Twelfth Night Study Guide

Twelfth Night Study Guide

Original title:
Twelfth Night; or, What You Will

The Twelfth Night” was written by William Shakespeare and is one of the few comical plays of his authorship. It is light and musical, beautiful and ambitious, funny and very worldly. The play is one of the most popular both for reading and staging.

 

Sometimes it seems that all comedy shows use “The Twelfth Night” as something to strive towards. It has a rich myriad of actors, all of whom resemble the readers very much: they are weak, silly, wise, full of emotions, passions, doubts and love. The only thing that hints on the age of the text is the old English language – while the concepts and events are the same as the life experienced today!

 

There are the Sirs who are very noble and important. Along their side there is a page who sees everything through his wise eyes. An ambitious man who serves for the pleasure of the sir and his own is a great personage to learn from. Then, of course, there's a love triangle and a secret that will break a heart of more than one person.

 

The feminine wiles and the jokes infiltrate the text. Shakespeare once again proves to be the master of a dramatic genre. The noble and eternal love is shaken by a simple forged letter. A man can act so weirdly trying to earn the attention of a lady, or maybe he simply wants to get a share of her noble status? And the pirate has sincere and altruistic feelings for a young boy, that is for sure!

 

Imagine a story where a lady falls for a page of a Duke who is actually a woman... A brother thinks his sister is dead, and the sister is sure that her brother didn't survive the shipwreck. Confusion and drama is intense, creating events that bring lots of fun and entertainment. Every character of the book fights for the big and eternal love. Love as a blessing that will make their life better.

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