Viola | main female character; has a twin brother Sebastian; disguises herself as a male Cesario; in love with Orsino |
Cesario | Viola’s male disguise |
Orsino | a duke; in love with Olivia; very self-centered and thinks highly of himself |
Olivia | brother has recently died; falls in love with Cesario; constantly rejects Orsino |
Feste | “a wise fool” |
Sir Toby Belch | Olivia’s kin; always drunk |
Sir Andrew | friends with Sir Toby (he always pays for their drinks); manipulated by Sir Toby to do idiotic things |
Maria | Olivia’s gentlewoman; plots against Malvolio |
Malvolio | Olivia’s steward; tormented by Sir Toby & Maria |
Fabian | one of Olivia’s servants, minor character |
Valentine | Orsino’s courtier; previously had Cesario’s job of delivering messages to Olivia |
Curio | another one of Orsino’s courtiers |
Sebastian | Viola’s twin brother; thought to be dead, later revealed to have survived |
Antonio | Sebastian’s companion; in love with Sebastian |
Illyria | setting of the play; sounds like Elysium- suggests that it could be a friendly, dreamlike place |
meaning of “Twelfth Night or What You Will” | Twelfth night is the 12th day after Christmas, where everything was allowed; men could dress like women, women like men, fools could dress like their king, etc.. This is shown by Viola dressing as a man. |
theme of duality/mirroring | this theme is based off of “doubles” or “twins”: Sebastian and Viola are twins & Viola/Cesario has a double identity. |
simile | comparison using the words “like”, “as”, or “than”. ex: like Arion on the dolphin’s back. |
metaphor | makes a direct comparison between two things using a verb of beingex: Although her mouth smiled, her eyes were ice. |
personification | gives human qualities to something that is not human. |
allusion | referencing another form of literature (a poem, novel, etc.) |
pun | a play on words where the same sound has different meaningex: Orsino’s play on “heart” and “hart” |
aside | A dramatic convention by which an actor directly addresses the audience but it is not supposed to be heard by the other actors on the stage. |
soliloquy | A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. |
dramatic irony | situation of a drama that is understood by the audience but not known by the characters in the play. |
ticket name | a character name which also has symbolic meaning ex: Valentine delivers messages of LOVE |
direct characterization | when the author directly describes character |
indirect characterization | when the author subtly reveals the character through actions and interactions. |
Twelfth Night – Act 1-3
July 2, 2019