Twelfth Night
Features of the Play
Metatheatrical Lens
Talks about itself as theatrical
Draws attention to its own theatrical pretence
Renaissance Comedy
Not meant to be realistic
The best turn rather than the worst
The Theatre
Place for Entertainment and Freedom of Expression
Place for festering sin and revelry
denounced by the puritans who wished to shut down such establishments
Subplot conflict between Mal and Toby and Anthony as they mock Malvoilio's puritan behaviour
Audience has a double awareness of the plot and characters
Dramatic Irony
Dramatic Features
Comedic Elements
Humour is presented in an ambivalent manner
Malviolio and Viola's circumstances
Tension and conflict between Characters
plots are intersected to generate more trouble and comedy
Deception amongst characters
Mistaken identity
Warped sense of justice
ulterior motives
Struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulties
love is hardly explicitly expressed, apart from Antionio to Sebastian and Malvolio's mixup with the letter
The rest of the characters speak of it implicitly
Even orsino does not actually communicate with Olivia till A5S1
Separation and Reunification
Viola and Sebastian
Role of the Fool: Feste
Licensed Fool, involved in both plots
provides commentary, is an observer of events
seemingly impervious to the disguise and deception
He knows of Viola's true nature
resist instruments of control and authority
social critique
Embodies the role of the theatre
Degree of autonomy
Themes
Macro themes
Order & Disorder
Mayhem
Excess, Madness, Love (of different kinds)
Folly
Deceoption
Social Class
Mutability of Gender Roles and Identity
Appearance / Illusion and Reality
Feast of Fools
Micro Themes
Activity and Passivity
Self-Delusion
Control of Fate
Suffereing
Travestry of aristocratic Self-Indulgence
Master-Servant relationship