| Marriage at the end is an element of comedy. Marriage and self-realisation is at the end of Twelfth Night. | Francis Cornford |
| His main character drinks and his behaviour is therefore laughed at. He sings and dances. This is an early form of comedy, and Toby seems to embody this rebellious attitude of Illyria. He is over-indulgent and the social order seems to be inverted (he marries Maria, a servant). | ‘The Arcarnians’ – Aristophanes |
| Twelfth Night’s comedy is largely based on disguise, deception and mistaken identity. There is an element of dramatic irony here: the audience knows what is going on and who the characters really are, but the characters don’t. | Francis Cornford – Twelfth Night’s comedy |
| People ridicule outsiders, encouraging them to purge themselves of antisocial traits and characteristics. | Henri Bergson |
| People must put emotions aside in order to laugh at others. We may feel pity on people, but this pity is set aside to laugh at them e.g. Malvolio | Henri Bergson |
| “An absence of feeling…usually accompanies laughter” | Henri Bergson |
| “Shakespeare presents Illyria’s society as emotionless and unsympathetic” – On one levels, neither Olivia and Orsino can love properly as they haven’t been awakened to real emotions and then the community seems rather merciless and unsympathetic when it comes to tolerating and accepting outsiders. | Henri Bergson |
| Narrative patterns are ‘usually divided into 4 main phases: the four seasons’ | Northrop Frye |
| Shakespeare’s comedies have a spirit of regeneration which align with the natural rhythm of the seasons’ | Northrop Frye |
| Spring is the transitional period between hardship + repose (a state of rest). | Northrop Frye |
| A place where urban problems can be worked out. Court + city rules no longer apply and gender distinctions are disregarded. People are free from expectations of normal world. | Northrop Frye – ‘The Green World’ |
| Shakespeare criticised for use of ‘Green World’ – too perfect + unrealistic. Enchanted place where normal business of town is suspended and everybody enjoys the easy life of the holiday e.g. Toby. | Northrop Frye – Shakespeare’s criticisms |
| Feste’s song (‘In the wind and the rain’), suggest a return to normality. People of Illyria are somewhat grounded in an element of real life through the arrival of Sebastian + Viola. It seems that the luxury of the idyllic ‘Green World’ can’t last forever, and there will be a time when festivities must come to an end. Festivity stems from celebration of Pagan gods – Dionysus. | Feste’s song |
| Viola is a life force in Illyria – she is like the spring bringing the stagnant world of Illyria out of the barren winter (the infertile love of Orsino and Olivia) | Northrop Frye |
| “It is not the story that makes it great, it is the way it is told” | Robert Smallwood |
| There is hope throughout the play. Following Orsino’s scene of self-pitying, Viola adds an element of hope to the play: ‘perchance he is saved?’. This reassures the audience that the ending will be a happy one, so we can happy enjoy the confusion of identity. Even when it seems bleak, it will be ok : ‘This knot is too hard for me to untie’. | Robert Smallwood |
| Hate + Love story. Love story – young beautiful characters with romantic, Italian names e.g. Viola, Olivia, Orsino etc. Hate story – older characters, whose names suggest bodily functions – ‘Aguecheek’ and ‘Belch’. | Robert Smallwood |
| ‘People do silly things for love, which they attempt to rationalise for themselves” (For Malvolio, wearing yellow stockings would be pretty normal if he thinks that is what Olivia willed) | Pamela Mason |
| Viola is good with her words: it is not her that Olivia is responding to, it is her words. | Pamela Mason |
| Viola awakens Olivia’s desire to be loved by such an intense emotion, which she hasn’t experienced yet. | Pamela Mason |
| Masculinity and femininity challenged. Stereotypes challenged with the possibility of homosexuality. | Catherine Belsey |
| Illyria is a place of ‘erotic madness’ | Jan Koff |
Twelfth Night AO5 quotes (critical quotes)
July 12, 2019