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English 245 with Dr.
Gary Gutchess |
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Course Lessons 2. Beowulf 1 3. Beowulf 2 4. Middle Ages 5. Romance 6. Sir Gawain 7. Malory 9. Wife of Bath 11. Biblical Drama 12. Play of Mankind 14. Thomas More 15. Philip Sidney 16. Print Culture 17. Walter Raleigh 18. Twelfth Night 1 19. Twelfth Night 2 20. Civil War 22. Aphra Behn 23. Reading Papers 24. Gulliver 25. Rape of the Lock 27. New God 28. Revolution
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***** 18. Twelfth Night, part 1 ***** |
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READINGS FOR THIS LESSON
A Feast of Fools
Online versions of the play appear at |
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NOTES AND
COMMENTARY
How to Study
Studies have shown that
students understand
Shakespeare much more readily from
performances than from books. That's hardly surprising
since Shakespeare didn't write his plays to be published
as books; he wrote manuscripts for actors to learn their
parts, but the parts were to be performed.
Twelfth Night
is no exception. Here's what I recommend for best comprehension
and most pleasure in the least amount of time: This lack of fixed settings for performances is the practical reason that Shakespeare's dialogue engages in descriptive scene painting.
Viola: What country, friend, is
this?
It was in this context of
Elizabethan bare
stages that the star system was born in the
entertainment industry. Whatever else
Twelfth Night
may be, it is a fine collection of roles for a troupe of
talented performers. Olivia, Orsino, Feste and Malvolio are
significant roles challenging the actor to show his
or her stuff. Ahead of them at the top of the bill, Viola demands the actor to
show his and
her stuff! The fad in London playhouses when Twelfth
Night was written was
performance by
children, and Shakespeare surpasses the
convention with the boy Viola. |
Left: Malvolio discovers Maria's letter while Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek observe in Branagh's Twelfth Night.
Below: interior of the reconstructed Globe Theatre in London. |
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OTHER RESOURCES & AMUSEMENTS See Dr. G's
A Shakespeare Timeline Theater related websites "The Elizabethan Theatre": a lecture with slides Royal Shakespeare Company: Exploring Shakespeare Shakespeare's Globe Theatre 3D Model Stratford Ontario Shakespeare Festival Stratford Connecticut Shakespeare Festival
You can catch a trailer preview of the Trevor Nunn film
at Barnes & Noble:
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=14381135626 |
Students are not examined on these "other resources and amusements." However, if you know of an excellent website that would wonderfully complement this lesson, please send it to Dr. G. If he adopts it in his list, extra course credit will be awarded. |
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The assignment for this lesson is simply to read
or watch a production of Twelfth Night. The quiz and journal for this
assignment appear in the next lesson, Lesson 19. |
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Shakespeare is "modern"
in the literal sense: his work lasted into modern times
and indeed became more popular than ever in the 20th
century, thanks in large part to mass distribution via sound
recordings, film and television. Shakespeare also is
modern, however, in the sense that Walter Raleigh is
modern: he was a professional business man who turned
art into personal profit. His first
plays were so popular that he was offered an
economic stake in an acting company, which was known in
And this lends an imaginative
element to Shakespearean plays. They can be played
anywhere. Few props or stage effects or even costumes
are required. There is no attempt to disguise the truth:
the audience remains aware
throughout the play that the actors are acting. (Note
for example the use of soliloquy, prologue, epilogue,
aside and direct address by the players to the
audience. Recall the techniques of the medieval
morality, 