Twelfth Night
A romantic comedy of mistaken identity and festive revelry.
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Its plot draws on Barnabe Rich's story "Of Apollonius and Silla," which itself derives from a tale by Matteo Bandello.[1] The play resolves through the reunion of Sebastian and Viola and the marriage of Orsino and Viola.[2] "Twelfth Night" incorporates musical interludes and disorderly behavior that were typical of the festive occasion it depicts.[1]
Quick Facts
- Type
- Play
- Author
- William Shakespeare
- Genre
- Romantic comedy
- Setting
- Illyria
Facts from the source article.
Key facts and history
The play's setting is Illyria, an ancient region of the Western Balkans along the eastern Adriatic coast.[3] This coast covers modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania.[3] Illyria included the city-state of the Republic of Ragusa, now Dubrovnik, Croatia, proposed as the play's setting.[3] The play contains English allusions, such as Viola's cry "Westward ho!" used by 16th-century London boatmen.[4]
Another English allusion is Antonio's recommendation of "The Elephant" as a lodging, a pub near the Globe Theatre.[4] Shakespeare expanded the play's musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of that occasion.[1]
What the cited sources add
A 2004 Cambridge University Press edition of "Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will" notes the English allusions in the play's setting.[5][4]
References
- Wikipedia, "Twelfth Night" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Thomson, "Shakespeare's Theatre", Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983, p. 94 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Twelfth Night" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Twelfth Night (Modern) :: Internet Shakespeare Editions", internetshakespeare.uvic.ca (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Twelfth Night" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Torbarina, "The Settings of Shakespeare's Plays", Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia, June 1964, p. 21–59 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Twelfth Night" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Shakespeare, "Twelfth night, or, What you will", Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 7 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Open Library record, ISBN 9780521827928 ("Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will"). CC0 (metadata); book content not read. openlibrary.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Twelfth Night (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Plays & Drama
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Twelfth Night (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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