Twelfth Night critics quotes *

Dr Emma Smith More feel uneasy than feel good
Harold Bloom on genre Twelfth Night is of no genre
Harry Levin on Malvolio and ambition As a sycophant, a social climber and an officious snob, [Malvolio] well deserves to be put back in his place
Keirnan Ryan 2002 on gender identity [Shakespeare suggests] sexual identity is more plural, discontinuous and volatile
Joseph H.Summers, 1995 on masks Every character has his mask
M.E. Lamb 1980 on malvolio and change Malvolio is mad in his refusal to change
Dr Emma Smith on Feste His role is to point out the truths other characters don’t want to hear
Carol Thomas Needy – Malvolio Malvolio serves as a scapegoat who is punished for flaws others share
Simon Gray – Antonio Lingers in the memory to remind us that Illyria is after all an illusion that has been fashioned out of much potential and some actual pain
Penny Gay – class Elizabethan concern with class is at the centre of this play
Dr Emma Smith on Feste’s function Feste is a function, not a character
C L Barber on gender The most fundamental distinction the play brings home is the difference between men and women
Jean E Howard on Olivia Olivia, the real threat to the social order, gets punished
Valerie Traub – Viola’s self discovery It is as the object of another women’s desire that Cesario finds her own erotic voice
Homer Swander on Malvolio The malvolios of the world mean the death to the spirit of twelfth night
Tassi on Maria Maria is morally depraved and far worse than the ill witted malvolio
Tassi on Maria and Nemesis Maria takes the part of Nemesis … and gives what is due
July 27, 2019