Choose 2 scenes in Twelfth Night and state how you would direct them

In studying William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will, it becomes clear that the theme of “Inside/Outside” is visible at many different levels. One of the comedic methods applied is the mistaken identity of Viola and Sebastian. Another case is Malvolio’s sudden change of character and clothes. Furthermore, Feste, who acts as a professional fool in the play, turns out to be a bright and wise character, against the expectations of the readers. Without these important elements where the characters show to be entirely different on the outside than on the inside, the play would be less intriguing, and moreover, they are essential to develop major scenes.

After hearing the captain, Viola then asks him “Who governs here?” (I, ii, 24), to which he replies that a Duke named Orsino does. This interests the Viola, as she believes the duke to be a bachelor. However, she is told by the captain that this may not be true, as the duke has fallen in love with a woman named Olivia, who has sworn off marriage, due to her brother’s recent death. Viola, wishing to serve Olivia, asks the captain to conceal her as eunuch, so that she may present herself to the duke and win his favor. This chapter presents another main character, Viola, who, like Olivia, has lost her brother. As a result of this, we begin to see a connection form between those two, which leads Viola to want to serve Olivia. However, despite the obvious connection between the two, a key difference remains: unlike Olivia, Viola is able to continue to function despite the loss of her brother. The setting of this chapter is on the seacoast of Illyria, as revealed by the captain. Finally, the main theme of this scene is deception, This theme is very clearly displayed by Viola, as she plans to use a disguise to fool the duke, infiltrate his palace, and gain his trust. The theme is directly mentioned by any of the characters, but is instead implied through their actions.

In spite of the promise of three weddings to be celebrated, the play concludes on a sour note when Feste, the clown, depicts life as grim, "for the rain it raineth every day" (Act V Scene i). They play’s primary central theme is that of the comic relationships between men and women. Furthermore, it illustrates the traditional, societal notions of “interdependence, and the newly emerging attitudes towards individual choice and personal desire, or as the play puts it, ‘will’” (Malcolmson 163). Although Twelfth Night is a story of love and courtship, nevertheless, it is also a “comedy of gender,” because of its ability to override the traditional Elizabethan notions of the female role through the characters of Viola and Olivia.

Yet the atmosphere of the play may render Malvolio’s aspirations less unreasonable than they initially seem. The feast of Twelfth Night, from which the play takes its name, was a time when social hierarchies were turned upside down. That same spirit is alive in Illyria: indeed, Malvolio’s antagonist, Maria, is able to increase her social standing by marrying Sir Toby. But it seems that Maria’s success may be due to her willingness to accept and promote the anarchy that Sir Toby and the others embrace. This Twelfth Night spirit, then, seems to pass by Malvolio, who doesn’t wholeheartedly embrace the upending of order and decorum but rather wants to blur class lines for himself alone.

I believed that this scene is meant to represent a significant moment and this is what I was trying to aim for. I tried to make this unique by the music, cinematic techniques and the imagery. The music, which was the song “kissing you” is very soft and slow which relates to their movement and their intense attractions. The close up on their faces with their gazes between them conveys the attraction. Throughout this scene I have adjusted it by making it for a contemporary audience. The costumes, the event, the transportation were all modernised. The event wasn’t as sophisticated as the original, was changed to a party environment. The amount of wealth determined the loss of self-control which interpreted criminal acts, which I feel represents us as a community in today’s society. The language, I decided to keep the same because I feel that removing the language will eliminate the uniqueness that Shakespeare interpreted.

To enhance Shakespeare’s ideas and thoughts in Romeo and Juliet, I have created an additional scene in which represents the key stylistic features of the original play. The setting which my additional scene is placed in is just after Romeo is banished from Verona, and is now placed talking to the Montague cook about his issues. I chose to set my scene in this setting because I believe that the movie would benefit from this scene as it would add a whole new mindset of thinking for the audience. This is because my scene shows the pure emotion and feelings that Romeo has and he expresses his views and opinions thoroughly.

Explore the ways in which Romeo and Juliet are presented in this scene and elsewhere in Shakespeare’s play, and the performed versions.

Throughout the play, these characters present many emotions and personalities that change as the play progresses. Many of these emotions and personalities can relate to modern society

In his famous comedy, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare took a conventional comedic concept and constructed a fool character that inserts an intricacy and resonance to his work. This fool is completely placed distant from society and moreover disregards or is unable to reflect the model of society in which he finds himself. The fool is identified as the inferior in society, where he stands lower in the class system. Olivia states this notion by saying “There is no slander in an allowed fool though he do nothing but rail” (I.v. 83-84). The fool in Twelfth Night, Feste, whose insider-outsider position as a professional fool, supports him to obtain steadiness among the surrounding contradictions in a way that is unlike any other character in this play. He stuns and puzzles; persuades conjecture; and he works as a mediator between the play and audience. As stated by Walter Kaiser, it is when Feste mocks the characters’ flaws and turns to his wits to “create laughter, to teach us the truth, and to embody paradoxes.” By walking on this fine line, Feste reveals the foolishness and truths of the other characters.

Superficiality and self-love are two qualities that can lead to a lot of pain and suffering. A person that only cares about superficial things and is egotistical is bound to live a life filled with unhappiness and regret. Shakespeare’s famous play Twelfth Night shows us the harmful effects of superficiality and self-love. Many of the characters in the play have these two bad qualities and suffer a great deal because of them. In this paper, I will be analyzing how the suffering in the play is caused by the characters’ superficiality and self-love. I will begin by examining the superficiality and self –love of the society in the play. Then I will look at how this superficiality is manifested through the characters of Orsino, Olivia, and Malvolio. Next, I will analyze the consequences their superficiality of has. To continue I will analyze how Viola educates the society of the play, especially Orsino and Olivia, on how took beyond their superficial values. To do this I will look at how she teaches them how to overcome their superficial mindset and learn how to truly love. To conclude I will discuss the implications Shakespeare is trying to make about the society of his time by making the society of Twelfth Night this way. All in all, the self-love and superficiality that are a part of the society of characters of Twelfth Night help illustrate the kind of society Shakespeare lived in.

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night can easily be interpreted as a romance play. Given that the majority of the characters in the play in some way or another fall in love, but there are many twists that come with these romantic relationships. Some of the characters fall in love with the same character, others fall in love with a character that loves another, who actually loves another causing a chaotic love triangle. Within every romance a character is tragically hurt, turning the romance play into more of a tragedy. Throughout the play the characters throw around a rigid construction of the term “love,” that of a desire and not an actual feeling. Therefore, again turning the play away from a romance play, but now turning it towards a mocked romance play. The aspect that is manipulated causing all the misinterpretation is the representation of the term love, which is implicated by using multiple characters different scenarios of their love. The main characters reside in somewhat of a love triangle, Olivia, Viola, and Orsino. Love is often aligned with lust, stability, and class. None of which defines love as a sense of true selflessness. In the representation of love the reader interprets no selfless actions done to express their love to one another. Love is shown more as an obsession implied on the thought of love with respect to many alternative motives, which also show a lack of love being understood by the characters. In result, of the various representation of love

Throughout Twelfth Night, or What You Will, Shakespeare challenges the notion of the heteronormative social standard of 1601, when the play was performed. The comedy is Shakespeare’s only play to have two titles, and is titled in reference to the Elizabethan nativity, or the twelfth night of the Christmas celebration. Circa 1600 during the reign of Elizabeth I, this holiday was celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down, much like the innately chaotic world of Illyria, in which the play takes place. The main character and protagonist, Viola, is continuously met with instances of mistaken identity, romantic frustration, homosexuality, and the overall foolishness that the play is intended to exude. In implicating

Viola breaks down the old constraints of the patriarchal society, which expresses the idea of the modern female ideal slowly coming into course. This would have been quite a challenge to an audience during that time. Critic Laura Jastrem talks about the importance of twisting gender roles and the impact it had on a Renaissance audience. “Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night examines patterns of love and courtship through a twisting of gender roles.. the duality of word meanings in this passage (Act 3) threaten to turn the traditional patriarchal concept of courtship upside down.. Perhaps the biggest upset to the traditional structure is the possibility that Olivia may be in love with a woman”.

Exploration of the Ways that Shakespeare Makes Act One Scene Five of Romeo and Juliet Dramatically Effective

Topics involving cross-dressing, homosexuality, and marginalized positions of gender have been in circulation for years, and William Shakespeare is no novice when expanding on these particular subjects within Twelfth Night. A play most popular for its ambiguous characters unruly romance, and slapstick comedy, Twelfth Night displays the ultimate love triangle that pans out when Viola washes ashore the city of Illyria and takes on the appearance of a man. Viola, now known as Cesario, finds work with the the Duke of Illyria, developing romantic feelings for the Duke as time progresses. Ironically, Viola-Cesario’s job as a messenger is to deliver the Duke’s vow of love to Countess Olivia, who in turn, becomes infatuated with Viola as Cesario, instead. The confusion of hormones is not resolved until Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian, joins the picture. He is accompanied by his savior, Antonio, who just so happens to have affections for Sebastian, adding to Shakespeare’s viewpoint of gender and sexuality during this point in time. Through a modern lens, it is easy to acknowledge that William Shakespeare opens the (closet) door to sexuality and travels beyond the traditional beliefs of gender roles in society.