ELIT 17

ELIT 17Class 5

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AGENDALecture: Shakespeare: the manTwelfth NightDiscussion Discussion QuestionsQHQsRecitation: Late sign-ups

William Shakespeare

The Early yearsBorn in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England on or near April 23, 1564

Son of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker and leather merchant, and Mary Arden.

Received a good education with heavy focus on grammar and literature

William ShakespeareMarriage, Family, and the lost yearsOn November 28, 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. William was 18 at the time, and Anne was 26 and pregnant.

Their first daughter, Susanna, was born on May 26, 1583. The couple later had twins, Hamnet and Judith, born February 2, 1585. Hamnet died at age 11.

For seven years, William Shakespeare disappeared from all records, turning up in London circa 1592. These are sometimes called The lost years.

Shakespeare lived in London in the late 1500s.

England was a rich and powerful nation under the leadership of Queen Elizabeth I, and the theater was thriving, yet acting was not a well-respected profession at this time.

Shakespeare joined a theater company called the Lord Chamberlains Men (which King James I later called the King's Men) and was successful as an actor, poet, and a playwright.

By 1594, he was not only acting and writing for the company but was a managing partner.

William Shakespeare allegedly died on his birthday, April 23, 1616. This is probably more of a romantic myth than reality, but Shakespeare was buried at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25, 1616. Shakespeare was a well-loved writer in his lifetime; and now, 400 years later, he is the most produced playwright in the world.

Play OriginsTwelfth Night, or, What You Will is a comedy byWilliam Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 160102 as an entertainmentfor the close of the Christmas season. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion,with plot elements drawn from the short story "Of Apollonius and Silla" byBarnabe Rich, based on a story byMatteo Bandello. The first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, atCandlemas, the formal end ofChristmastidein the year's calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623First Folio.

The Feast of the EpiphanyTwelfth Night is the holiday celebrated on the night after the twelfth day after Christmas, the Feast of Epiphany. The Feast of Epiphany marked the arrival of the Three Wise men who brought gifts to baby Jesus, but the traditions celebrating the holiday actually stemmed from medieval customs that were carried on through Renaissance times, customs that actually go all the way back to Ancient Roman culture. In medieval England the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started onAll HallowsEve On this day the King and all those who were high-born would become the peasants and vice versa.

One way in which we see both medieval and Renaissance culture represented in Twelfth Night is through the play's connection to the the holiday. All Hallows Eve, or Halloween, continued all the way until the Twelfth Night, which also marked the winter solstice festival that was celebrated in Ancient Rome. At winter solstice, the Sun's orbit progresses to the point that the Northern Hemisphere of the earth starts turning to face the sun, while the Southern Hemisphere starts turning away from the sun. Hence the Lord of Misrule, a peasant ruling over society rather than a king ruling over society, represents the world turning upside down. Furthermore, the association with Halloween explains the masquerades and revelries characteristic of both Twelfth Night and Halloween that Shakespeare clearly portrays in his play Twelfth Night.

Characters and Plot

Let me ask you!Who is in this play?What is going on?

Characters

Viola, castaway, disguised as a man called Cesario, in service to OrsinoOrsino, Duke of Illyria, wooing OliviaOlivia, a countess, resisting Orsino's wooingSebastian, castaway, twin brother to Viola, thought deadMalvolio, steward (sort of a head butler) to Olivia, imagines himself equal to his lady.Maria, a Lady in waiting in Olivia's householdSir Toby Belch, Olivia's drunken uncleSir Andrew Aguecheek, a simple- minded companion of Sir Toby's, wooing OliviaFeste, Olivia's jester

The PlotViola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria. She swims ashore, but she loses contact with Sebastian, whom she believes to have drowned. Disguising herself as a young man under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino through the help of the sea captain who rescued her. Orsino has convinced himself that he is in love with Olivia, whose father and brother have recently died, and who does not wish to see any suitor till seven years, the Duke included. Orsino uses Cesario as a messenger to profess his passionate love before Olivia. Olivia, believing Viola to be a man, falls in love with this handsome and eloquent messenger, while Viola has fallen in love with the Duke who regards her as his close friend.

In GroupsDiscuss your answers to the homework questions and your QHQs.

QuestionsCompare and contrast the misidentification in Twelfth Night with that from A Comedy of Errors.

Question: Is Viola (Cesario) a Trickstar?

FOOL Good madonna, give me leave to prove you a fool.OLIVIA Can you do it?FOOL Dexteriously, good madonna.OLIVIA Make your proof.FOOL I must catechize you for it, madonna. Good mymouse of virtue, answer me.OLIVIA Well, sir, for want of other idleness, Ill bideyour proof.FOOL Good madonna, why mournst thou?OLIVIA Good Fool, for my brothers death.FOOL I think his soul is in hell, madonna.OLIVIA I know his soul is in heaven, Fool.FOOL The more fool, madonna, to mourn for yourbrothers soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool,Gentlemen. (56-70)

How does the clown prove that Olivia is a fool? Is he correct or incorrect in his assessment? (Act I Scene 5) Explain your answer with evidence from the text.

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OLIVIA Have you any commission from your lord tonegotiate with my face? You are now out of yourtext. But we will draw the curtain and show you thepicture. (She removes her veil) Look you, sir, such aone I was this present. Is t not well done?

VIOLA Excellently done, if God did all.

OLIVIA Tis in grain, sir; twill endure wind andweather.

VIOLA Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and whiteNatures own sweet and cunning hand laid on.Lady, you are the cruelst she aliveIf you will lead these graces to the graveAnd leave the world no copy.

OLIVIA O, sir, I will not be so hard-hearted! 242

Consider common practices of traditional wooing. In what way would they be different from Cesarios endeavors to woo Olivia for Duke? Act I, Scene 5, 166-280

In this clip we see the longer dialogue from the wooing scene. The clip stars Mark Rylance and Johnny Flynn in 'Twelfth Night' at 'The Globe' 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qrQBGxQa5c

Act 1, Scene 5, 151-31829:16- 39:20

http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=237302&xtid=53275&loid=204314

After the wooing!A SoliloquyThe soliloquy is a speech in which a character converses with himself or herself by expressing thoughts aloud while alone on stage.

Act 2, Scene 2, 17-41VIOLAI left no ring with her. What means this lady?(She picks up the ring) Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her!She made good view of me, indeed so muchThat methought her eyes had lost her tongue,For she did speak in starts distractedly.She loves me, sure! The cunning of her passionInvites me in this churlish messenger.None of my lords ring? Why, he sent her none!I am the man. If it be so, as tis,Poor lady, she were better love a dream.Disguise, I see thou art a wickednessWherein the pregnant enemy does much.How easy is it for the proper falseIn womens waxen hearts to set their forms!

Alas, (our) frailty is the cause, not we,For such as we are made editorial (of) such we be.How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly,And I, poor monster, fond as much on him,And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.What will become of this? As I am man,My state is desperate for my masters love.As I am woman (now, alas the day!),What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!O Time, thou must untangle this, not I.It is too hard a knot for me t untie.

The SoliloquyThis next video is from John Barton's "Playing Shakespeare" video series. In this clip, Dame Judi Dench showcases an approach to the ring speech from Twelfth Night, where she carefully allows for the shifts in thought by playing the text as though she needs the words to work through a problem.

Playwrights have to deal with real human issues and emotions, which tend to be quite personal like hope, desire, mortality and jealousy, in a way which makes the audience respond sympathetically to those emotions. The playwright must compress life into a reasonable time period.

The soliloquy opens up the character's soul and speaks the words that are universally spoken by each and every one us -- words we have been hearing most of our lives. Shakespeare just does it eloquently, and often. So think of a soliloquy as an attempt to get past the thin crust of the events and plot into the truth of how people react and reflect on the world inside of them, as well as around them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxftRZ_Uzq0

Subplot in Twelfth NightIn the comic subplot several characters conspire to make Olivia's pompous steward, Malvolio, believe that his lady Olivia has fallen in love with him. It involves Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch; another would-be suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek; her servant Maria; and her fool, Feste. They plant a false letter in the garden for Malvolio to find, which he, in his vanity, misinterprets as a love letter from his mistress to him.

Act 2 Scene 3 Lines 85- 17549:56 minutes in the film to 58: 48http://ezproxy.fhda.edu/login?url=http://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=237302&xtid=53275&loid=204317In the next clip, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are up late, drinking; Feste joins them, and they request that he sing a song about love. They proceed to make a great deal of noise, by singing, drinking, and talking nonsense; Maria tries to get them to be quiet, but Malvolio is awakened by the noise, and comes down to berate them for disturbing the household. Once Malvolio leaves, Maria concocts a plan to make Malvolio look like a complete fool: since Maria's handwriting is similar to Olivia's, she will write love letters to Malvolio and make it look like the letters have come from Olivia.

Analyze Marias speeches in Act 2 scene 3. Explain carefully her motive to entrap Malvolio. Do you believe that she is justified in doing it?

MARIA The devil a puritan that he is, or anythingconstantly but a time-pleaser; an affectioned assthat cons state without book and utters it by greatswaths; the best persuaded of himself, so crammed,as he thinks, with excellencies, that it is his groundsof faith that all that look on him love him. And onthat vice in him will my revenge find notable causeto work.

TOBY What wilt thou do?

MARIA I will drop in his way some obscure epistles oflove, wherein by the color of his beard, the shape ofhis leg, the manner of his gait, the expressure of hiseye, forehead, and complexion, he shall find himselfmost feelingly personated. I can write very like mylady your niece; on a forgotten matter, we canhardly make distinction of our hands. (145-160)

Q: Why do we have comparatively few female tricksters? Is there something about the idea of a female as a trickster that makes people uncomfortable?

The Recitation Project

Recitation: A Sonnet or Soliloquy 50 points

Each person in class will do one presentation of either a sonnet or soliloquy (speech/monologue), including a written summaryhalf a page describing the content and the formal elements and a memorized performance.

If you have not done so, please sign up before you leave!Bring a copy of your sonnet or soliloquy suitable for overhead projection!Reminder

Read: Twelfth Night: Acts 3 to 5 (to end) Post #5 Choose oneAs Olivia is in the process of revealing her feelings for Cesario, she makes use of metaphors drawn from the animal kingdom Act III, Scene 1, lines 115-140. State what these animal metaphors are, and then explain their significance. How do they illuminate the depth of Olivias feelings at the moment? Many characters in Twelfth Night adopt a role or otherwise disguise their identities. Viola is the most obvious example of this ruse in the play, but what others can you name? What is their motive? Consider Fester, Orsino, and Olivia among others.

Discuss the outcome of the plot against Malvolio. Is the yellow garter scene funny or cruel? Is his fate deserved? How does his reappearance affect the end of the play?QHQ

Use Textual Support!

Give and TakeTingstad & RumbelAmerican Acoustic (disc 1), track 31998Acoustic173906.3