Historical Context

• Illyria was a real place during the ancient Greek era, located off the Adriatic Coast in territory that now includes parts of Croatia, Serbia, and Bosnia, as well as other regions
• Shakespeare's use of satirises on the puritanical attitudes through Malvolio was not uncommon he also used shylock as a way to do this
• The title 'Twelfth Night' refers to the twelfth night of Christmas, also referred to as the eve of Epiphany, it was celebrated with a temporary suspension of rules and social orders. This is where the play gets its tupsy-turvey nature from
• Twelfth Night borrows many conventions from Commedia dell’Arte, an Italian form of comedy that was often improvised, and therefore could contain more subversive material than other types of theatre
• it was more scandalous for an older male to express sexual interest in a female than a younger male
• During Elizabeth's rule, there was a strong desire to keep the social hierarchy distinct, separating social classes. This desire stemmed from the emerging merchant class that threatened the old social order, so the reaction was to maintain the social hierarchy. theatre provided freedom from societal rules
• allegorical theatre was popular at the time with characters or storylines representing a moral or political message (Sir Toby's being lechery and greed)
• The use of "mad" or mentally ill patients as a form of entertainment was popular in the era of Shakespeare (Malvolio)
• The presentation of Malvolio's yellow stockings were not only funny because they were hopelessly outdated in 1601 but because brightly coloured hoses were a symbol of the young and free. 
• Shakespeare's principal source for Twelfth Night was undoubtedly the prose narrative version of Gl'Ingannati, 'Apolonius and Silla', which formed part of Baranbe Riche's popular book published in 1581
• The lord of misrule is someone who creates and organises festivities and often opposes strict rule and this was both common in real life in the Elizabethan era and in literature/theatre at the time
• Being imprisoned below the stage in Elizabethan theatre was a portrayal of hell
• At the time that the play was written, all actors were men as women were not permitted to perform in the theatre. Therefore, in the first performance Viola would have been played by a male actor, playing a woman, who is pretending to be a man.
• The Puritans beheaded King Charles 1 in 1649
• Shakespeare uses the setting of Illyria as a way to explore themes related to love, identity, and gender roles.