202
T
welfth Night, or What
You Wi l l is a comedy
in which genders are
swapped and identities mistaken.
It has an appealing heroine, Viola,
the shipwrecked girl who finds true
love dressed as a boy, but there is
also a dark side in the tormenting
of the puritanical steward Malvolio.An unruly night
The first half of the play’s full title
refers to the eve of the 12th Day
of Christmas, 5 January. This is
the Feast of the Epiphany, when,
according to tradition, the Magi,
the three wise men, arrived with
their gifts for the infant Christ. In
Elizabethan England, Twelfth Night
was the last day of the Christmas
holidays, and its associations were
as much pagan as Christian. It was
one last riot of feasting, drinking,
games, and theater masques, beforeTWELFTH NIGHT
returning to work. It was a time of
“misrule” when normal rules were
briefly subverted: masters became
servants and servants became
masters; and, in the tradition of the
Roman winter feast of Saturnalia,
men dressed as girls and vice
versa. Often, a large cake was
made. Whoever got the slice with
a bean or coin in it became the
Lord of Misrule for the night.
It is thought that Shakespeare’s
play was written to be performed
as Twelfth Night entertainment.
The first recorded performance took
place in private at Middle Temple
Hall, one of the law school Inns of
Court, on February 2, 1602. But the
play is full of allusions to Twelfth
Night. In this topsy-turvy world,
servants get above themselves, girls
dress as boys, and identities are
mixed up. Viola, presumably in a
nod to the Roman Saturnalia, calls
herself Cesario when she dresses
as a boy. And throughout the play,
Feste the clown, whose very name
suggests a feast, refers often to wise
men and fools. Indeed, he is in some
ways the only sane one in the play.IN CONTEXT
THEMES
Mistaken identity, gender
swapping, loveSETTING
Illyria, the name for a
province on the Adriatic
(present-day Croatia and
Slovenia) in Roman timesSOURCES
1531 A risqué Italian play
called Gl’ingannati (The
Deceived Ones).1581 English author Barnabe
Rich’s Farewell to the
Military Profession.LEGACY
1602 The play is performed
on February 2 at the Middle
Temple in London.1741 A Drury Lane production
revives the full play with
Hannah Pritchard as Viola.1897 William Poel puts on the
play at the Middle Temple in
an Elizabethan style.1912 Harley Granville-Barker’s
modern production in black
and silver has a vivid portrayal
of Viola by Lillah McCarthy.
1955 John Gielgud’s
production at Stratford-upon-
Avon stars Laurence Olivier
and Vivien Leigh.1968 The rock-musical You r
Own Thing opens in New York.
It sets the action of Tw e l f t h
Night in the modern day.1996 Director Trevor Nunn
sets the action in the 19th
century for his film adaptation,
with Imogen Stubbs as Viola.Pre-Raphaelite artist Walter Howell
Deverell painted Act 2, Scene 4, in
which Feste sings a song that ponders
the cruelty of love. The song begins
“Come away, come away death.”