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Notes on historical context in Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT
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Document containing notes on historical context, including themes of gender, sexuality, class, religion and genre.
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Twelfth Night ContextGenre as a Shakespearean comedy
Shakespeare was familiar with classical (Greek and Latin) comedy. Greek "old comedy" (e.g.
Aristophanes, ca.448-380 B.C.) was generally satirical and frequently political. He used every kind of
humour from the slapstick through sexual jokes to satire and literary parody. Greek "new comedy"
(e.g. Menander, ca. 343-291 B.C.) involved sex and seduction and often showed youth outwitting old
age. Features of Shakespearean comedy include:
● A greater emphasis on situations than characters (this numbs the audience's connection to
the characters, so that when characters experience misfortune, the audience still finds it
laughable).
● A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty, often presented by elders
● Separation and reunification
● Deception among characters (especially mistaken identity)
● A clever servant
● Use of all styles of comedy (slapstick, puns, dry humour, earthy humour, witty banter,
practical jokes)
● Pastoral element (courtly people living an idealised, rural life), originally an element of
Pastoral Romance, exploited by Shakespeare for his comic plots and often parodied therein
for humorous effects
● Comedy frequently began with misfortune (a storm, an argument, an impediment to love)
and the plot then worked towards a happy ending usually involving marriages
● Frequently (but not always), it contains elements of the improbable, the fantastic, the
supernatural, or the miraculous, e.g. unbelievable coincidences, improbable scenes of
recognition/lack of recognition, wilful disregard of the social order (nobles marrying
commoners, beggars changed to lords), instantaneous conversions (the wicked repent),
enchanted or idealised settings...
● In the best of the mature comedies, there is frequently a philosophical aspect involving
weightier issues and themes: personal identity; the importance of love in human existence;
the power of language to help or hinder communication; the transforming power of poetry
and art; the disjunction between appearance and reality; the power of dreams and illusions
Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night has an alternative title: What You Will. Critics are divided over what the two titles
mean, but “Twelfth Night” is usually considered to be a reference to Epiphany, or the twelfth night
of the Christmas celebration (January 6). In Shakespeare’s day, this holiday was celebrated as a
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