| Olivia | A01 – Mourning due to death off her brother in ship wreck, adverse to courtly lover, yet adopts same persona when in love.A03 – All male cast – Mark Rylance.Marriage was a contract between the wealthy, romance was served for art, poetry and literatureA02 – “baited it with th’unmuzzled thoughts” – hunting imagery, Elizabethan society.”what is your parentage””every particle and utensil labeled to my will as item; two lips, indifferent red””how apt the poor are to be proud””even so quickly may one catch the plague” – love and sicknessA05 – Olivia and Orsino both refer to the attractions of Cesario’s lips which justifies the trend un modern stage production for kisses on lips (2017 national theatre).Joseph H summers – ‘Orsino and Olivia accept their aristocratic ideas of love, also the ideas of the romantic lover and the grief stricken lady’Ashely Perko – ‘she knows the power of her beauty over men and wields it against Cesario’ |
| Viola | A01 – her disguise is a way of keeping her brother alive.A03 – homoeroticism was illegal and transgenders were unheard of it was thought Shakespeare had a male lover who in which his dark sonnets are addressed to Shakespeare had a son “hamnet” who was a twin but died.A02 – “she never told of her love but let concealment feed on her damask cheek like a worm i’the bud””I am not what I am””my father had a daughter loved a man””make me a willow cabin at your gate””an apple cleft in two is not more twin that these”urgent questions and decisive speech juxtaposes Orsino’s comfortable melancholy speech.A05 – Zoe Wanamaker ‘catalyst of the play’ (Viola royal Shakespeare theatre 1983-4)Ashley Perko ‘it is as Viola that she should be pitied, in love but unloved; it is as Cesario she is loved”Walter Kaizer ‘a masculine bossiness with a feminine allurement’ Harold Bloom ‘for who else would fall in love with the self intoxicated Orsino?’ |
| Orsino | A01 – in love the idea of love/ego rather than Olivia.A03 – courtly lover.important for men to display valour as to not be confused for a girl.uses hunting imagery and violent and misogynistic.A02 – “will you be my masters mistress””if music be the food of love play on””kill what I love? a savage jealousy””let my see you in thy women weeds””ill sacrifice the lamb that I do love””I too have been like the hart hunted by my desires”A05 – shocked at himself for wanting to kiss Cesario – relived the he finds his feeling were heterosexual – Trevor nuns 1996. sexual report.Harold bloom ‘self intoxicated Orsino’Joseph H summers – ‘Orsino accepts his aristocratic view of love, the ideas of the romantic lover and the grief stricken lady’ |
| Malvolio | A01 – treated badly for being propped and wanting to please the lady of the house.A03 – puritanesqe steward who abandons abstinence in the strive for status.Oliver Cromwell – shut down theatre, puritans got their revenge.Puritans mocked.A02 – “ill be revenged on the whole pack of you””if I crush the a little I bows to me””calling my officers about me in my branched velvet gown””are you mad?””if you don’t minister occasion to him he is gagged”A05 – Kenneth Branagh production – sadistic treatment, feel empathy for him”2011 Globe production – purely slapstick, he deserves what he gets.Manningham ‘we must laugh at him and then feel embarrassed for laughing’Richard levin ‘Malvolio’s gullibility reveals that he is yet to measure certain of the more cynical elements in life around him’ |
| Sir Toby | A01 – relies on Olivia goodwill to stay in her household A03 – jovial festivities – always drunk and rude.A02 – “a thin face knave – a gull?””I could marry this wench for this device!””for Andrew if he were opened and you find so much blood in his liver as will clog the foot of a flea””art thou anymore than a steward”A05 – 2017 National theatre – slapstick drunk.William Shamekan ‘shakespeare subtly hinted at a major change in Sir Toby’s character that takes place after the last scene on stage’ |
| Sir Andrew | A01 – slow witted, cowardly – treated badly by Toby.A03 – compared to slender in the Merry wives of Windsor.A02 – “I know twas I for many do call me fool””I was adored once too””good mistress Mary accost””thing faced knave, a gull”A05 – critic ‘Andrew has an individuality which exceeds his function in the play’William Hazlitt ‘Andrew Is a mere echo and shadow of the heroes of his adoration’ |
| Maria | A01 – revealer, behind the plot to Malvolio, low social ranking.A03 -Maria is remarkably similar to her antagonist, Malvolio, who harbors aspirations of rising in the world through marriage. However, Maria succeeds where Malvolio fails—perhaps because she is more in tune than Malvolio with the anarchic, topsy-turvy spirit that animates the play.A02 – “now I let go your hand I am barren””I could marry this wench for this device and ask for no other dowry with her but such””What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my lady have not called up her steward Malvolio and bid him turn you out of doors”A05 – whoop editorial team ‘she is saucy, sharp tongued and knows how to put the drunken noblemen in their place’Kaitlin oglesby ‘she is not only a jokester but she is seen as the rational one and the architect of the jokes in her group of co-conspirators’ |
| Sebastian | A01 – the arrival of Sebastian reassures the audience that the resolutions to the dilemmas created by violas disguise, involving Orsino, Olivia and sir Andrew will be benign.A03 – Shakespeare had a son who was a twin called Hamnet who diedA02 – “with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more””the malignancy of my fate””how have the hours racked and tortured me since I have lost thee!””a spirit I am indeed but am in that dimension grossly clad, which from the womb I did participate”A05 – Jan Kott ‘love an desire pass rom a youth to a girl and a girl to a youth. Cesario is viola, viola is SebastianNancy Lindlhiem ‘inexplicably compliant with oivias wish for an instant betrothal he nevertheless will be a lap dog; he enters a sword fight in a matter of honour’ |
| Antonio | A01 – a wanted man after engaging in a sea fight, save Sebastian, only character in three play who knows whom he loves and articulates it, he acts selflessly because of it.A03 – homoerotisim was illegal in Shakespearean era. is it Philia love?A02 – “I do adore thee so””it grieves me much more for what I cannot do for you””with such sanity of love…did I devotion””My desire, More sharp than filèd steel, did spur me forth”A05 – Bertrand Evans ‘Shakespeare has balanced our awareness between laughter and pain’ Charles Casey ‘Anotonio and Sebastian have proven the more fertile ground for queer enquiry they are unquestionably homosexual in a play who’s recurring theme is bisexuality’Austin Brown ‘it is not Sebastian masculinity to which Antonio is attracter but rather his physical and social manifestation of femininity’ |
| Love | “If music be the food of love, play on” – Orsino “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence””Make me a willow cabin at your gate, And call upon my soul within the house” – Viola |
| Appearance VS Reality | “Conceal me what I am””Diana’s lip Is not more smooth and rubious” – Orsino”An apple, cleft in two, is not more twin” |
| Deception | “I am not what I play””I wear not motley in my brain””Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing””my father had a daughter loved a man” |
| Comedy and Carnivalesque | “Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage””Do you not hear, fellows? Take away the lady””I am indeed not her fool but her corrupter of words””But that’s all one, our play is done, And we’ll strive to please you every day” |
| madness | “my masters are you mad””why this is very midsummer madness””go hang yourselfs all you are idle shallow things”smiling at Olivia and being happy when she mentions “to bed” – cross darted, yellow stockings |
| time | “and thus the whirligig of time brings about its revenges””until time can tell not I, it is too hard a knot for me to untie””3 months ago”2017 – sun dial |
| music | “the rain it raineth everyday””if music be the food of love play on””three many men””for I can sing and speak to him in many sorts of music” |
| melancholy | “I was adored once too””he has been most notoriously abused””2 lips, indifferent red””will you be my masters misstress””I do adore thee so” |
Twelfth Night
July 21, 2019