Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s so-called transvestite comedies, a category that also includes As You Like It and The Merchant of Venice. These plays feature female protagonists who, for one reason or another, have to disguise themselves as young men. It is important to remember that in Shakespeare’s day, all of the parts were played by men, so Viola would actually have been a male pretending to be a female pretending to be a male. Contemporary critics have found a great deal of interest in the homoerotic implications of these plays.
The songs in the play, which keep the action light-hearted and boisterous, were also most likely either inspired by or directly taken from popular songs of the day. Though many of Shakespeare's themes are universal, often specific jokes or comments are so tied to Shakespeare's cultural moment that they are difficult for today's critic to decipher. The content of the play, and especially the jokes, also assumed a certain level of education within the audience. For example, Maria describes Malvolio's smiling face as like a map of the recently discovered Indies. It is unclear whether all of Shakespeare's audience would get these jokes, though usually his cultural references were well-known, at least for a short time.
As is the case with most of Shakespeare’s plays, the story of Twelfth Night is derived from other sources. In particular, Shakespeare seems to have consulted an Italian play from the 1530s entitled Gl’Ingannati, which features twins who are mistaken for each other and contains a version of the Viola-Olivia-Orsino love triangle in Twelfth Night. He also seems to have used a 1581 English story entitled “Apollonius and Silla,” by Barnabe Riche, which mirrors the plot of Twelfth Night up to a point, with a shipwreck, a pair of twins, and a woman disguised as a man. A number of sources have been suggested for the Malvolio subplot, but none of them are very convincing. Sir Toby, Maria, Sir Andrew and the luckless steward seem to have sprung largely from Shakespeare’s own imagination.
The songs in the play, which keep the action light-hearted and boisterous, were also most likely either inspired by or directly taken from popular songs of the day. Though many of Shakespeare's themes are universal, often specific jokes or comments are so tied to Shakespeare's cultural moment that they are difficult for today's critic to decipher. The content of the play, and especially the jokes, also assumed a certain level of education within the audience. For example, Maria describes Malvolio's smiling face as like a map of the recently discovered Indies. It is unclear whether all of Shakespeare's audience would get these jokes, though usually his cultural references were well-known, at least for a short time.
As is the case with most of Shakespeare’s plays, the story of Twelfth Night is derived from other sources. In particular, Shakespeare seems to have consulted an Italian play from the 1530s entitled Gl’Ingannati, which features twins who are mistaken for each other and contains a version of the Viola-Olivia-Orsino love triangle in Twelfth Night. He also seems to have used a 1581 English story entitled “Apollonius and Silla,” by Barnabe Riche, which mirrors the plot of Twelfth Night up to a point, with a shipwreck, a pair of twins, and a woman disguised as a man. A number of sources have been suggested for the Malvolio subplot, but none of them are very convincing. Sir Toby, Maria, Sir Andrew and the luckless steward seem to have sprung largely from Shakespeare’s own imagination.
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