Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (PDF)

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User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Bruce Colville’s Shakespeare picture books are a wonderful way to introduce your upper elementary child to Shakespeare! We read these, narrate, then watch the play by The Globe Theatre. Love these books and wish they were still in print.

⭐Fun book to reread over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over over and over and over and over again

⭐shipwrecked lady disguised as a gentleman woos another lady on behalf of duke with whom she falls in love

⭐It may be a sacrilege to give any work by the good old Bard a rating below 5 stars, but I have to say I was a bit underwhelmed with this particular play. Perhaps I expected too much after having read some of his other comedies, but this one seemed to fall substantially below the earlier ones I’ve read (‘Much Ado About Nothing,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “The Taming of the Shrew” and “As You Like It”).Initially, it showed promise: a rollicking comedy of errors with the Count Orsino intent upon wooing Lady Olivia, who instead falls for the cross-dressing Viola, who is doing the wooing on Orsino’s behalf and who herself is infatuated with Orsino! Things become all the more involved when Viola’s recently ship-wrecked twin brother Sebastian arrives and Olivia confuses him for the man she thought was Viola! This plotline was truly entertaining, yet another Shakespearian triumph in ingenuity. Unfortunately, while this was probably supposed to be the center of the story, a great deal of the play also revolves around Olivia’s drunken uncle Toby, her mischievous chambermaid Maria, her idiotic suitor Andrew and Feste, her fool. These were also quite riveting characters in their own way, but to me it seems rather unusual that they should have so many lines, while poor old lovelorn Orsino has so few. I would have liked to have seen him recite more amazing lines as he did early in the first scene (“If music be the food of love…”) His character did not lack depth in my opinion, only development. I would have also liked to hear more from Viola as herself, rather than as the man she pretended to be. And the conclusion, while it did tie together the loose ends seemed rather hasty. But, alas, who am I to critique Bill Shakespeare?!Taken in isolation, I would say this play was nevertheless quite absorbing and well worth reading! But taken in conjunction with his other plays, I would not rank this at the very top.

⭐The title refers to the Feast of Epiphany, or the twelfth day of Christmas, marking the last day/night of festivities (around January 6). The center of the play is the Countess Olivia, who finds herself a powerful person upon the death of her father then her beloved brother. Three main suitors for the heiress include Malvolio, an ambitious man who wants Olivia for her status and not her beauty. Duke Orsino thinks he loves her and he madly pursues her. The silly Sir Andrew Aguecheek is encouraged on by his friend Sir Toby, Olivia’s uncle, and Malvolio’s opposite. Where Malvolio is a fuddy-duddy and an orderly employee who chastises the staff for their misbehaviors, Toby is raucous and disorderly. Malvolio soon becomes the victim of pranks that darken the play’s comedy.The twins Viola and Sebastian are parallels to Olivia’s love story in certain ways. Ship-wrecked on Ilyria, the twins believe each other has been drowned. In her attempt to survive, Viola disguises herself as a young man and becomes servant to Orsino, who immediately likes his young page Cesario. Cesario (Viola)quickly becomes a confidant to Orsino, who sends Cesario off to woo Olivia for him. Olivia falls for Cesario and eventually wants to wed him. The plot develops as the love story switches gears.Another great character is Feste, the fool, whose role in court is to speak the truth without repercussions. His ridiculous superficial words belie his shrewdness. Characters who tolerate the fool are the good characters (like Olivia) and those who do not are villains (like Malvolio). But Shakespeare doesn’t allow Malvolio to be a stock character. When he is the victim of horrendous pranks, Olivia and the audience feel sorrow for his belittlement. Feste is the final speaker of the play, and his poignant words reveal a measured, mature picture of life which is anything but simple. We are encouraged to live life fully and to enjoy it.

⭐Twelfth Night is a typical Shakespearean comedy. It contains all the standard conceits: shipwrecks, mistaken identities, long lost kin and various love triangles. As per usual, these somehow get resolved harmoniously in the final scene.It is Shakespeare so of course there is ingenious wordplay, witticisms, etc. The character of the fool is particularly well drawn in Twelfth Night. He seems cleverer by half than the assorted aristocracy.However, most of the modern focus in Twelfth Night is because one of its main female protagonists disguises herself as a man, falls in love with a man and has a woman, who falls for the disguise, fall in love with her. This is all supposed to be very germane to modern gender studies/issues.I am not convinced Shakespeare really says much of relevance to contemporary cultural concerns but I am not an expert. These just don’t seem to me, as they do to other commentators, central to the play.What I found is another masterpiece of Shakespearean comedy. One can almost be forgetful of how lucky we are that Shakespeare wrote so many even if they do seem to revolve around similar plot conceits. Highly recommended (although it hardly needs another recommendation).

⭐Bought for my daughter for her English Literature A Level course.She loves the style and layout of this particular publisher.Having tried various other publications she found them to be a little confusing and disorganised due to the layout and lack of spacing.This version allows her space to write her own notes plus there is a clear visual definition between each speaking character, making it much easier and clearer to pick out specific parts.In her opinion this is a fantastic must have for English Literature at A Level.

⭐This was offered free of charge. Unlike some of the free offers for old plays the format in this case was absolutely fine, with words spoken and stage instructions clearly distinguished from each other. Not my favourite Shakespeare play – not enough substance in it – but well worth reading.

⭐Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s liveliest and most accessible romantic comedies – but also deals intelligently with issues of gender, sexual desire, class and social harmony.The enchanting story of Viola dressed as the page Cesario, with whom both Orsino and Orsino’s erstwhile object of desire fall in love, is filled with rapturous poetry that articulates love, desire and romantic melancholy. But these central relationships are modulated by Malvolio’s desire for his mistress Olivia, the bawdy comedy of Sir Toby Belch, and Antonio’s unrequited desire for Viola’s twin, Sebastian.Ultimately social harmony is restored – but the portrait of Malvolio gives us an insight, perhaps, into how characters such as Edmund in King Lear, and Iago are created.So a sunny, feel-good romantic comedy, but shaded lightly by a darker tinge.

⭐The Arden Shakespeare series are the best commentry on Shakespeare around. If you’re studying Twelfth Night for exams, coursework or for performance (either directing or performing), then this book will be essential to get the best from the play.Being only second series, it does suffer from a slightly confusing layout in comparison to the third series (Twelfth Night 3rd Edition being released in Winter 2007), however, it still has an awesome in-depth analysis of the play text, and a very interesting 100page essay at the start to give an overview of the play which provides choices for the actor, or ideas for the essay-writer.Definately worth a buy.

⭐Normally I hate Shakespeare comedies but as I am seeing it in January i thought I would read it first. Too my astonishment I really enjoyed it and the comedy comes through beautifully. Maybe it was because I was forced to study As you like it. I may enjoy it more at my own leisure. Bawdy, sexual but subtle. Great footnotes by the RSC edition. Funny too- Adrian Edmondson as Malvolio- can’t wait.

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