Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night William Shakespeare was baptised on the 26th April 1564, and as it was the tradition for children to be taken to the church for this only a few days after birth, April 23rd has been traditionally held as his actual birthday. It also fits relatively nicely for English person to be born on St. George's Day as this represents England. He was born in Stratford upon Avon. In 1601, near the middle of Shakespeare's career, it is assumed he wrote the play Twelfth Night. Generally critics measured it to be one of Shakespeare's greatest comedies alongside with plays for instance as you like it, much ado about nothing, and a midsummer nights dream. Twelfth Night is mainly about five things, the first four are illusion, deception, disguises, madness and the fifth is the astonishing actions that love will cause us to do. This humorous play was also well acknowledged as one of his 'transvestite' comedies, as the play has a female protagonist. The females who are firstly played by men have to disguise themselves as a woman then from that woman once again disguise themselves into a man (features female protagonist who for one reason or another have to disguise themselves as men). Shakespeare had an alternative title for his play but this was the only play that had this. The play is called Twelfth Night or what you will. Critics are shared into two halves when discussing what
Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night .... is about all kinds of Main and sub plots ---... and sadness, laughter and cruelty. It has essentially two plots: a main plot, typical of a romantic comedy in the Renaissance; and a subplot, which is essentially comic. The main plot -- the story of Orsino and Viola and Olivia and Sebastian -- features lost siblings united and lovers joined in marriage; it throws in some mistaken identities and women disguised as boys, which were also typical of a romantic play during this time (Shakespeare used the motif several times in other plays). It has a happy ending, with all four lovers marrying their own true love (and a person of the correct sex), and all of them poised to live happily ever after. The play is set on Twelfth Night, a holiday which derives from the medieval practice of celebrating Christmas for the entire period between Christmas Eve and Epiphany, January 6. Everything was deliberately turned upside down; activities that were generally regarded as bad taste were encouraged during that short period. In this spirit, Shakespeare introduces a jester, Feste, who is often called "the Fool." Feste is not foolish at all, but around him revolves some of the most significant issues of this extremely complex play. Feste is the character who sets the stage for the Twelfth Night festivities. Olivia is supposed to be in mourning for her dead