We were given the task of performing a scene from Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' of our choice.

We were given the task of performing a scene from Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' of our choice. At first I was unsure of this task, I was partly excited, as I love performing but slightly hesitant as I find Shakespearean language quite boring and extremely complicated. There were five of us in a group so we searched the script for a scene where there were enough characters. In the end we had two of our members playing two parts. Another member from another group only had a few lines so she was later let in our group and performed one of the important characters. I have performed as both genders many times before and I have always preferred playing female parts. So I really fought to get my part as Olivia. At first we chose the scene where Malvolio finds the hoax letter, though after a few lessons, we all found it hard to get into our characters. It was at this point we all agreed to find a different scene. Eventually we all settled on Act III, scene 4. We decided we wanted to begin at the point when Malovio enters and acts rather flirtatious towards Olivia. However we wanted to end it as the joule scene begins. This meant a very long scene. My first thoughts on this scene were 'How are we going to learn our lines' as Sir Toby, Viola, and especially Malvolio had an incredible amount of lines. Though we soon solved this by agreeing to perform the beginning, cut out the

  • Word count: 1080
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Although 'Twelfth Night' is a happy comedy, there is a great deal of hurt in this play. In your opinion, should the audience be satisfied with the outcome? Discuss.

Although 'Twelfth Night' is a happy comedy, there is a great deal of hurt in this play. In your opinion, should the audience be satisfied with the outcome? Discuss. The 'Twelfth Night' written by William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan era, is a dramatic comedy enriched with a great deal of hurt to accompany scandalous behaviour and shocking deceptions. The comical elements of this play are those which contribute to Elizabethan humour. The principal characters are of a high social status, making any disruption to their life humorous. The main characters are part of the whirlwind of unrequited love and mistaken identity, which when together are hazardous. Viola pays the largest contribution to this play, as she is persistent throughout the scenes. The deceptions and mistaken identity she contributes supplements the play by means of interest, with a string of unrequited love triangles and dramatic irony, of which only the audience observes. The dramatic irony among Viola makes the audience omniscient, as they know something that the characters do not, such as she is a woman dressing herself to be a man, this allowing humour to pass through. Her character is mysterious, as she has no background due to loss of her brother at sea and the death of her father, which made her an orphan at a young age (taken from the film by Trevor Nunn). This holds interest through anticipation to

  • Word count: 3579
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Analyse the different methods that Shakespeare uses to inject humour into this play - Make close reference to the text.

Analyse the different methods that Shakespeare uses to inject humour into this play. Make close reference to the text. Disguise is a popular method that Shakespeare uses which supports dramatic irony to inject humour into the play, where the audience members are aware of something (in this case the true identity of the characters) that characters in the play are not. This of course creates tension in the play and excites the audience as well as also playing a key part in providing comedy for the audience through the dramatic irony and at the same time, also maintaining interest. As only men were able to act during the Elizabethan times, any female roles were played by men, which was in itself, probably greatly humorous for the Elizabethan audiences. An example of a character who utilises such disguise in 'Twelfth Night', is of course, the role of Viola which during these times, would have been played by a male actor. However, when she dresses up as her brother during the play, the male actor dressed up as a woman (to play Viola), then needs to look as though he is dressed up a man (to play the part of Cesario) - a rather complicated scenario. As well as being complicated, this would have definitely provided extra elements of comedy for the Elizabethan audiences along with the dramatic irony involved that the audience would know about the disguise, however some characters

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How Does Shakespeare Use Comedy In Twelfth Night? Make Detailed References To At Least One Scene

Stephen Nutbeam How Does Shakespeare Use Comedy In Twelfth Night? Make Detailed References To At Least One Scene Twelfth Night is a delightful romantic comedy incorporating many elements of farce. It looks at imaginary events taking place at the end of the Christmas period when people have let go of there everyday cares and have time to do so, as the play is subtitled, what you will. In Elizabethan times, festivals held at this time of year turned the usual order upside down. There is evidence of a everyday reversal of everyday order taking place in the court of Misrule held in one of the Inns of Court of London each year about twelve days after Christmas when a Lord of Misrule took the place of the lawlords and churchmen who normally presided over the court. This reversal of the usual order is reflected in the interests of the behaviour of the characters in Twelfth Night. Viola, Orsino and Olivia are embroiled in a romantic triangle of unrequited love, misunderstanding is heaped upon misunderstanding, and those with a taste for the low life indulge themselves in revelry, mischief and playfulness. Malvolio, the Puritan, pays the price for his serious attitude to life and becomes a scapegoat for the revellers. The play is a witty and light-hearted musical and the key musician is Feste the clown. His role, the songs he sings, and the antics of those who enjoy Olivia's

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Make notes on the characters of Viola and Sebastian. What is their importance as characters within the play? In "Twelfth Night", Viola's character comes across stronger than Sebastian's

Assignment G Make notes on the characters of Viola and Sebastian. What is their importance as characters within the play? In "Twelfth Night", Viola's character comes across stronger than Sebastian's. This is 1probably because we only get to know Sebastian towards the finale of the play where all the confusion is going on, whereas we have been following Viola's story throughout the play. Viola comes across as a very tough character. For instance when Viola is saved from the sea by the sailor and thinks her that her brother is dead and she is half drowned herself, she doesn't sit around and cry like other women in plays. Viola makes a plan and decides to just carry on with her own life. Viola is also a caring person because when Olivia falls in love with her instead of just not going to see her she tries to let her down gently. After Olivia giving Viola a long speech about how much she loves her and how she loves her instead of telling her to stop being stupid or to get lost, after letting Olivia down gently Viola says "Grace and good disposition attend your ladyship! You'll nothing madam, to my lord by me?" (Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 120/121) Which not only shows that she doesn't want to hurt Olivia's feelings but also shows her selflessness, that she is still thinking of Orsino even after being told that Olivia is in love with her. Viola's selflessness also come across at the

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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English Coursework Essay: Views on love from Twelfth Night

English Coursework Essay Views on love from Twelfth Night Twelfth Night was written in the ...... century, by the renowned author, William Shakespeare as one of his comedic plays. It is now one of his most famous works and has been made into several films. The story explores the ups and downs of love and relationships, covering everything from intimate ones, to sexual ones, to friendly ones. In Act 1, Scene 1, the Duke Orsino, who is infatuated with Lady Olivia, and will later become involved in a love triangle with her and Viola (Cesario) is in a his palace mourning his love for Olivia. Shakespeare makes sure to use plenty of metaphors and similes and word-play with complicated sentences and words, to show us that Orsino is of a higher class and is able to use proper English fluently. The very first words out of Orsino's mouth are, "If music be the food of love", which is a metaphor, describing love, namely his love for Olivia, as a living thing which needs to be fed in order to survive, which all know isn't true. It also makes us immediately doubt that this is real love because real love doesn't have to be like encourage or helped to grow or be there of whatever, it just is, unconditional, with no real explanation. And he shouldn't need music or anything else to 'feed' his love, and wouldn't if it was real. "O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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We may laugh at Malvolio but to what extent does he deserve our sympathy?

We may laugh at Malvolio but to what extent does he deserve our sympathy? In twelfth night, a comedy full of mistaken identities and love triangles, a harmless trick is played on the Lady Olivia's steward Malvolio by some of the other servants and occupants of the house, to try and teach him a well deserved lesson, however the trick darkens and becomes nastier as the play progresses, so to what extent does Malvolio deserve our sympathy and does his arrogant character justify to what Sir Toby and the others did to him? Even before we meet Malvolio we can imagine the type of character he is just by looking at his name, which for one sounds stiff and gives us an image of a pompous being, also "Mal" is French for bad and a lot of bad characteristics such as "Malicious", "Malign" and "Malevolent" which means wishing evil on others, start with "Mal" so unlike "Feste" whose name sounds like "festive" and gives us a pleasant first impression of the jester, Malvolio's name gives us a bad image of him before we even meet him and I think Shakespeare did this intentionally to create a negative imagine in our minds of Malvolio. When we first meet Malvolio in Act 1 scene 5 he certainly lives up to his name, coming across as arrogant and sarcastic being. We don't warm to him and feel an instant dislike towards him. When Feste tries to cheer Olivia up, she turns to Malvolio and she

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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The story starts out with a shipwreck and two siblings, Sebastian and Viola, being separated

Twelfth Night, or what you will The story starts out with a shipwreck and two siblings, Sebastian and Viola, being separated because of it. Viola and Sebastian are almost identical twins. If it wasn't for their dress and attitude, they could not be known apart - despite they are of opposite sex. The captain, and a few others onboard the ship, survive the crash and they saved Viola and brought her to shore. The captain of the vessel reassures Viola that her brother may be alive since he saw him get onto a mast before the wind swept him out of view. The place they had landed, Illyria, was governed by a man named "Orsino" - an unmarried man who is in love with a lady named "Olivia". Viola wanted to serve Olivia as a page but the captain said this would not be possible because she was very untrustworthy of people since she also lost her brother. Viola's next idea was to serve the duke, Orsino, instead. But, to do this, she would have to dress and be as a man. She was known as Cesario. Orsino, impressed as he was by such a young handsome "boy", hired Ceserio as a page. He spent a lot of time with Viola and told her about his love for Olivia. Over time, Orsino and Viola became very close... and Viola falls in love with Orsino. After trying for a very long time to gain the heart of Olivia, he sends Cesario to woe her. But, since Viola is in love with Orsino herself, she doesn't

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Is Twelfth Night Still Funny To A Modern Day Audience?

Amanda Dunnington AS English Literature Coursework Twelfth Night Is Twelfth Night Still Funny To A Modern Day Audience? Comedy should entertain a general audience. It is usually a dramatic work that is light, and often satirical in tone. Horace Walpole once said that "life is like a comedy to those who think, and a tragedy to those who feel." This can be said to be true in as we tend to laugh at comic characters, particularly comic double acts, but "feel" with tragic heroes. The audience at a comedy is likely to feel itself to be slightly superior to, and therefore distant from, the comic figures, even the romantic leads, if it is to laugh at their follies. Comedy can be defined in three main types; visual, verbal and situational. Visual humour is usually accessible images, pictures and the obvious. Verbal humour is the spoken satire, word-play and stories. Situational humour takes place around a plot created by an author. The cynic who stated that "laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone" was possibly a theatre fanatic. In Shakespeare's plays, this distinction has the effect of isolating the characters at the end of his tragedies, and uniting them at the end of the comedies. Byron may have been misogynistic when he stated that "all comedies end in marriage" but the ceremony operates as a mark of unification and social harmony in the closure of a

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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According to Northrop Frye in The Educated Imagination, literary conventions are typical patterned ways of writing that happen repeatedly over time in the world of literature. To write stories, the writers imitate other people's work

Arunee Kasemphaibulsuk Ms Goldspink ENG4U-02 December 15, 2005 Conventions According to Northrop Frye in The Educated Imagination, literary conventions are typical patterned ways of writing that happen repeatedly over time in the world of literature. To write stories, the writers imitate other people's work, which they have read before. Therefore literary conventions become commonplace as a traditional way of writing. Also, Frye has mentioned that "Literature can only derive its form from itself: they (conventions) can't exist outside literature" (p. 15). Frye means that literature exists as a whole; a new country does not produce new literature, but it adopts the literature that people already knew about. Before I start to read or watch the stories, I am capable of predicting what kind of stories they are, but not the particular set of events they have, because I have read that kind of stories before and recognized the same types of characters and plots, diction, style, and forms of writing. Most readers are unaware of their highly conventionalized worlds, but they essentially know about conventions because conventions have become a deeply embedded tradition of telling stories for writers. Therefore, readers who are exposed to many kinds of conventions will know how the stories will proceed and recognize the stories as interrelated. An illustration of the hero's journey

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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