English Literature

A Focus on Drama
(Twelfth Night)
What is Drama?

 A drama is a type of literature that is written for

the purpose of being performed in front of an
audience. This type of writing is written in the
form of a script, and the story is told through the
lines of the characters played by actors.
 Genres (Types) of Drama
 Comedy
 Tragedy
 Farce
 Melodrama
 Musical Drama
 Comedy

Comedy is one of the most popular

forms of drama in literature. It aims to
make the audience laugh. Its tone is
light, and it almost always has a happy
ending.
 A Scene vs An Act

 The scene refers to a single moment of an act

and conveys the story of that moment and
setting.

 Theact is a long sequence of many scenes. It

runs for a long time playing all the scenes.
Twelfth Night

By William Shakespeare
 Setting and Characters

 Shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria:

 Viola- A young woman who later disguises herself as a young

man called Cesario

 The Captain of the ship

 Some sailors
.

 Shipwrecked further along the coast:

 Sebastian- Viola’s twin brother

 Antonio- Another sea captain who befriends Sebastian

.

 In a palace in Illyria:

 Orsino- Duke of Illyria

 Valentine and Curio- gentlemen attending to him

 Other lords, officers, musicians

.

 In a country-house nearby:

 Olivia- a rich countess, whose father and brother have just died
 Maria- her waiting gentlewoman
 Sir Toby Belch- Olivia’s uncle
 Sir Andrew Aguecheek- a visitor invited to the house by Sir Toby
 Malvolio- Olivia’s Steward
 Fabian- a member of the household
 Feste- the household fool or jester
 A Priest
 Servants
 Synopsis of the Play

 Viola and her twin brother Sebastian have been

shipwrecked; each believes the other to be drowned. Viola
disguises herself as a young man and, under the name of
Cesario, gets a job as a servant for the Duke, Orsino.
 A LOVE TRIANGLE

 Orsino is in love with Olivia, but she's mourning for her dead brother, so
has rejected all his advances so far. He sends Cesario (who is really Viola)
with love letters to woo Olivia on his behalf. Unfortunately for the Duke,
Olivia is taken in by Cesario’s disguise and falls in love with him.

 Viola has secretly fallen in love with Orsino, and Orsino is confused by
his feelings for his new ‘male’ servant. So, Viola loves Orsino, Orsino
loves Olivia and Olivia loves Cesario/Viola.
 TRICKING MALVOLIO

 Olivia’s butler, Malvolio, disapproves of all the other members of her household – her
drunken uncle Sir Toby Belch, his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek and her servants, Maria,
Feste and Fabia. Fed up with Malvolio constantly spoiling their fun, they decide to play a
practical joke on him.

 Malvolio is secretly in love with Olivia, and the others trick him into believing that these
feelings are returned. Maria forges a letter to Malvolio, supposedly from Olivia,
suggesting that she loves him and he should wear yellow stockings and smile all the time.
Malvolio does as the letter suggests, and Olivia thinks he has gone mad, so has him
locked up.
 SEBASTIAN RETURNS

 Viola's brother, Sebastian, who believes his sister is dead, arrives with
his friend and protector, Antonio, who rescued him from the shipwreck.

 Sebastian meets Olivia. She mistakes him for Cesario and asks him to
marry her, he agrees.
CONFUSION, COUPLING AND A HAPPY ENDING

 Lots of confusion follows around the mistaken identity of Sebastian and

Cesario, and exactly who is promised to whom. Eventually all is
revealed, the brother and sister are reunited and the love triangle is
resolved into two couples, Sebastian and Olivia, and Viola and Orsino.

 Finally, Viola discovers the trick that has been played on Malvolio, and
he's released from confinement.
 Dramatic Techniques in Twelfth Night

 Dramatic Irony- Dramatic irony is a situation in which the

audience or reader has a better understanding of events than
the characters in a story do.
Act 1, Scene 4

 In Act 1, Scene 4, Viola is disguised as Cesario. Her disguise

makes her fitting for the Duke’s mission of going to woo
Olivia on his behalf. Duke Orsino is not aware that Cesario is
a female. The audience/readers, however, know that Cesario
is Viola. This Dramatic Irony contributes to the theme of
‘Disguise’ in the play and acts as a driver for the development
of the play’s plot, since Orsino’s incognizance leads him to
task Viola with the mission.
In Act 1, Scene 5

 In Act 1, Scene 5, Viola, dressed as Cesario, meets the countess, Olivia. Olivia later

develops intimate love for her, not knowing that Cesario is a woman masked as a

man. The audience/readers, however, is/are aware that Cesario is Viola. This

dramatic technique creates suspense in the play, as the readers/audience, are/is

left to wonder how the plot of the play will unfold, when Olivia finds out that she is

in love with a woman. This technique also communicates the matter of unrequited

love, since it shows that Olivia does not love Orsino, the man who loves her.
Act 2, Scene 1

 In Act 2, Scene 1, Sebastian thinks that Viola is dead. Viola is however in

Illyria, the same country where Sebastian has landed. Similarly, Viola is not

aware that her brother is alive and that he is in Illyria. This lack of awareness

causes Sebastian to later be confused, when Illyrians, like Olivia, Sir Andrew

and Sir Toby, mistake him for Cesario. With the mistaken identity, plot

development occurs, as Olivia marries Sebastian and Sir Toby and Andrew

find themselves in physical conflict with Sebastian, since they think he is

Cesario. Both phenomena may not have taken place, had they known that

Sebastian was not Cesario.

Act 2, Scene 5

 In Act 2, Scene 5, Maria forges a letter to Malvolio that makes him

feel as if he is loved by Olivia. Malvolio, consequent of his ego,
quickly believes that the letter is from Olivia. Readers, along with
Sir Toby, Fabian and Andrew, however, are aware that the letter is
a “device” written by Maria and endorsed by Sir Toby, to get
Malvolio to humiliate himself. This dramatic irony contributes to
plot development as it leads Malvolio to actually embarrass
himself and then he is locked up in a dark room by Sir Toby.
 Aside

 An aside is a comment that a character makes to him or

herself in a play. It represents their inner thoughts in spoken

form. Other characters can’t overhear these remarks; they are

meant for the audience alone.

Act 1, Scene 4

 In Act 1, Scene 4, Cesario/Viola uses an aside. In this aside, she says that Duke

Orsino has given her a very tough task, since she has to go seek a woman for

the man she is in love with. Prior to this aside, readers did not know that she

loved Orsino. Through this aside, we see that because of Viola’s disguise, she

cannot show that she loves Orsino. She therefore has to mask her fondness for

Orsino, as she masks herself and takes on the mission.

 Soliloquy

 passage in a play in which a character expresses his thoughts

or feelings aloud while either alone upon the stage or with the
other actors keeping silent.
 Antonio’s Soliloquy

 In Act 2, Scene 1, Antonio confesses that he is an enemy of Orsino’s, the man whose
courts Sebastian is headed. The fact that he says that he will still go, despite how
dangerous it may be, is suggesting that Antonio really cares for Sebastian, to the
extent where it is seemingly homoerotic. However, there is nothing to confirm that his
love for Sebastian is not purely platonic. This soliloquy also communicates that the
love that one has for another, can cause one to endanger himself/herself.
Situational Irony

 Situational irony is when the outcome is the opposite or

completely different from what was expected.

 The fact that Feste is deemed a fool in the play, is ironic, since the traits he exhibits
are more that of a wise man. Feste is stigmatized as stupid, which fools in literature
have inflicted upon all fools, but Shakespeare created Feste as an astute fool, who
changes the perception of the role of fools. For example: when Maria had told him
that he is in trouble with the mistress and he will be punished, for being gone so
long, he says to her that “many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage”, and this
suggests that a bad marriage may take place, but death is better than having a sad
life.
.

 Also, when Olivia had instructed the men to take away Feste, Feste showed
her that he is not a fool, but rather that she is the fool, since she said that her
brother is in heaven, a place defined as being “a better place”, yet she is
mourning for her brother. His ability to prove Olivia, who is of the top of the
social ladder, as being foolish in her thinking, also indicates that he is not the
fool that he would be expected to be and this also communicates that his
thinking is far more superior and more logically sound, when his character is
weighed against Olivia’s.
 Foreshadowing

 Foreshadowing gives the audience hints or signs about the

future. It suggests what is to come through imagery,

language, and/or symbolism. It does not directly give away

the outcome, but rather, suggests it.

.

 In Act 1, Scene 1, Duke Orsino is infatuated with Olivia.

The fact that he said “so full of shapes is fancy, that it
alone is highly fantastical”, is suggestive of his own fancy
with Olivia. These words foreshadow the fact that his
feelings for Olivia, will drive his actions in the play; they
foreshadow his obsession with love and suggests that he
will be revealing a lot of his fantasies.
.

 Also, in Act 1, Scene 2, when Viola says to the captain that she wants him to
disguise her, we foresee that there will be consequences for her action and we
foresee that much deception and appearance versus reality will ensue.
Furthermore, when she says that, “for I can sing, and speak to him in many
sorts of music that will allow me very worth his service”, we get an eye into the
fact that Viola’s talents will win her the duke’s favour, which will give ground
for her disguise to be effective.
.

Themes in Twelfth Night

 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.
 Madness

 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.
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.