Genre and themes in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

12th Night

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night:

Discussing a Comedy

The great bard's works are always full of surprises, but nothing surpasses his comedies. The Twelfth Night, perhaps one of my most favorite plays, is a fantastic comedy that Shakespeare wrote to explore life's greatest emotions, love, loss, and laughter. This paper will discuss the plot of the play, as well as the genre.

Perhaps one of the reasons that this is such a great piece of comedy is because of the issue of constant mistaken identities, on multiple parts. The play starts out by presenting two locations, one is the kingdom of Illyria, where its leader, Orsino, lays around pining for the love of Lady Olivia, which is unrequited. The second location shows two twins, a man and a woman, performing on a ship and the subsequent storm that ensues. This second introduction is more significant, as the twins are torn apart and Viola, the survivor, having landed in Illyria alone, assumes her brother is dead.

In a twist of events, Viola disguises herself into a man and introduces herself at Orsino's court. The now disguised Viola becomes a favorite at court, and even goes to speak with Olivia. In yet another turn of events Viola begins to fall in love with Orsino, Orsino still loves Olivia and Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, believing her to be a man.

What adds to the comedy is the fact that Viola's brother is not dead, as well as the fact that Olivia's family is a strong of drunk and foolish individuals who only add to the humor of this fantastic writing. When, finally all are reunited in quite a hilarious turn of events, Olivia and Sebastian (Viola's brother, who is alive) marry, and Orsino comes to both love and want to be with Viola, and thus marry as well, thereby leading to a happy ending to the story.

The fact that this play is a comedy is signified by various elements. These include:

1. light, humorous tone