Twelfth Night A Quick Intro

Alternate Title What You Will

To what does “twelfth night” refer? Last night of Christmas celebrations that were popular in Elizabethan times (Jan. 6) Also known in the church calendar as Epiphany, the Feast of the Magi (the “Wise Men” who visited baby Jesus) This holy day, however, covers over a Pagan mid-winter holiday, Saturnalia, which became the medieval “Feast of Fools” A day given to fun, disguises, and pranks

“Feast of Fools” A holiday celebrated as a festival in which everything is turned upside down – much like the topsy-turvy world of Illyria!

Setting: Illyria City of Illyria Known to Shakespeare as an actual region off the coast of the Adriatic Sea (present day Albania)

Illyria ideal for many of the plot developments, themes, imagery, etc. that arise in the play:

Distant Land It acted as a generically exotic setting for a play full of romance and intrigue

Shipwreck Situated off the coast, offered preconditions for a shipwreck Illyria associated with piracy in the Elizabethan mind

Illusion The word “Illyria” brings forth associations like “illusion” or the “illusory”

What is the play about? Illusion Deception Disguises Madness Love Concerned with the extraordinary things we’ll do in the name of love

The Play Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria and lose contact, with each thinking the other is dead Viola disguises herself as a boy named Cesario and becomes a page in the service of Duke Orsino

“Transvestite Comedy” Features a female protagonist who disguises herself as a young man In Shakespeare’s day, all parts were played by men, so the actor playing Viola would be a boy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a boy