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Twelfth Night, or What You Will

By william shakespeare.

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• We all know someone like Malvolio, right? Malvolio looks down his nose at everyone beneath him, kisses a lot of booty for people above him, and would throw his own grandmother under the bus if it'd help him get ahead in life. Even knowing all that, the prank Maria and the drunks play on him is extremely cruel. Does he get what he deserves, or do they go too far?

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W hy's T his F unny?

Twelfth Night

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Music is present throughout Twelfth Night —the first line, after all, declares that “If music be the food of love, play on.” Examine how music is used throughout the play: What purpose does it serve? What does it add to the plot?

Twelfth Night centers on a blurred depiction of gender, as Viola disguises herself as a man. As head of her household, Olivia also takes on a traditionally male role. Look at how Shakespeare talks about and treats gender throughout the play. What ultimate message about gender and gender roles does he make?

Examine the character of Feste the Fool. What purpose do he and his witty exchanges serve in the play? What does his presence add to the plot?

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Twelfth Night

William shakespeare.

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Desire and Love

Every major character in Twelfth Night experiences some form of desire or love. Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia . Viola falls in love with Orsino, while disguised as his pageboy, Cesario . Olivia falls in love with Cesario. This love triangle is only resolved when Olivia falls in love with Viola's twin brother, Sebastian , and, at the last minute, Orsino decides that he actually loves Viola. Twelfth Night derives much of its…

During the Renaissance, melancholy was believed to be a sickness rather like modern depression, resulting from an imbalance in the fluids making up the human body. Melancholy was thought to arise from love: primarily narcissistic self-love or unrequited romantic love. Several characters in Twelfth Night suffer from some version of love-melancholy. Orsino exhibits many symptoms of the disease (including lethargy, inactivity, and interest in music and poetry). Dressed up as Cesario , Viola describes herself…

The theme of madness in Twelfth Night often overlaps the themes of desire and love. Orsino talks about the faculty of love producing multiple changing images of the beloved, similar to hallucinations. Olivia remarks at certain points that desire for Cesario is making her mad. These examples of madness are mostly metaphorical: madness becomes a way for characters to express the intensity of their romantic feelings.

But the play also has multiple characters that seem…

Deception, Disguise, and Performance

Characters in Twelfth Night constantly disguise themselves or play parts in order to trick those around them. Some of the most notable examples of trickery and role-playing in Twelfth Night are: Viola disguising herself as the page-boy Cesario ; Maria and Sir Toby playing their prank on Malvolio ; and Feste dressing up as the scholar, Sir Topas. More subtly, Orsino's rather clichéd lovesickness for Olivia and Olivia's just-as-clichéd response as the unattainable mourning woman…

Gender and Sexual Identity

In connection with the themes of deception, disguise, and performance, Twelfth Night raises questions about the nature of gender and sexual identity. That Viola has disguised herself as a man, and that her disguise fools Olivia into falling in love with her, is genuinely funny. On a more serious note, however, Viola's transformation into Cesario , and Olivia's impossible love for him/her, also imply that, maybe, distinctions between male/female and heterosexual/homosexual are not as absolutely…

Class, Masters, and Servants

In Twelfth Night , as in many Shakespearean comedies, there are many similarities between a "high" set of characters, the masters or nobles, and a "low" set of characters, the servants. These separate sets of characters and their parallel plots provide comic counterpoint and also reflect the nature of the Twelfth Night holiday, which was typically celebrated by inverting the ordinary social order—a commoner or fool would dress up and get to play the king…

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Twelfth Night: Essay Questions

Subject: English

Age range: 16+

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

10 August 2020

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Here are 22 mock essay questions on Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’ for students to practise their exam technique and sharpen their analysis of the text.

These questions are particularly aimed at those studying the play within the comedic genre with AQA at A level, but they are easily applicable to any course offering detailed analysis of the play.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Plays — Twelfth Night

Essays on Twelfth Night

Prompt examples for "twelfth night" essays, disguise and deception.

Discuss the theme of disguise and deception in "Twelfth Night." How do characters like Viola, Sebastian, and Malvolio use disguise, and what are the consequences of their actions?

Love and Attraction

Analyze the theme of love and attraction in the play. How do various characters experience love, and how do their romantic interests and affections drive the plot?

Gender Roles and Identity

Examine the portrayal of gender roles and identity in "Twelfth Night." How does Viola's disguise as Cesario challenge traditional gender norms, and what commentary does the play offer on gender ambiguity?

Folly and Mischief

Discuss the role of folly and mischief in the play, particularly through characters like Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. How do their actions contribute to the comedic elements of the story?

Music and Song

Explore the significance of music and song in "Twelfth Night." How do these elements enhance the atmosphere and emotions of the play, and what do they symbolize?

Comedy and Resolution

Analyze the comedic elements of the play and how they lead to resolution and reconciliation among the characters. What role does mistaken identity play in the play's resolution?

The True Love Between Viola and Orsino

Dynamics of viola and orsino in shakespeare's "twelfth night", made-to-order essay as fast as you need it.

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Analysis of The Theme of Love and Deceit in Twelfth Nigh

Lovers or friends: the mystery of viola and orsino’s relationship in twelfth night, the functions of comedy in the twelfth night, various meanings of love in twelfth night, let us write you an essay from scratch.

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Love and Mistaken Identities in Twelfth Night, a Play by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s use of sexual and gender ambiguity in twelfth night, misconceptions and deceit: the crisis of half-perceived reality in twelfth night, twelfth night’s swerving women: conformity vs. individuality, get a personalized essay in under 3 hours.

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Malvolio as a Victim of Comedy in Twelfth Night

Love as comedic energy in twelfth night: viola and orsino, sexual and gender identities in twelfth night, dark and upsetting characters in twelfth night, romantic relationships in twelfth night and othello: the inside and outside influences, shakespeare's use of the power of the sea in "twelfth night", dismantling the blazon in astrophel and stella and twelfth night, analysis of comic characters in twelfth night by william shakespeare, feste as a representation of medieval fool figure in shakespeare's twelfth night, exploring gender expectations and dating in twelfth night and as you like it, the means of shakespeare’s theater representation, the humanitarian side of two knaves in twelfth night: malvolio and parolees, doctor faustus vs twelfth night: high and a low plots, mistaken identity play analysis.

1601–1602, by William Shakespeare

Romantic comedy

The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with the Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man.

Twelfth Night's central theme is love, including romantic, platonic, and familial love. Other themes include gender and sexuality, ambition, appearance and reality, disguise and deception, madness, etc.

The play, Twelfth Night, shows the mastery of William Shakespeare in using witty and festive language. The play also shows its language becoming funny and humorous as well as comic and romantic according to the situation and context. At times, Shakespeare has resorted to the use of puns, metaphors, and excessive use of similes that is suitable for prose and verse which reflects the mood of the characters as well as the tone of the play.

Viola, Sebastian, Duke Orsino, Olivia, Malvolio, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Feste, Fabian, Antonio, Valentine and Curio, A Servant of Olivia, A Sea Captain

The original source appears to have been the story Apollonius and Silla in Barnabe Riche’s Riche His Farewell to Military Profession (1581), based in turn on a number of Continental versions that included an Italian comedy called Gl’ingannati (1531; “The Deceived”), published anonymously, and a story in Matteo Bandello’s Novelle (1554–73).

The play consistently ranks among the greatest plays ever written and has been dubbed as "The Perfect Comedy". It has inspired adaptations and reimaginings for centuries.

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” “Some are born great, others achieve greatness.” “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.” “Journeys end in lovers meeting.”

Relevant topics

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Twelfth Night William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Twelfth Night.

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Twelfth Night Essays

An appetite for love: assessing 'twelfth night' and 'of apolonius and silla' katelyn white college, twelfth night.

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night , Shakespeare closely transcends the idea of an appetite for love from Of Apolonius and Silla by Barnabb Rich. The appetite for love is demonstrated through many characters throughout Twelfth Night and is one...

The Role of the Fool: Feste's Significance Brad Knisley

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the Feste's role might originally appear to be as a minor character, but in actuality his role is of principal significance. Because the action of the play occurs during the revelry of the holiday season, the clown...

The Fool as a Playwright in Twelfth Night Michael Yank

Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life...

It is Theater Virginia Brannon

Theatre began as a presentation of stories and ideas, mostly revolving around festival times in the calendar of the church year. This concept was carried on in Shakespeare's times and is exemplified in his plays Twelfth Night, or What You Will and...

To Believe, or Not To Believe Virginia Brannon

In the study of three of Shakespeare's plays, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, The Tragedy of Richard II, and Henry IV, Part 1, one of the themes that is presented is the contrast of "appearance vs. reality." Sometimes the confusion is comedic,...

The Function of Plot Divisions in Twelfth Night and in Doctor Faustus Anonymous

In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there exists a high and a low (or comic) plot. This plot division serves as a parallel - the actions and characters in the low plot coincide with the actions and characters in the high plot. The...

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Saturnalia, or Just Sad? Sanjana Krishna

Topic: One theatre critic has said of Twelfth Night: "...the key question seems to me how much one regards it as a festive piece of saturnalia, written for a very specific occasion, and how much as a dark comedy about impermanence and pain." What...

The Dark Side of Twelfth Night Jesse Brundige

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare creates a duality between the worlds of the nobility and its associates and the said "outsiders." There is a great element of selfishness involved in the actions of the characters deemed "in" as they peruse through...

Deception, Delusion and the Danger of Half-Perceived Truths Anonymous

It has often been said that "the clothes make the man." It could never seem truer than in Twelfth Night where disguises and mistaken identities run the gamut of use. The identity of people, things and ideas are swept away under the facade of...

The Transformative Power of the Character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous

The character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" represents the dynamic factor in an otherwise static equation. Illyria is an immutable place, and the people who live and visit the land become ensnared in a stasis. Shakespeare uses the device of...

Elusive Happy Medium Anonymous

Quoted centuries before Shakespeare's birth, the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus believed that "in everything the middle course is best; all things in excess bring trouble to men." Often times, society focuses its sights on the attainment...

Loveable Knaves: The Humanity of Malvolio and Parolles Barret Buchholz

Malvolio and Parolles both appear as relatively unlikable characters due to their inflated egos, and convince themselves that they are socially greater than they are in reality. In Twelfth Night, Malvolio, a mere steward, behaves with utter scorn...

Love Is Love... Or Is It? Tamanna Haque

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare illustrates love in various forms and suggests that, like beauty, the true meaning of love exists in the eye of the beholder. Love is seen as bordering on insanity, a frivolous game of ever-changing affections, and...

To Gender or Not to Gender Mandy Geddes

"Sex is one of the constants in human experience; sexuality, one of the variables."

Bruce Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England.

Sexuality in Renaissance England was ambiguous. The current common idea or definition of "homosexual" did...

Swerving Women in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous

When Lady Olivia first beseeches Viola, a girl disguised as the male page Cesario, to love her, the two share a repartee that seems to question Cesario's affection for the countess. But as Viola responds to Olivia, "you do think you are not what...

Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv Sophie Victoria Curlett

Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv

Chosen extract: Act 2, Scene iv

In Twelfth Night , it is love’s revolutionary potential to inspire awareness, question authority, and disrupt the anti-comic balance that makes love so...

Discuss the function of cross-dressing in Renaissance drama. Anonymous

Cross-dressing on the early modern stage was a highly exploited theatrical device. It subverted the traditional conceptions of gender, evoking a recurring sense of dramatic irony. Jean E. Howard explains that “behavioural differences” and “...

Comic Cruelty in Twelfth Night Anonymous

In a Shakespearean comic setting where chaos, asininity, and insolence reign, the very qualities of comic irreverence become virtues. A comic hero or side character who relentlessly pranks stooges and straight men for the audience's enjoyment is...

The Functions of Comedy in Twelfth Night Mark Carver

Salinger (1974) calls Twelfth Night a “comedy about comedy” in which Shakespeare demonstrates his “fundamental debt to the earlier Renaissance tradition of comic playwriting and his abiding sense of detachment from it” (pg 242), and it is from...

Gender Expectations and Courtship in As You Like It and Twelfth Night Carly Czajka

Although some Shakespearean plays carve out a more passive, male-defined role for women, such as that which is exemplified through Ophelia’s obedience to Polonius in Hamlet, the comedies of As You Like It and Twelfth Night explore women’s...

Intrinsic Factors and Extenuating Forces in the Determination of Romantic Relationships in Twelfth Night and Othello Anonymous 12th Grade

In Shakespeare's Othello, the primary obstacle in Othello and Desdemona's relationship is Othello’s race, and hence, his status as an outsider. This difference becomes a barrier when Brabantio objects to their marriage, however, it plays much more...

The Sexuality of Service, the Female Relationship, and Freaky Family Connections in Twelfth Night Molly Brothers 12th Grade

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has a host of characters: a cross-dressing woman, an uppity, lower-class servant, a quick-witted, tricky gentlewoman, a rowdy, vulgar nobleman and his misguided friend. With so many characters to keep track of, an array...

The Pursuit of Love in “Twelfth Night” and “Enduring Love” Kareem Belfon 12th Grade

In both “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare and “Enduring Love” by Ian McEwan, the pursuit of love is presented within the main characters. Their attempts to pursue a relationship could be seen as romantic and passionate; however, it could also...

Malvolio: The Puritan Plays the Fool Mary Anne Phillips 11th Grade

Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste -- a licensed jester. Yet upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare merely uses Feste as a critic of the comedic disarray in Illyria, which parallels the...