You have arrived at your destination… Illyria
Who Are the Characters We Meet? Sir Andrew Malvolio Maria The steward of Used to like Best Maid of friends Niece of Thinks Orsino Olivia Sir Toby she’s a man Friends Twin brother of Viola/Cesario Sebastian Antonio
Here in Illyria, Duke Orsino loves Lady Olivia but she is not interested as her father and brother have just died. Much to the Duke’s disappointment, she says that she is off men for seven years. Lovesick, he utters the famous line: “If music be the food of love, play on…”
Meanwhile, there is a shipwreck off the Illyrian coast and twins, Viola and Sebastian, get separated. Viola is saved by the captain of the ship. Thinking her brother is dead, she reluctantly goes onto land to find work. However, in order to find work, Viola has to disguise herself as a man and calls herself Cesario.
Dressed as a man, she finds work in Duke Orsino’s household but she instantly falls in love with him. However, he doesn’t know that she’s really a woman. Still trying to woo her, Duke Orsino uses Cesario as a messenger to Lady Olivia.
To further confuse things, while Cesario is visiting Lady Olivia with messages from Duke Orsino, Lady Olivia falls in love with Cesario! Little does she know that Cesario is really a woman!
Back in Lady Olivia’s household, the servants are getting fed up with the head servant, Malvolio, who is pompous, straight-laced and rude. So they, along with Olivia’s uncle Sir Toby Belch (who likes a drink, a sing and a party), decide to play a trick on him…
Maria, who is one of the other servants, writes a letter to Malvolio pretending it is from Lady Olivia. In it, she writes how that if he wants to earn her affection, he should dress in yellow stockings and crossed garters and smile constantly. Malvolio finds the letter and, filled with dreams of marrying Olivia and becoming noble himself, happily follows its commands. He behaves so strangely that Olivia comes to think that he is mad.
Do you remember Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother? Well, he also survived the shipwreck and has been brought to Illyria by Antonio.
Do you remember Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother? Well, he also Back in Lady Olivia’s household, Sir Andrew is also trying to win Olivia’s affections. He sees how she looks at Cesario and challenges him (her) to a duel. Sir Toby Belch sees this as great fun so eggs Sir Andrew on. Coincidentally, this is just as Sebastian arrives on the scene, and obviously looking exactly like Cesario, causes much confusion.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get more confusing… Olivia enters the scene and sees Sebastian, who she assumes is Cesario, and asks him to marry her. Sebastian is absolutely baffled by the whole thing as he has only just turned up and knows nothing of his sister’s life, thinking she is dead. However, Lady Olivia is wealthy and beautiful so he decides to go along with it.
Elsewhere on the island, Antonio, who is Sebastian’s friend that saved him from the shipwreck, has been arrested as he is an old enemy of Duke Orsino’s . Antonio sees Cesario at Orsino’s house and begs him to help thinking that he is his good friend, Sebastian. When he/she refuses, Antonio says Sebastian has betrayed him and this makes Viola think that her brother might still be alive.
Do you remember Malvolio – locked up for being mad and wearing yellow socks after the servants tricked him? Well, although they have kept on teasing him, he writes a letter to Lady Olivia asking to be released.
Now, Duke Orsino and Cesario go to Lady Olivia’s house where she now lives with her new husband, Sebastian, who she thinks is Cesario … Now with the twins in the same place for the first time, lots of double takes and looking around happen. Baffled and confused, they can’t all work out why there are apparently two of the same person! Obviously, the twins quickly realise what is happening and are jubilant to know each other is alive.
So, finally… Lady Olivia realises that she is married to Sebastian but they are both now happy. Realising Viola’s true identity, Duke Orsino falls in love with her and they also marry. Sir Toby Belch even marries the servant, Maria, with whom he has been tricking Malvolio. And, as for Malvolio … he gets released.
Facts about Twelfth Night It’s also often called ‘What You Will’ but was named ‘Twelfth Night’ as it was first performed near the date of the Twelfth Night, which was the 2 nd February 1602. In Shakespearean times, women were not allowed to act so the part of Viola would have been played by a man, acting the part of a woman pretending to be a man! The diarist Samuel Pepys described Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as ‘a silly play not relating at all to the name or day’.
Confusing, right? Watch the Shakespeare In Shorts version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFgRJFTDHDQ Your task is to use the information to create a character map, (look on slide 3 to help) and then pick a character and create a character profile!
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