Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a romantic comedy

by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written
around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment
for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres
on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in
a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in
love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with
Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia
falls in love with her thinking she is a man.

The play expanded on the musical interludes and

riotous disorder expected of the occasion,[1] with plot Malvolio courts a bemused Olivia, while Maria covers her
elements drawn from the short story "Of Apollonius amusement, in an engraving by R. Staines after a painting
and Silla" by Barnabe Rich, based on a story by Matteo by Daniel Maclise.

Bandello. The first recorded public 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.

Contents
Characters
Synopsis
Setting
Sources
Date and text
Themes
Gender
Metatheatre
Performance history
During and just after Shakespeare's lifetime
Restoration to 20th century
20th and 21st century
Adaptations
Stage
Film
Television
Radio
Music
Influence
Notes
References
 External links

Characters
Viola – a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as
"Cesario"
Sebastian – Viola's twin brother
Duke Orsino – Duke of Illyria
Olivia – a wealthy countess
Malvolio – steward in Olivia's household
Maria – Olivia's gentlewoman
Sir Toby Belch – Olivia's uncle
Sir Andrew Aguecheek – a friend of Sir Toby
Feste – Olivia's servant, a jester
Fabian – a servant in Olivia's household Scene from Twelfth Night, by Francis
Antonio – a sea captain and friend to Sebastian Wheatley (1771–72)
Valentine and Curio – gentlemen attending on the Duke
A Servant of Olivia
A Sea Captain – a friend to Viola

Synopsis
A depiction of Olivia by Edmund
Leighton from The Graphic Gallery of
Shakespeare's Heroines
Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and she comes ashore with the help
of a Captain. She has lost contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she
believes to be drowned, and with the aid of the Captain, she disguises herself as
a young man under the name Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino.
Duke Orsino has convinced himself that he is in love with Olivia, who is
mourning the recent deaths of her father and brother. She refuses to see
entertainments, be in the company of men, or accept love or marriage proposals
from anyone, the Duke included, until seven years have passed. Duke Orsino
then uses 'Cesario' as an intermediary to profess his passionate love before
Olivia. Olivia, however, falls in love with 'Cesario', setting her at odds with her
professed duty. In the meantime, Viola has fallen in love with Duke Orsino,
creating a love triangle: Viola loves Duke Orsino, Duke Orsino loves Olivia, and
Olivia loves Viola disguised as Cesario.

In the comic subplot, several

characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous steward, Malvolio, believe that
Olivia has fallen for him. This involves Olivia's riotous uncle, Sir Toby Belch;
another would-be suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek; her
servants Maria and Fabian; and her melancholy fool, Feste. Sir Toby and Sir
Andrew engage themselves in drinking and revelry, thus disturbing the peace of
Olivia's household until late into the night, prompting Malvolio to chastise them.
Sir Toby famously retorts, "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there
shall be no more cakes and ale?" (Act II, Scene III).
Sir Toby Belch coming to the
assistance of Sir Andrew Aguecheek,
Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria plan revenge on Malvolio. They convince
Arthur Boyd Houghton, c. 1854.
Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him by planting a love letter, written
by Maria in Olivia's handwriting. It asks Malvolio to wear yellow stockings
 cross-gartered—a colour and fashion that Olivia actually hates—to be rude to
the rest of the servants, and to smile constantly in the presence of Olivia.
Malvolio finds the letter and reacts in surprised delight. He starts acting out the
contents of the letter to show Olivia his positive response. Olivia is shocked by
the changes in Malvolio and agreeing that he seems mad, leaves him to be cared
for by his tormentors. Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a
dark chamber. Feste visits him to mock his insanity, both disguised as a priest
and as himself.
A Lithograph depicting Act II Scene
III Meanwhile, Viola's twin, Sebastian, has been rescued by Antonio, a sea captain
who previously fought against Orsino, yet who accompanies Sebastian to Illyria,
despite the danger, because of his admiration for Sebastian. Sebastian's
appearance adds the confusion of mistaken identities to the comedy. Taking Sebastian for 'Cesario', Olivia asks him to marry her,
and they are secretly married in a church. Finally, when 'Cesario' and Sebastian appear in the presence of both Olivia and Orsino,
there is more wonder and confusion at their physical similarity. At this point, Viola reveals her identity and is reunited with her
twin brother.

The play ends in a declaration of marriage between Duke Orsino and Viola, and it is learned that Sir Toby has married Maria.
Malvolio swears revenge on his tormentors and stalks off, but Orsino sends Fabian to placate him.

Setting
Illyria, the exotic setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the play's romantic atmosphere.

Illyria was an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast (the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea which is the only part of
ancient Illyria which is relevant to the play) covered (from north to south) the coasts of modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania. It included the city-state of the Republic of Ragusa which has been proposed as the
setting.[2]

Illyria may have been suggested by the Roman comedy Menaechmi, the plot of which also involves twins who are mistaken for
each other. Illyria is also referred to as a site of pirates in Shakespeare's earlier play, Henry VI, Part 2. The names of most of the
characters are Italian but some of the comic characters have English names. Oddly, the "Illyrian" lady Olivia has an English
uncle, Sir Toby Belch.

It has been noted that the play's setting also has other English allusions such as Viola's use of "Westward ho!", a typical cry of
16th century London boatmen, and also Antonio's recommendation to Sebastian of "The Elephant" as where it is best to lodge in
Illyria (The Elephant was a pub not far from the Globe Theatre).[3]

Sources
The play is believed to have drawn extensively on the Italian production Gl'ingannati (or The Deceived Ones),[4] collectively
written by the Accademia degli Intronati in 1531. It is conjectured that the name of its male lead, Orsino, was suggested by
Virginio Orsini, Duke of Bracciano, an Italian nobleman who visited London in the winter of 1600 to 1601.[5]

Another source story, "Of Apollonius and Silla", appeared in Barnabe Riche's collection, Riche his Farewell to Militarie
Profession conteining verie pleasaunt discourses fit for a peaceable tyme (1581), which in turn is derived from a story by Matteo
Bandello.[6]
"Twelfth Night" is a reference to the twelfth night after Christmas Day, called the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany. It was originally
a Catholic holiday and therefore, like other Christian feast days, an occasion for revelry. Servants often dressed up as their
masters, men as women and so forth. This history of festive ritual and Carnivalesque reversal, based on the ancient Roman
festival of Saturnalia at the same time of year (characterized by drunken revelry and inversion of the social order; masters became
slaves for a day, and vice versa), is the cultural origin of the play's gender confusion-driven plot.

The actual Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night would involve the antics of a Lord of Misrule, who before leaving his temporary
position of authority, would call for entertainment, songs and mummery; the play has been regarded as preserving this festive and
traditional atmosphere of licensed disorder.[7] This leads to the general inversion of the order of things, most notably gender
roles.[8] The embittered and isolated Malvolio can be regarded as an adversary of festive enjoyment and community,[9] led by Sir
Toby Belch, "the vice-regent spokesman for cakes and ale" and his partner in a comic stock duo, the simple and constantly
exploited Sir Andrew Aguecheek.[10]

Date and text

The full title of the play is Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Subtitles for plays
were fashionable in the Elizabethan era, and though some editors place The
Merchant of Venice's alternative title, The Jew of Venice, as a subtitle, this is the
only Shakespearean play to bear one when first published.[11]

The play was probably finished between 1600 and 1601, a period suggested by
the play's referencing of events which happened during that time. A law student,
John Manningham, who was studying in the Middle Temple in London,
described the performance on 2 February 1602 (Candlemas) which took place in
the hall of the Middle Temple at the formal end of Christmastide in the year's
calendar, and to which students were invited.[12] This was the first recorded
public performance of the play. The play was not published until its inclusion in
the First Folio in 1623.

Themes

Gender
The title page of Twelfth Night from
Viola is not alone among Shakespeare's cross-dressing heroines; in
the 1623 First Folio
Shakespeare's theatre, convention dictated that adolescent boys play the roles of
female characters, creating humour in the multiplicity of disguise found in a
female character who for a while pretended at masculinity.[11] Her cross dressing enables Viola to fulfil usually male roles, such
as acting as a messenger between Orsino and Olivia, as well as being Orsino's confidant. She does not, however, use her disguise
to enable her to intervene directly in the plot (unlike other Shakespearean heroines such as Rosalind in As You Like It and Portia
in The Merchant of Venice), remaining someone who allows "Time" to untangle the plot.[13] Viola's persistence in transvestism
through her betrothal in the final scene of the play often engenders a discussion of the possibly homoerotic relationship between
Viola and Orsino.

As the very nature of Twelfth Night explores gender identity and sexual attraction, having a male actor play Viola enhanced the
impression of androgyny and sexual ambiguity.[14] Some modern scholars believe that Twelfth Night, with the added confusion of
male actors and Viola's deception, addresses gender issues "with particular immediacy".[15] They also accept that the depiction of
gender in Twelfth Night stems from the era's prevalent scientific theory that females are simply imperfect males.[14] This belief
explains the almost indistinguishable differences between the sexes reflected in the casting and characters of Twelfth Night.
Metatheatre
At Olivia's first meeting with "Cesario" (Viola) in I.V she asks her "Are you a comedian?" (an Elizabethan term for "actor").[16]
Viola's reply, "I am not that I play", epitomising her adoption of the role of "Cesario" (Viola), is regarded as one of several
references to theatricality and "playing" within the play.[17] The plot against Malvolio revolves around these ideas, and Fabian
remarks in Act III, Scene iv: "If this were play'd upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction".[18] In Act IV,
Scene ii, Feste (The Fool) plays both parts in the "play" for Malvolio's benefit, alternating between adopting the voice of the local
curate, Sir Topas, and his own voice. He finishes by likening himself to "the old Vice" of English Morality plays.[19] Other
influences of the English folk tradition can be seen in Feste's songs and dialogue, such as his final song in Act V.[20] The last line
of this song, "And we'll strive to please you every day", is a direct echo of similar lines from several English folk plays.[21]

Performance history

During and just after Shakespeare's lifetime

Twelfth Night or What You Will (to give the play its full title) was probably commissioned for performance as part of the Twelfth
Night celebrations held by Queen Elizabeth I at Whitehall Palace on 6 January 1601 to mark the end of the embassy of the Italian
diplomat, the Duke of Orsino.[22]. It was again performed at Court on Easter Monday in 1618 and on Candlemas night in 1623.

The earliest public performance took place at Middle Temple Hall, one of the Inns of Court, on 2 February (Candlemas night) in
1602 recorded in an entry in the diary of the lawyer John Manningham, who wrote:

At our feast we had a play called "Twelve Night, or What You Will", much like "The Comedy of Errors" or
"Menaechmi" in Plautus, but most like and near to that in Italian called "Inganni". A good practice in it to make
the steward believe his lady-widow was in love with him, by counterfeiting a letter as from his lady, in general
terms telling him what she liked best in him and prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparel, etc. and then,
when he came to practice, making him believe they took him for mad.[23]

Clearly, Manningham enjoyed the Malvolio story most of all, and noted the play's similarity with Shakespeare's earlier play, as
well as its relationship with one of its sources, the Inganni plays.

Restoration to 20th century

The play was also one of the earliest Shakespearean works acted at the start of
the Restoration; Sir William Davenant's adaptation was staged in 1661, with
Thomas Betterton in the role of Sir Toby Belch. Samuel Pepys thought it "a silly
play", but saw it three times anyway during the period of his diary on 11
September 1661, 6 January 1663, and 20 January 1669. Another adaptation,
Love Betray'd, or, The Agreeable Disappointment, was acted at Lincoln's Inn
Fields in 1703.[5]

A Scene from Twelfth Night by
William Shakespeare: Act V, Scene i
(William Hamilton, c. 1797).
After holding the stage only in the adaptations in the late 17th century and early
18th century, the original Shakespearean text of Twelfth Night was revived in
1741, in a production at Drury Lane. In 1820 an operatic version by Frederic
Reynolds was staged, with music composed by Henry Bishop.

20th and 21st century

Influential productions were staged in 1912, by Harley Granville-Barker, and in 1916, at the Old Vic.

Lilian Baylis reopened the long-dormant Sadler's Wells Theatre in 1931

with a notable production of the play starring Ralph Richardson as Sir
Toby and John Gielgud as Malvolio. The Old Vic Theatre was reopened in
1950 (after suffering severe damage in the London Blitz in 1941) with a
memorable production starring Peggy Ashcroft as Viola. Gielgud directed
a production at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with Laurence Olivier
as Malvolio and Vivien Leigh playing both Viola and Sebastian in 1955.
The longest running Broadway production by far was Margaret Webster's
1940 staging starring Maurice Evans as Malvolio and Helen Hayes as
Viola. It ran for 129 performances, more than twice as long as any other
Broadway production.

A memorable production directed by Liviu Ciulei at the Guthrie Theater in

Minneapolis, October–November 1984, was set in the context of an
archetypal circus world, emphasising its convivial, carnival tone.[24]

When the play was first performed, all female parts were played by men or
Poster advertising performances of
boys, but it has been the practice for some centuries now to cast women or
Twelfth Night by Yale University Dramatic
girls in the female parts in all plays. The company of Shakespeare's Globe,
Association, New Haven, Connecticut,
London, has produced many notable, highly popular all-male 1921
performances, and a highlight of their 2002 season was Twelfth Night, with
the Globe's artistic director Mark Rylance playing the part of Olivia. This
season was preceded, in February, by a performance of the play by the same company at Middle Temple Hall, to celebrate the
400th anniversary of the play's première, at the same venue. The same production was revived in 2012–13 and transferred to sell-
out runs in the West End and Broadway. Stephen Fry played Malvolio. It ran in repertory with Richard III.

Interpretations of the role of Viola have been given by many well-renowned actresses in the latter half of the 20th century, and
have been interpreted in the light of how far they allow the audience to experience the transgressions of stereotypical gender
roles.[25] This has sometimes correlated with how far productions of the play go towards reaffirming a sense of unification, for
example a 1947 production concentrated on showing a post-World War II community reuniting at the end of the play, led by a
robust hero/heroine in Viola, played by Beatrix Lehmann, then 44 years old.[26] The 1966 Royal Shakespeare Company
production played on gender transgressions more obviously, with Diana Rigg as Viola showing much more physical attraction
towards the duke than previously seen, and the court in general being a more physically demonstrative place, particularly between
males.[27] John Barton's 1969 production starred Donald Sinden as Malvolio and Judi Dench as Viola; their performances were
highly acclaimed and the production as a whole was commented on as showing a dying society crumbling into decay.[28]

Malvolio is a popular character choice among stage actors; others who have taken the part include Ian Holm many times, Simon
Russell Beale (Donmar Warehouse, 2002), Richard Cordery in 2005, Patrick Stewart, in Chichester, in 2007, Derek Jacobi
(Donmar Warehouse) in 2009, Richard Wilson in 2009[29] and Stephen Fry at the Globe in 2012.[30]

In March 2017, the Royal National Theatre's production of Twelfth Night [31] changed some of the roles from male to female,
including Feste, Fabian (which became Fabia), and most notably, Malvolio – which became Malvolia – played by Tamsin Greig
to largely positive reviews.[32][33][34][35] As a result, the production played with sexuality as well as gender.

In 2017/18, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged Twelfth Night, which was directed by Christopher Luscombe. Adrian
Edmondson played Malvolio and Kara Tointon played Olivia.[36]
Adaptations

Stage
Due to its themes such as young women seeking independence in a "man's world", "gender-bending" and "same-sex attraction"
(albeit in a roundabout way),[37] there have been a number of re-workings for the stage, particularly in musical theatre, among
them Your Own Thing (1968), Music Is (1977), All Shook Up (2005), and Play On! (1997), the last two jukebox musicals
featuring the music of Elvis Presley and Duke Ellington, respectively. Another adaptation is Illyria, by composer Pete Mills.
Theatre Grottesco created a modern version of the play from the point of view of the servants working for Duke Orsino and Lady
Olivia. The adaptation takes a much deeper look at the issues of classism, and society without leadership. In 1999, the play was
adapted as Epiphany by the Takarazuka Revue, adding more overt commentary on the role of theatre and actors, as well as gender
as applied to the stage (made more layered by the fact that all roles in this production were played by women).[38]

Film
In 1910, Vitagraph Studios released the silent, short adaptation Twelfth Night starring actors Florence Turner, Julia Swayne
Gordon and Marin Sais.

There was a 1986 Australian film.

The 1996 film adapted and directed by Trevor Nunn and set in the 19th century, stars Imogen Stubbs as Viola, Helena Bonham
Carter as Olivia and Toby Stephens as Duke Orsino. The film also features Mel Smith as Sir Toby, Richard E. Grant as Sir
Andrew, Ben Kingsley as Feste, Imelda Staunton as Maria and Nigel Hawthorne as Malvolio. Much of the comic material was
downplayed into straightforward drama, and the film received some criticism for this.[39]

The 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed sets the story in the world of motocross racing.

In the 2004 movie Wicker Park, Rose Byrne's character Alex plays Viola in an amateur production of Twelfth Night.

The 2006 film She's the Man modernises the story as a contemporary teenage comedy (as 10 Things I Hate About You did with
The Taming of the Shrew). It is set in a prep school named Illyria and incorporates the names of the play's major characters. For
example, Orsino, Duke of Illyria becomes simply Duke Orsino ("Duke" being his forename). The story was changed to revolve
around the idea of soccer rivalry but the twisted character romance remained the same as the original. Viola, the main character,
pretends to be her brother Sebastian, and a girl named Olivia falls in love with Viola as Sebastian. She also goes to a restaurant
named "Cesario's". Two of Duke's Illyria soccer teammates are named Andrew and Toby. A nod is given to the omitted subplot
by naming a briefly-onscreen tarantula Malvolio. Sebastian's ex-girlfriend Monique was given the surname Valentine, and the
meddling Malcolm was given the surname Festes.

Shakespeare in Love contains several references to Twelfth Night. Near the end of the movie, Elizabeth I (Judi Dench) asks
Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) to write a comedy for the Twelfth Night holiday. Shakespeare's love interest in the film, "Viola"
(Gwyneth Paltrow), is the daughter of a wealthy merchant who disguises herself as a boy to become an actor; while Shakespeare,
a financially struggling playwright suffering from writer's block, is trying to write Romeo and Juliet. She is presented in the final
scene of the film as William Shakespeare's "true" inspiration for the heroine of Twelfth Night. In a nod to the shipwrecked
opening of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the movie includes a scene where the character Viola, separated from her love by an
arranged marriage and bound for the American colonies, survives a shipwreck and comes ashore to Virginia.

Television
On 14 May 1937, the BBC Television Service in London broadcast a thirty-minute excerpt of the play, the first known instance of
a work of Shakespeare being performed on television. Produced for the new medium by George More O'Ferrall, the production is
also notable for having featured a young actress who would later go on to win an Academy Award – Greer Garson. As the
performance was transmitted live from the BBC's studios at Alexandra Palace and the technology to record television
programmes did not at the time exist, no visual record survives other than still photographs.[40]

The entire play was produced for television in 1939, directed by Michel Saint-Denis and starring another future Oscar-winner,
Peggy Ashcroft. The part of Sir Toby Belch was taken by a young George Devine.

In 1957, another adaptation of the play was presented by NBC on U.S. television's Hallmark Hall of Fame, with Maurice Evans
recreating his performance as Malvolio. This was the first color version ever produced on TV. Dennis King, Rosemary Harris,
and Frances Hyland co-starred.

In 1966 there was an Australian TV version.

Another version for UK television was produced in 1969, directed by John Sichel and John Dexter. The production featured Joan
Plowright as Viola and Sebastian, Alec Guinness as Malvolio, Ralph Richardson as Sir Toby Belch and Tommy Steele as an
unusually prominent Feste.

Yet another TV adaptation followed in 1980. This version was part of the BBC Television Shakespeare series and featured Felicity
Kendal in the role of Viola, Sinéad Cusack as Olivia, Alec McCowen as Malvolio and Robert Hardy as Sir Toby Belch.

In 1988, Kenneth Branagh's stage production of the play, starring Frances Barber as Viola and Richard Briers as Malvolio, was
adapted for Thames Television.

In 1998 the Lincoln Center Theater production directed by Nicholas Hytner was broadcast on PBS Live From Lincoln Center. It
starred Helen Hunt as Viola, Paul Rudd as Orsino, Kyra Sedgwick as Olivia, Philip Bosco as Malvolio, Brian Murray as Sir Toby,
Max Wright as Sir Andrew, and David Patrick Kelly as Feste.

A 2003 tele-movie adapted and directed by Tim Supple is set in the present day. It features David Troughton as Sir Toby, and is
notable for its multi-ethnic cast including Parminder Nagra as Viola and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Orsino. Its portrayal of Viola and
Sebastian's arrival in Illyria is reminiscent of news footage of asylum seekers.

An episode of the British series Skins, entitled Grace, featured the main characters playing Twelfth Night, with a love triangle
between Franky, Liv and Matty, who respectively played Viola, Olivia and Orsino.

Radio
An adaptation of Twelfth Night by Cathleen Nesbitt for the BBC was the first complete Shakespeare play ever broadcast on
British radio. This occurred on 28 May 1923, with Nesbitt as both Viola and Sebastian, and Gerald Lawrence as Orsino.[41]

In 1937 an adaptation was performed on the CBS Radio Playhouse starring Orson Welles as Orsino and Tallulah Bankhead as
Viola. A year later, Welles played Malvolio in a production with his Mercury Theater Company.

There have been several full adaptations on BBC Radio. A 1982 BBC Radio 4 broadcast featured Alec McCowen as Orsino,
Wendy Murray as Viola, Norman Rodway as Sir Toby Belch, Andrew Sachs as Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Bernard Hepton as
Malvolio; in 1993, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a version of the play (set on a Caribbean Island), with Michael Maloney as Orsino,
Eve Matheson as Viola, Iain Cuthbertson as Malvolio, and Joss Ackland as Sir Toby Belch; this adaptation was broadcast again
on 6 January 2011 by BBC Radio 7 (now Radio 4 Extra). 1998 saw another Radio 3 adaptation, with Michael Maloney, again as
Orsino, Josette Simon as Olivia and Nicky Henson as Feste. In April 2012, BBC Radio 3 broadcast a version directed by Sally
Avens, with Paul Ready as Orsino, Naomi Frederick as Viola, David Tennant as Malvolio and Ron Cook as Sir Toby Belch.
Music
In 1888, Alexander Campbell Mackenzie composed an overture based on Twelfth Night.

In 1942, Gerald Finzi set the songs "O Mistress Mine" (Act II, Scene 3) and "Come Away, Come Away, Death" (Act II, Scene 4)
to music as part of his song cycle on Shakespearean texts Let Us Garlands Bring.

In 1943, Erich Korngold set the songs "Come Away, Death" (Act II, Scene 4), "O Mistress Mine" (Act II, Scene 3), "Adieu, Good
Man Devil" (Act IV, Scene 2), "Hey, Robin" (Act IV, Scene 2), and "For the Rain, It Raineth Every Day" (Act V, Scene 1) as a
song cycle entitled Narrenlieder, Op. 29.

Roger Quilter set "O Mistress Mine" and "Come Away, Come Away, Death" in his Three Shakespeare Songs, Op. 6.

Swedish composer Sven-Eric Johanson's song cycle for mixed chorus and piano "Fancies I" includes a setting in waltz time of "O
Mistress Mine" (1974).

British composer Peter Racine Fricker set "O Mistress Mine" in 1961.

"O Mistress Mine" set by Peter Warlock, 1924.

Influence
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard opens his 1844 book Philosophical Fragments with the quote "Better well hanged
than ill wed" which is a paraphrase of Feste's comment to Maria in Act 1, Scene 5: "Many a good hanging prevents a bad
marriage". Nietzsche also refers passingly to Twelfth Night (specifically, to Sir Andrew Aguecheek's suspicion, expressed in Act
1, Scene 3, that his excessive intake of beef is having an inverse effect on his wit) in the third essay of his Genealogy of Morality.

Agatha Christie's 1940 mystery novel Sad Cypress draws its title from a song in Act II, Scene IV of Twelfth Night.

The protagonists of Vita Sackville-West's 1930 novel The Edwardians are named Sebastian and Viola, and are brother and sister.
Victoria Glendinning comments, in her introduction to the novel: "Sebastian is the boy-heir that Vita would like to have been...
Viola is very like the girl that Vita actually was." [42]

American playwright Ken Ludwig wrote a play inspired by the details of Twelfth Night, called Leading Ladies.

Cassandra Clare's 2009 novel City of Glass contains chapter names inspired by quotations of Antonio and Sebastian.

Two of the dogs in the film Hotel for Dogs are twins called Sebastian and Viola.

Clive Barker's short story "Sex, Death and Starshine" revolves around a doomed production of Twelfth Night.

The Baker Street Irregulars believe Sherlock Holmes's birthday to be January 6 due to the fact that Holmes quotes twice from
Twelfth Night whereas he quotes only once from other Shakespeare plays.

The Kiddy Grade characters Viola and Cesario are named for Viola and her alter ego Cesario.

Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria features a high school production of Twelfth Night, containing many references to the play,
especially Feste's song.

One of Club Penguin's plays, Twelfth Fish, is a spoof of Shakespeare's works. It is a story about a countess, a jester, and a bard
who catch a fish that talks. As the play ends, they begin eating the fish. Many of the lines are parodies of Shakespeare.

Notes
References
1. Thomson, Peter (1983). Shakespeare's Theatre. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 94. ISBN 0-7100-9480-9.
OCLC 9154553 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9154553). "Shakespeare, having tackled the theatrical problems
of providing Twelfth Night with effective musical interludes, found his attitude toward his material changed. An
episodic story became in his mind a thing of dreams and themes."
2. Torbarina, Josip (June 1964). "The Settings of Shakespeare's Plays" (http://hrcak.srce.hr/149328). Studia
Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia (17–18): 21–59. ISSN 0039-3339 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0039-3339).
OCLC 760940009 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/760940009).
3. Shakespeare, William (2004). Donno, Elizabeth Story (ed.). Twelfth night, or, What you will (Updated ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-521-82792-8. OCLC 54824521 (https://www.worldcat.
org/oclc/54824521).
4. Caldecott, Henry Stratford (1896). Our English Homer, or, The Bacon–Shakespeare Controversy: A Lecture.
Johannesburg: Johannesburg Times. p. 9. OCLC 83492745 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/83492745).
5. Halliday, F. E. (1964). A Shakespeare Companion 1564–1964 (First ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin. pp. 71, 505.
OCLC 69117982 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69117982).
6. Griffin, Alice (1966). The Sources of Ten Shakespearean Plays (First ed.). New York: T.Y. Crowell. OCLC 350534
(https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/350534).
7. Laroque, François. Shakespeare's Festive World: Elizabethan Seasonal Entertainment and the Professional
Stage. Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 153.
8. Laroque, p. 227.
9. Laroque, p. 254.
10. Clayton, Thomas. "Shakespeare at The Guthrie: Twelfth Night" in Shakespeare Quarterly 36.3 (Autumn 1985), p.
354.
11. Shakespeare, William; Stephen Greenblatt; Walter Cohen; Jean E. Howard; Katharine Eisaman Maus; Andrew
Gurr (1997). The Norton Shakespeare (https://archive.org/details/nortonshakespear00shak) (First ed.). New York:
W.W. Norton. pp. 40, 1090. ISBN 0-393-97087-6.
12. Hobgood, Allison P. (Fall 2006). "Twelfth Night's "Notorious Abuse" of Malvolio: Shame, Humorality, and Early
Modern Spectatorship" (http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/shakespeare_bulletin/v0
24/24.3hobgood.pdf) (PDF). Shakespeare Bulletin. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
13. Hodgdon, Barbara: "Sexual Disguise and the Theatre of Gender" in The Cambridge Companion to
Shakespearean Comedy, edited by Alexander Leggatt. Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 186.
14. Charles, Casey. "Gender Trouble in Twelfth Night". Theatre Journal. Vol. 49, No. 2 (1997): 121–141 [124].
15. Smith, Bruce R. "Introduction". Twelfth Night. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2001.
16. Lothian and Craik, p. 30.
17. Righter, Anne. Shakespeare and the Idea of the Play. Chatto & Windus, 1962, p. 130.
18. Righter, p. 136.
19. Righter, p. 133.
20. Weimann, Robert. Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of
Dramatic Form and Function, p. 41. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978.
21. Weimann, p. 43.
22. Hotson, Leslie (1954). The First Night of Twelfth Night (First ed.). New York: Macmillan. OCLC 353282 (https://w
ww.worldcat.org/oclc/353282).
23. Shakespeare, William; Smith, Bruce R. (2001). Twelfth Night: Texts and Contexts. Boston: Bedford/St Martin's.
p. 2. ISBN 0-312-20219-9.
24. The production was extensively reviewed by Thomas Clayton, "Shakespeare at The Guthrie: Twelfth Night" for
Shakespeare Quarterly 36.3 (Autumn 1985:353–359).
25. Gay, Penny. As She Likes It: Shakespeare's Unruly Heroines. London: Routledge, 1994, p. 15.
26. Gay, Penny: pp. 18–20.
27. Gay, Penny, p. 30.
28. Gay, Penny, p. 34.
29. Costa, Maddy (20 October 2009). "Malvolio – the killjoy the stars love to play" (https://www.theguardian.com/stag
e/2009/oct/20/twelfth-night-malvolio-richard-wilson). The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
30. Costa, Maddy (1 October 2012). "Stephen Fry's Twelfth Night: this all-male affair is no one-man show" (https://w
ww.theguardian.com/stage/2012/oct/01/stephen-fry-twelfth-night-all-male). The Guardian. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
31. "Twelfth Night – National Theatre" (https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/twelfth-night).
www.nationaltheatre.org.uk.
32. Clapp, Susannah (26 February 2017). "Twelfth Night review – on high gender alert with Tamsin Greig" (https://ww
w.theguardian.com/stage/2017/feb/26/twelfth-night-tamsin-greig-national-theatre-olivier-review) – via The
Guardian.
33. Billington, Michael (23 February 2017). "Twelfth Night review – Tamsin Greig is brilliant in a show full of fun" (http
s://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/feb/23/twelfth-night-review-olivier-national-theatre-tamsin-greig) – via The
Guardian.
34. "Twelfth Night, National's Olivier Theatre review: Tamsin Greig shines in a production otherwise at sea" (https://w
ww.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/twelfth-night-nationals-olivier-theatre-review-tamsin-greig/).
35. "Twelfth Night theatre review: Tamsin Greig brings dazzling comic brio to a gender-bending production" (http://ww
w.radiotimes.com/news/2017-02-23/twelfth-night-theatre-review-tamsin-greig-brings-dazzling-comic-brio-to-a-gen
der-bending-production).
36. "About the play – Twelfth Night" (https://www.rsc.org.uk/twelfth-night/about-the-play). Royal Shakespeare
Company.
37. Examined, for example, in Jami Ake, "Glimpsing a 'Lesbian' Poetics in Twelfth Night", SEL: Studies in English
Literature 1500–1900, 43.2, Tudor and Stuart Drama (Spring 2003) pp. 375–394.
38. "Epiphany (Star, 1999) Epiphany (Bow Shakespeare Series #8)" (https://web.archive.org/web/20101203145554/h
ttp://takarazuka-revue.info/tiki-index.php?page=Epiphany+(Star,+1999)). takarazuka-revue.info. Archived from
the original (http://www.takarazuka-revue.info/tiki-index.php?page=Epiphany+(Star%2C+1999)) on 3 December
2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
39. "Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (1996)" (http://www.fosteronfilm.com/shake/twelfth96.htm). Foster on Film.
Retrieved 11 December 2010.
40. Vahimagi, Tise; British Film Institute (1994). British Television: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. p. 8. ISBN 0-19-818336-4.
41. British Universities Film & Video Council (http://bufvc.ac.uk/shakespeare/index.php/title/av66566). Retrieved 19
April 2016
42. The Edwardians, Introduction p. xi, Virago Modern Classics, 1983.

Donno, Elizabeth Story (ed.): Twelfth Night (Cambridge, 2003)

Mahood, M. M. (ed.) Twelfth Night (Penguin, 1995)
Pennington, Michael: Twelfth Night: a user's guide (New York, 2000)
Mulherin, Jennifer: Twelfth Night (Shakespeare for Everyone)

External links
Twelfth Night (https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-show/8931) at the Internet Broadway Database
Twelfth Night (http://www.lortel.org/Archives/Search?searchText=Twelfth+Night&searchDomain=Production) at
the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Twelfth Night Navigator (http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/TN_Navigator/) Includes annotated text, line
numbers, scene index with scene summaries, and a search engine.
Searchable Twelfth Night Etext (http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/Twelfth_Night/) Unattributed edited
version: bare bones, but with a long summary.
Twelfth Night (http://www.bl.uk/works/twelfth-night) at the British Library
 Twelfth Night at Project Gutenberg
Twelfth Night (https://librivox.org/search?title=Twelfth+Night&author=Shakespeare&reader=&keywords=&genr
e_id=0&status=all&project_type=either&recorded_language=&sort_order=catalog_date&search_page=1&search
_form=advanced) public domain audiobook at LibriVox
Lesson plans for Twelfth Night (https://web.archive.org/web/20071124035249/http://www.webenglishteacher.co
m/12night.html) at Web English Teacher
Twelfth Night (http://www.shmoop.com/twelfth-night/) study guide and teacher resources – themes, quotes,
multimedia, study questions
For an analysis of various characters in Twelfth Night, one may refer to Pinaki Roy's essay “Epiphanies:
Rereading Select Characters in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night”, published in Yearly Shakespeare – 2012
ISSN 0976-9536 (https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0976-9536) 10, April 2012: 53–60.

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