Twelfth Night

• Viola


  A young woman who disguises herself as a pageboy, Cesario
• Climax: The weddings of Viola and Orsino, and Sebastian and Olivia
• Plot Summary


  1. In the kingdom of Illyria, the Duke Orsino laments over his unrequited love for the Lady Olivia, who is in mourning for her brother and has refused to see anyone for seven years.

  2. Meanwhile, a ship has been wrecked by a storm off the coast, casting the young noblewoman Viola onto shore. Finding herself alone with the Captain, Viola assumes that her twin brother, Sebastian, with whom she was traveling, is dead. Grieving, she learns from the Captain—who, by chance, was born in Illyria—about the region, and decides that she would like to conceal her identity and offer her services to this Lady. However, after the Captain informs Viola that Olivia refuses to see anyone. Viola resolves to conceal her identity—she dresses up as a pageboy, Cesario, and go work for Orsino. The Captain agrees to help.

  3. Viola advances quickly in Orsino's household. However, she soon finds herself falling in love with Orsino—a love which she cannot pursue, since Orsino believes her to be (the male) Cesario. At the same time, when Orsino sends Cesario to Olivia's house to woo her in his stead, Olivia becomes passionately attracted to "Cesario." Only Viola understands the love-triangle that her disguise has brought about: she loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves her. None of these loves can be fulfilled.

  4. While the plot between Orsino, Viola, and Olivia unfolds, scenes at Olivia's house introduce a second group of characters: Olivia's uncle, the drunkard Sir Toby; his equally vulgar friend and suitor of Olivia, Sir Andrew Aguecheek; Olivia's charming lady-in-waiting, Maria; the clown, Feste; and Malvolio, Olivia's self-important steward, who constantly scolds and irritates the rest of them. Maria devises a prank to get even with Malvolio. She forges a letter, supposedly from Olivia, addressed to a secret beloved "M. O. A. I."; the letter instructs its anonymous addressee to wear yellow stockings and crossed garters, to act haughty, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself in order to show that he returns Olivia's affections. Malvolio finds the letter and assumes that he himself must be "M. A. O. I." Following "Olivia's" instructions, he behaves so oddly that she worries that he has gone mad.

  5. Viola's twin brother Sebastian soon arrives up in Illyria: he was saved from the shipwreck by a local, Antonio, but thinks his sister is dead. Antonio has grown so attached to Sebastian that he follows him into Orsino's territories despite the fact that Orsino is an old enemy.

  6. When Sir Andrew starts to notice that Olivia is in love with Cesario, Sir Toby encourages him to challenge Cesario to a duel. They are just about to fight when Antonio shows up and asks to defend Cesario, whom he mistakes for Sebastian. (Viola, in her disguise, looks exactly like her twin brother.) When Orsino's police show up and haul Antonio off, Cesario slips away. But then Sebastian happens to arrive on the scene. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby resume fighting—mistaking him for Cesario. Sebastian is baffled, but defends himself. Olivia shows up during the scuffle and, mistaking Sebastian for Cesario, calls Toby and Andrew off at once. She immediately asks Sebastian to marry her. Sebastian is mystified. But, seeing that Olivia is beautiful and wealthy, he accepts her offer.

  7. Meanwhile, Olivia's belief that Malvolio is mad, has allowed Maria, Toby, and the others to lock him up in a dark cell for "treatment." They enjoy tormenting and mocking him. However, Sir Toby starts to get worried, since he knows how angry Olivia already is with him for attacking Sebastian (or, as she thinks, Cesario). Therefore, they let Malvolio send a letter to Olivia, arguing his case and demanding to be released.

  8. Cesario and Orsino visit Olivia's house. Olivia welcomes Cesario as her husband, thinking that he is Sebastian. Orsino is shocked and enraged, but when Sebastian himself arrives on the scene, everything falls into place. Viola and Sebastian are reunited. Now aware that Cesario is in fact the woman, Viola, Orsino declares that he is in love with her and asks her to marry him. It is reported that Sir Toby and Maria have also married privately. Finally, Olivia remembers Malvolio and summons him out of the dark room. Furious, he accosts her. When she tells him he should not take things so seriously, he threatens that he will have revenge against them all and storms off. The happy couples await their marriage ceremony.
• Desire and Love


  Every major character in Twelfth Night experiences some form of desire or love. Duke Orsino is in love with Olivia. Viola falls in love with Orsino, while disguised as his pageboy, Cesario. Olivia falls in love with Cesario. This love triangle is only resolved when Olivia falls in love with Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, and, at the last minute, Orsino decides that he actually loves Viola. Twelfth Night derives much of its comic force by satirizing these lovers. For instance, Shakespeare pokes fun at Orsino's flowery love poetry, making it clear that Orsino is more in love with being in love than with his supposed beloveds. At the same time, by showing the details of the intricate rules that govern how nobles engage in courtship, the play reveals the absurdity and artificiality of these social conventions.
• Antonio


  A character from the shipwreck
• Sebastian


  Antonio's feelings for Sebastian push the boundary line between devoted male friendship and love
• Fabian


  An attendant in Olivia's household
• Curio


  One of Orsino's attendants
• Valentine


  One of Orsino's attendants
• Themes in Twelfth Night


  • Desire and Love
  • Melancholy
  • Madness
  • Deception, Disguise, and Performance
  • Gender and Sexual Identity
  • Class, Masters, and Servants
  • Costumes
  • Hallucination
  • Symbols
  • Hunting
• Desire and Love


  • Every major character experiences some form of desire or love
  • Shakespeare satirizes the lovers and their romantic ideas
  • The devotion between siblings and servants proves more constant than the romantic bonds
• Melancholy

  • Believed to be a sickness often arising form love. This is often seen in the character Orsino via his unrequited love for Olivia; "If music be the food of love, play on; give me excess of it that surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die."
• Madness

  • Madness is mostly metaphorical, a way for characters to express the intensity of their romantic feelings
  • The play also has multiple characters that seem to go literally mad
• Deception, Disguise, and Performance

  • Characters constantly disguise themselves or play parts to trick those around them
  • Shakespeare reminds us that we, like the characters, may play roles in our own lives and be susceptible to the role playing of others
• Gender and Sexual Identity


  • Viola's disguise as a man and Olivia's attraction to Cesario imply that distinctions between male/female and heterosexual/homosexual are not as firm as they seem
  • The play suggests that gender is something you can influence, based on how you act, rather than something you are based on your sexual organs
• Class, Masters, and Servants


  • The parallel plots of the nobles and the servants reflect the Twelfth Night holiday's inversion of the social order
  • Class and social standing is a recurring theme, with characters like Malvolio and Sir Andrew Aguecheek obsessed with status
• Costumes


  Represent the different identities people take on, showing that a character's identity can change in different situations
• Hallucination


  Love is often based on misperceptions, mistakes, or fantasies imagined by the lover, rather than on real characteristics of the beloved
• Hunting

  Used as a metaphor for the lover's pursuit of his beloved, emphasizing the extent to which a lover takes pleasure in pursuing, rather than consummating, love
• Viola


  Viola's brother died a year ago, has promised to never marry
• Viola's open and easy conversation with the Captain

  Contrasts with the stilted exchanges between Orsino and his servants
• Viola and Olivia


  Both have lost a brother, creating a parallel between them
• Viola's plan

  1. Temporarily conceal her aristocratic identity

  2. Go work for Olivia

  3. Disguise herself as a man

  4. Get an interview with Orsino
• Olivia is refusing to see anyone
• Viola decides she wants to become a servant to Orsino
• Viola asks the Captain to help her disguise herself as a man and get an interview with Orsino
• The Captain agrees to help Viola
• Viola first considers concealing just her aristocratic identity, but then develops a plan that also includes hiding her gender
• Viola trusts the Captain enough to confide in him
• Sir Toby Belch


  • Olivia's crass uncle
  • Has just returned from a night of drinking
• Maria


  • Olivia's serving woman
  • Scolds Sir Toby in a flirting way
• Olivia has been complaining about Sir Toby's bad behavior and about Sir Andrew Aguecheek
• Sir Andrew Aguecheek


  • The foolish knight Sir Toby brought to Illyria to woo Olivia
• The flirtation between Maria and Toby, and the practical criteria that Toby applies to Andrew as a suitor


  Contrast with the flowery love-melancholy Orsino exhibited in 1.1
• Sir Toby jokes that Sir Andrew should "accost" Maria—"woo her, assail her"
• The low characters


  Are far less genteel and more overtly sexual in their games of love than the nobles are
• In contrast to Orsino, who enjoys playing the spurned lover and is spurred on by Olivia's lack of interest


  Andrew takes Olivia's hints at face value
• Viola, now disguised as the page boy Cesario, chats with Valentine
• Valentine tells Cesario that if he continues to please Orsino this well, he will advance quickly in the household
• After only three days the Duke already trusts Cesario intimately