Twelfth Night, or What you Will first lecture

1
Twelfth Night, or What you Willfirst lecture

• Dost thou think because thou art virtuous, there
  shall be no more cakes and ale?

2
Shakespeare in Love

• Having successfully brought off R J, but lost
  Viola de Lessip, Shakespeare sits down to write
  his greatest romantic comedy.
• It will concern a lady whose spirit is greater
  than the sea.
• The sole survivor of a shipwreck.
• And he begins to write Act 1, scene 2.

3
So full of shapes is fancy . . .

• In fact the play was written six or seven years
  later.
• Viola, fortunately, isnt the sole survivor of
  the shipwreck. Captain, sailors, Sebastian.
• And besides, Shakespeare didnt have as much hair
  as Joseph Fiennes!

4
The title and occasion

• Twelfth Night the feast of the Epiphany,
  January 6, the last day of the Christmas season.
• A time of festivity, merriment, cakes and ale,
  what you will.
• On Jan. 6, 1601, Virginio Orsino, Duke of
  Bracciano, was entertained by Elizabeth.
• He saw a play that he described as a mingled
  comedy, with pieces of music and dances.
• Was this Twelfth Night?
• Play written around 1601.
• But possibly performed at Middle Temple for
  Twelfth Night celebrations in 1602.

5
The play

• Shakespeares last romantic comedy.
• Heroine disguised as boy, as in As You Like It,
  Merchant.
• Mistaken identity of twins, as in Comedy of
  Errors.
• New type of clown Will Kempe retired in 1599.
  Robert Armin joined Lord Chambelains men.
• Armin was known for his voice and musical
  ability.
• Melancholy?

6
Clip from Trevor Nunn film of TW
7
Shakespeares most gender-bending play?

• Obviously Trevor Nunn wrote in the scene that
  Shakespeare unaccountably failed to give us.
• But the scene supplies us with something of the
  fun of twins so unaccountably alike that, apart
  from their dress, they cant be distinguished.
• Officially, notice, there may be nothing too
  outrageous about the gender-bending.
• Olivia falls in love with Cesario, not Viola.
• Orsino doesnt really fall in love with Cesario
  after all, hes ready to kill him at V, 1,
  123ff.
• Only after hes learned the truth, does he offer
  himself to her, ll. 320ff.

8
Gender-bending

• But what are we to make of Olivias falling in
  love with a woman-boy?
• And with Orsinos apparent love for what he takes
  for a boy?
• Not to mention Antonios warmly expressed love
  for Sebastian II, 1, 31 III, 3, 4ff. III, 4,
  350ff.
• Elizabethan cult of friendship homosocial
  bonding.
• Does cult of fiendship explain it?

9
Cross dressing

• Grounding in theatrical practice of Elizabethan
  stage.
• Thomas Coryats reaction to Venetian theater
  women playing women? not very convincing.
• But cross dressing was also seen as deeply
  troubling to anti-theatricalists.
• Deuteronomy 22 5 "A woman shall not wear that
  which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man
  put on a woman's garments for all that do so are
  abominations unto the LORD,thy God." 
• Shakespeare plays right into these fears.
• Cross-dressing doesnt have boys as boys, but
  something more complex.

10
Boy actors on Elizabethan stage

• Very high level of acting skill.
• Visually persuasive.
• Orsinos judgment of Viola 1, 4, 30ff.
• Eventually played male parts, or older women.

11
The lady Olivia

• Valentines report in I, 1 she has vowed seven
  years of mourning for her dead brother.
• Feste proves her a fool for this, I, 5, 52ff.
• Shes independent of male authority, rules her
  own house.
• Viola/Cesario calls her too proud (I, 5, 251).
• But is there some justification in her rejection
  of Orsino?
• Is her falling in love with Viola/Cesario
  punishment for her independence?
• What does she love in Viola/Cesario?

12
Orsino

• What do we make of his first speech?
• Or of his wooing of Olivia by proxy?
• His self-characterization of mens desires II,
  4, 32ff.
• And Festes response to him 72ff.
• His opinion of his love for Olivia 88ff.
• And his threatened violence when he believes
  himself crossed by Cesario V, 1, 117ff.