. The fact the Olivia does not return his affection has no effect on his emotions, and as it turns out, he is more in love with…...

ii.37). Here we see that love does not always bring out the most beautiful emotions in people. It can cause desperation, isolation, frustration, and agitation. These are emotions that can sometimes make us appreciate love even more - if we have the strength to do so.
One of the things we learn from Twelfth Night is that love looks to the inner man. In other words, love discovers the truth because it eventually brings the truth to the surface. As the play moves along, Orsino realizes that he might not love Olivia as much as he thinks he does. He declares his love for her but we all know that he is in love with something else - namely her beauty and her social position. As times progresses, we see that he in more in "lust" with her than anything else. hen Orsino experiences true love, he looks to the inner…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Four Great Comedies. Twelfth Night. New York: Signet Books. 1982.

play of Shakespeare, Twelfth Night particularly the comedy and the conventions used in it.
hat makes the play twelfth night a comedy?

Twelfth Night by illiam Shakespeare presents the best example of a true Elizabethan romantic comedy. Though the themes constituting the play like lunacy and absurdness of love place it in the category of a rather unconventional comedy. Nevertheless, if closely analyzed for conventions of romantic comedy, Twelfth Night certainly is one. The many elements of this play by Shakespeare provide resemblance to the Elizabethan romantic comedy. These conventions of comedy used in Twelfth Night are complex and interesting characters in disguise. These disguises include mistaken identities, cross-dressing as well as a fascinating blend of the separation of the twins. The comedy is full of mild ridicule with a touch of mockery and a mixture of romantic misunderstandings. All these elements used in this comedy have been beautifully transformed in…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare W. Twelfth Night

12th Night
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

Discussing a Comedy

The great bard's works are always full of surprises, but nothing surpasses his comedies. The Twelfth Night, perhaps one of my most favorite plays, is a fantastic comedy that Shakespeare wrote to explore life's greatest emotions, love, loss, and laughter. This paper will discuss the plot of the play, as well as the genre.

Perhaps one of the reasons that this is such a great piece of comedy is because of the issue of constant mistaken identities, on multiple parts. The play starts out by presenting two locations, one is the kingdom of Illyria, where its leader, Orsino, lays around pining for the love of Lady Olivia, which is unrequited. The second location shows two twins, a man and a woman, performing on a ship and the subsequent storm that ensues. This second introduction is more significant, as the twins are torn apart and Viola, the…...

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Resources, Test Prep. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. .

Feste in "Twelfth Night"
The Role of Feste's Music in "Twelfth Night"

"Twelfth Night" is a play with multiple characters who do not see themselves clearly. Some just really don't understand who they are or what they really want. Examples of that are Olivia and Orsino Another, Malvolio, adopts postures that are superficial, trying to be something he is not. Still another, Viola, has to don a disguise because of circumstances. One character in the play who sees people as they really are is the fool, Feste. Feste uses several devices to communicate what he understands both about the people in the play and life in general, and one of those devices is song. Shakespeare heightens the importance of Feste's songs by opening and closing the play with music. Feste's songs serve to clarify the nature of events unfolding in the play without having to step outside the play and act as…...

Subtitled by Shakespeare "Or hat You ill," Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's most celebrated and beloved comedies. One of the reasons Twelfth Night remains relevant for contemporary audiences is that the romantic imbroglios described in the play bear resemblance to the situations we observe in our daily lives, or at least on the television shows and movies that we continue to watch. However, the aspect of Twelfth Night that most parallels my personal experiences and events I have witnessed is related to gender. Gender bending is one of the most salient elements of Twelfth Night, and one of the reasons why the play is funny and engaging. Not only do the characters undergo issues related to mistaken identity, but their mistaken identities are linked to both gender and sexuality. Playing on gender and sexuality must have been much different in Elizabethan England versus today, and yet given the recent…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Digital version retrieved online:  http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=12night

The play also opens with Orsino hopelessly in love with Olivia. Olivia, however, is consumed with grief for her brother, and rebuffs Orsino's attempts to woo her. For the play to reach its conclusion, which has the two of them marrying others, it first has to address the issue of Orsino's feelings for Olivia. Elsewhere in the play, it is clear that Orsino's love for Olivia is largely based upon her physical beauty, and he also seems to reveal that he is in love with the idea of being in love with her more than with any of her specific qualities. However, Orsino fails to directly address any of those issues within the speech. Instead, the audience is left to presume that those issues have somehow been resolved, because the audience is aware that Olivia has fallen in love with Sebastian and plans to marry him. The one clue that…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. New York: Penguin, 2005.

fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I
am above thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em. Thy Fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace them; and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast thy humble slough and appear fresh.

(Twelfth Night, Act II, scene v, -1171)

This monologue of Malvolio's follows his just being victim to a practical joke played by Maria and the other servants. Malvolio has read Maria's letter, which he believes to be from Olivia. Malvolio harbors several delusions about himself and his ability to win over Olivia and thereby gain upward social mobility. hile Malvolio might indeed have some affection and genuine caring for his lady, he also seems far more interested in her wealth and status than in her well-being. This scene shows not…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. 1599. Digital copy retrieved online:  http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/playmenu.php?WorkID=12night

Viola in the Twelfth Night
Viola's Character in elation to the Animus Development and Its 4 Stages

The animus theory of Jung suggests that, though females' conscious ego usually relates to their biological gender, masculine traits stifle because of cultural norms, and pressures cultivate, in their unconscious, a harmonizing male (i.e., contrasexual) personality. Intriguingly, Viola chose to conceal her femininity at the play's beginning. Her apparently-deceased brother is probably the physical manifestation of Viola's animus, akin to Lady Olivia's situation (Dunning, 2015). Jung suggested four stages of animus development in a woman, which can be seen in Viola.

The animus, in Jung's first stage, materializes in imaginations or dreams as the embodiment of physical strength, such as James Bond, Tarzan, or a sportsperson. He represents the Adam to the unconscious/true inner self as Eve. The animus, at this developmental stage, is a female's stud-muffin, who is there to protect and satisfy her,…...

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References

Anne. (2007, November 2). The Animus. Retrieved from The Third Eve:  http://thirdeve.com/2007/11/02/the-animus/ 

Dreher, D. (1986). Domination And Defiance: Fathers and Daughters in Shakespeare. University Press of Kentucky.

Dunning, D. (2015, November 12). The Women of Twelfth Night and Jung's Animus Theory. Retrieved from Geocities:  http://www.geocities.ws/packmule4school/twelfthnightjung.htm 

Shakespeare, W. (1602, Febuary 2). Twelfth Night. Candlemas.

Twelfth Night Response
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy in which the basis of the comedy is love, suffering, misunderstandings, confusion, mistaken identities and sexual ambiguity. It tells the story of twin brother and sister who were shipwrecked and separated in the kingdom of Illyria; and the misunderstandings that occur in their attempt to discover each other's fate. In the midst of this, the romantic advances of a local nobleman, named Orsino, toward a young widow, Olivia, are being disrupted not only by her refusal to respond, but by his confused feelings toward his new male page Cesario. The page is actually the female twin, Viola, in disguise and adding to the situation is the fact that the young widow also becomes attracted to the page. When the male twin, named Sebastian, arrives and is mistaken for the page Cesario, even more confusion erupts. But in the end the…...

Twelfth Night and as You Like It
Cross dressing is an important element that renders serious repercussions in Shakespeare's plays. Two plays that emphasize cross dressing and the repercussions it can bring are Twelfth Night and As You Like it. hile the characters of Viola and Rosalind have very different reasons to explain their cross dressing, each circumstance while causing complications, also works in their behalf. Their ability to fool those around them generates interest and adds an element of complexity to each play. Namely, each woman is able to accomplish something she would not have been able to do as a woman. Rosalind teaches Orlando the ways of love and Viola makes her way into Orsino's house and heart.

In As You Like It, Rosalind is forced to assume to role of a man as a result of fleeing the Duke's Court and seeking refuge in the forest of Arden. Her…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night: Or, What you Will. The Illustrated Stratford Shakespeare. London: Chancellor Press. 1982.

Shakespeare, William. As You Like It. The Illustrated Stratford Shakespeare. London: Chancellor Press. 1982.

Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" with Milton's "Paradise Lost"
Comparison of the two works:

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and Milton's Paradise Lost are two examples of great works that seemingly have little in common. The differences in subject, approach, language and style contrast greatly but these works also share many common themes. Although Twelfth Night is a romantic comedic work and Paradise Lost is an epic poem that deals with a much heavier subject matter, both present the reader with stories of the consequences when there is a disruption in world order and balance while incorporating elements of disguise and character consequences.

Shakespeare's work is consistent with the witty, bright comedies popular during its time. According to Warren and Wells, these comedies typically included a mixture of dialogue, singing, stage fights, and suspense and the nature of the lighthearted language used was commonplace during the early 1600's (1994). Additionally, critic en Johnson said that Shakespeare's…...

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Bibliography:

Bloom, H. (ed.) (1987). John Milton's Paradise Lost. New York: Chelsea House Publsihers.

Corns, T. (1998). John Milton: The Prose Works. New York: Twayne Publishers.

Elledge, S. (1993). John Milton's Paradise Lost: An Authoritative Text Backgrounds and Sources of Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Notkoff, T. (2001). Readings on Twelfth Night. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press

Gender
Women occupy conflicted and ambiguous roles in Middle English and enaissance English literature. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, and Shakespeare's Twelfth Night all show how male authors in particular grappled with the role of women in an increasingly patriarchal society. Women feature prominently in each of these stories, even if their status and perceived morality is questionable. Each of these stories features women who have a fair degree of power, albeit expressed within the confines of a patriarchal social and political construct. What's more, the women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Canterbury Tales, and Twelfth Night create their own power; power is not "given" to them by self-serving benevolent men. In fact, women like Morgan Le Fay, Lady Bertilak, the Wife of Bath, and Viola all wield power effectively. Women and men occupy separate and distinct spheres, and each wields a different type of…...

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References

Arkin, L. (1995). The role of women in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Retrieved online:  http://msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/arkin.html 

Chaucer, G. (1475). The Canterbury Tales. Retrieved online: http://www.canterburytales.org/

Shakespeare, W. (1601). Twelfth Night. Retrieved online:  http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/full.html 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Retrieved online:  http://www.yorku.ca/inpar/sggk_neilson.pdf

Although Viola in She's the Man may be discriminated against, because of her gender, Shakespeare's Viola has never been allowed to be assertive in a physical manner because the way women are socialized. This is why Shakespeare's Viola is both a sadder and more vulnerable character throughout Twelfth Night, in contrast to the more tomboyish Viola in the modern film who can fend for herself.
The romantic aspects of the original are relatively the same: Viola loves Duke Orsino (simply known as "Duke" in the film), Duke loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Viola, whom she thinks is a boy. But there is none of the melancholy that characterizes Shakespeare's comedy in this frustration of desire. Olivia rejects men because she is pining for her brother, who is dead, and when she allows herself to fall in love again, she finds herself cruelly rejected despite the fact that "he" seems to…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. The Shakespeare Homepage. April 22, 2009.

 http://shakespeare.mit.edu/twelfth_night/index.html 

She's the Man. Directed by Andy Fickman. 2006.

Representations of Boyhood and Manhood in Henry V and Twelfth Night
illiam Shakespeare's plays Henry V and Twelfth Night approach the representations of boyhood and manhood in very different ways. Henry V approaches the subject most directly in the play's depiction of King Henry as a good and noble king who is plagued by his need to prove his worthiness to sit on the throne by distancing himself from the frivolous and irresponsible youth that his enemies use against him. Although Twelfth Night offers a variety of characters -- both male and female -- who toy with the meaning of gender, it is the complex relationship between Sebastian and Antonio that perhaps best illuminates the dual ways in which boyhood and manhood can be represented.

The titular character of Henry V serves to represent both boyhood and manhood in the play. King Henry spends much of the play demonstrating to his subjects,…...

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Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. Henry V. New York: Signet Classics, 1995.

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005.

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is, like many of his comedies, a surprisingly complex play.  Dealing with the topics of love and people not being what they seem to be on the surface, the play challenges people to look deeper. In fact, while many of Shakespeare’s tragedies really focus on the negative things that people do in the name of love, his comedies tend to take a more lighthearted approach to the topic.  Twelfth Night is an exception, as it definitely looks at how love can drive people to some really undesirable behaviors.

There are a....

Literary Analysis

Hamlet's Tragic Flaw: An Exploration of Indecisiveness and Self-Doubt
The Role of Ambition in Macbeth: A Study in Power and Corruption
The Tragic Heroine in King Lear: A Comparison of Cordelia and Goneril
Romeo and Juliet as a Tragedy of Fate or Free Will
The Meaning of Love in Twelfth Night: A Romantic Comedy with a Twist

Character Analysis

The Complexity of Hamlet: Madness, Melancholy, and the Search for Truth
Macbeth: A Tragic Hero or a Villain?
Ophelia in Hamlet: A Study of Fragility and Female Agency
The Character of Falstaff in Henry IV and Henry V: Humor, Loyalty,....

The Elizabethan themes reflected the social and political climate of the time in several ways:

1. Patriotism and national identity: The rise of English nationalism during Elizabeth's reign is reflected in themes of patriotism and national pride in literature and drama. For example, plays like Shakespeare's Henry V and Marlowe's Tamburlaine celebrate English military victories and glorify the nation's power and prestige.

2. Monarchy and divine right: The Elizabethan era was marked by a strong belief in the divine right of kings, and this is reflected in plays like Shakespeare's Richard II and Macbeth, which explore the consequences of usurping the throne....