Twelfth Night, Or What You Will
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About this ebook
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.
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Reviews for Twelfth Night, Or What You Will
1,822 ratings27 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I thought this was a great edition. They have the text on the right side, and the explanation of obscure terms on the left side. I just saw this play done at the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, MN. It's amazing how closely they followed the text. I didn't need to read it to understand everything, but reading did help explain some things.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shipwrecked siblings, love-struck Dukes and Duchesses, silly servants and misplaced affections. I enjoyed this very much. No one does confusion of identity as well as Shakespeare, and when it's one of his comedies, there is always a happy ending.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The introduction says Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" is one of his most performed plays, which is funny since I've never heard of it being performed locally (and have seen many others.)It wouldn't surprise me though, as the play is pretty entertaining and uses the often-employed Shakespearean disguise fairly well. The story follows Viola and Sebastian, siblings who are in a shipwreck and each believes the other has died. Meanwhile, the beautiful Olivia is fending off a crew of courting men and antics ensue.Overall, the story is fairly amusing and moves along at a nice pace.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I read this play in high school. I immediately connected with Viola who hid her true identity (and her emotions) from society. Though modern critics look at (and/or analyze) the story's use of homosexuality and gender/sexual politics, I can't break from my initial path of loving the story for Viola's strength in hiding her identity and love.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I read this book with my girlfriend and it was ok but not one of my most liked books ever. At times it's a little hard to understand if you don't have the spark notes or some other translation like it, but if you like plays and have never read it I recommend it to you, for everyone else you.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Madcap was 't adventure
And pleasure finest to read.
Whilst mirthy with the wordplay.
Brought forth as Feste's mead.
Three's Company-esque
Was allst confusion.
Which what happened
By staged amusion.
Verily, I enjoyed it, by and by.
What readeth me next, wondereth I? - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5So there's this girl that's a guy that works for a guy that she loves as a girl but has to send his love to a girl as a guy and that girl loves the girl as a guy but really she's a girl that looks like a guy and this is why Shakespeare's comedies are just weird.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This has always been one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and it probably always will be. It's just as fun to read the second time, with plenty of humor and lovely lines. Feste, of course, is my favorite.I feel like I could go into a long analysis of it, but... I read it for my English class, and no doubt we're going to dissect it and talk about all the underlying themes. Personally, I say you should just read it and enjoy it and then go see it performed.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I have read this play after seeing it performed at The Globe on Friday. It's funny and relies on comic tropes such as characters dressing up as the opposite sex, dressing in comedic yellow cross-gartered stockings for effect, and formation of love triangles. The Clown role is probably my favourite character. It's light and insubstantial and often doesn't make a whole lot of sense (e.g. the whole Malvolio sub-plot); indeed at one point Fabian says with ironic self-reference "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction".
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The text of the play is mostly a delight, though there are a few toothsome things to mull over after the play is done. Its end of multiple marriages is seemingly tidy, but a few characters are left out in the cold, including Antonio, whose love for Sebastian may be the truest and most steadfast love in the play.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Easily my favorite Shakespeare play.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In the words of deuce: "gay, working on gayer". Kind of a shame it never made it to gayer because Viola and the Countess are the most well developed pairing in the play. Also while the Duke's bits where he acts like a self-important tool are funny, they undermine the "happy ending" of Viola marrying him. This could have been fixed by giving him some bits where he displayed more redeeming characteristics, because (unlike the rapist guy in Two Gentleman) nothing he does is unforgivable... it's just that, all we do see of his personality is that he's kind of a douche. The production of it I saw was consistently funny in every scene and I had a great time watching it performed.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Honestly, I am not all that into reading plays. However, I am so into gender-bender that I had to read 12th night. The whole idea of a girl dressing up as a boy and fooling everyone is so interesting to me. The thing that put me off from this book was the fact that the emotions that the characters were feeling were not as evident just from reading this play. I mean, it was like saying "I feel that I love you". It is not as moving as if the author had described what the feeling is. For some reason, I loved Julius Cesar, Othello, and sort of liked "As you like it". So maybe I am just not into this story that much.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My favorite Shakespearean comedy (partially because I portrayed Sir Toby in a high school production) with the perfect mix of witty dialogue, physical humor and characterization.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5There is brilliance in this play, as there is in all of Shakespeare's work... but...Well, this one doesn't live up to the others, at least not in the reading of the script. I could not attach myself to any of the characters, and while I often have to reread the words and the footnotes to gain any understanding of the plot, this one felt hollow to me, even after I could grasp what was going on.The brilliance comes in much of the twisting of words and understandings of phrases. Shakespeare was a wordsmith, there is no doubt about that.... but most of the time, I feel like he was also incredibly connected to his characters, his audience, his stories. This one felt flimsy to me.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I reread the play as I'll be appearing in it this summer as Sir Toby Belch. Ah, what fun!
Shakespeare fact: most directors these days cut Shakespeare's plays down to a reasonable two hours for performance. That will be the case for the production I'm in. I'll miss the double-talk conversations between Sir Toby and the Clown, and some of the "mistaken identity" humor involving male/female twins Sebastian and Viola. Although I can see why the director removed this stuff. In the former case, the invented references to phony experts like "Qeuebus" (God, would I have loved saying "Qeuebus"!) would have been indistinguishable from other archaic references, thereby causing confusion to the average theater goer. In the latter case, the humorous situations are often repetitive.
Cutting Shakespeare is nothing new. David Garrick, an actor and director who was a friend of Samuel Johnson, used to do it routinely in the 18th century. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is definitely a classic Shakespearean comedy, complete with disguises, intrigue, love, humor, and a lot of fun. In all honesty, I am not generally a big fan of comedies, but this is definitely an example of an exception. As to the edition itself, I found it to be greatly helpful in understanding the action in the play. It has a layout which places each page of the play opposite a page of notes, definitions, explanations, and other things needed to understand that page more thoroughly. While I didn't always need it, I was certainly glad to have it whenever I ran into a turn of language that was unfamiliar, and I definitely appreciated the scene-by-scene summaries. Really, if you want to or need to read Shakespeare, an edition such as this is really the way to go, especially until you get more accustomed to it.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I love this play. Shakespeare's comedies are very enjoyable.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Though my text stated that that was his comic masterpiece, I liked As You Like It much better. The only saving grace, for me, was the clown. He saved the best lines of wit and wisdom for that character. I suppose by this point, I am getting a bit put off by all the mistaken identity stuff. Perhaps the Bard was growing weary of the device as well.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What can one really say negative about Shakespeare? Any of his writings are simply a classic. However, this would not be my favourite of his works, it's simply a bit too ridiculous for my personal taste - I know Shakespeare's audience would have loved it. Boy loves Girl, another Girl (2) is stranded and decides to cross-dress to be near Boy, Boy sends Girl 2 to persuade Girl 1 of his love who in turn falls in love with cross-dressing Girl 2. Then Girl 2's twin brother shows up and causes chaos and in the end Boy 2 ends up with Girl 1 and Boy 1 with cross-dressing Girl 2, not questioning her cross-dressing for a second
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fabulous! Even an eighth grader can read (with a little guidance) and enjoy!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A rightfully popular Shakespeare play, this one has resourcefulness, the audience is in on the fun, yet it works well.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I once told a Shakespeare buff that I never thought his comedies were all of that funny; forgive me, but my ear for Elizabethan English is weak and I miss the word play and puns, for example. And, when reading the text, any of its slapstick dimensions are lost. Luckily for me, I have discovered that by SEEING the comedy, and THEN reading it afterwards, the 'mind's eye' (to quote Horatio in Hamlet) brings all of it to life. There, my advice for the day. And, remember, say what you want, Will's winsome way with words wins!
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I´ve re-read it countless times..My favourite from Shakespeare.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5BBC Radio 3 full cast production, first broadcast in 1998, and presented on 2 CDs. I bought this one because of the Blake's 7 interest, as Josette Simon plays Olivia. While it's an enjoyable performance, I would have been hard put to it to follow what was going on without previous knowledge of the plot from seeing the play on stage. Fortunately there's a good synopsis booklet included in the box.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Shakespeare's last great romantic comedy combines the wit of the other great comedies with some rather mean-spirited slapstick more reminiscent of his very first comedies. The first is provided largely by the male-impersonating heroine who finds herself, as an intermediary between lovers, becoming the true object of affection from both lovers. The slapstick is provided by Sir Toby Belch, a small-scale Falstaff, and his idiot friends, who make life miserable for a major domo whose Puritanism does not protect him from vanity and desire. I loved it, despite the bullying.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Quite possibly my favorite play by Shakespeare! Fun story!
Book preview
Twelfth Night, Or What You Will - William Shakespeare
House.
Act
I
Scene I. Duke Orsino's Palace.
Enter DUKE ORSINO, CURIO, and other Lords; Musicians attending
DUKE ORSINO
If music be the food of love,
play
on
;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and
so
die
.
That strain again! it had a
dying
fall
:
O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odour! Enough;
no
more
:
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love! how quick and fresh
art
thou
,
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,
Of what validity and pitch soe'er,
But falls into abatement and low price,
Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.
CURIO
Will you go hunt,
my
lord
?
DUKE ORSINO
What, Curio?
CURIO
The
hart
.
DUKE ORSINO
Why, so I do, the noblest that
I
have
:
O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence!
That instant was I turn'd into
a
hart
;
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since
pursue
me
.
Enter VALENTINE
How now! what news
from
her
?
VALENTINE
So please my lord, I might not be admitted;
But from her handmaid do return this answer:
The element itself, till seven
years
'
heat
,
Shall not behold her face at
ample
view
;
But, like a cloistress, she will
veiled
walk
And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine: all this to season
A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh
And lasting in her sad remembrance.
DUKE ORSINO
O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame
To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft
Hath kill'd the flock of all
affections
else
That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,
These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd
Her sweet perfections with one
self
king
!
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.
Exeunt
Scene II. The Sea-Coast.
Enter VIOLA, a Captain, and Sailors
VIOLA
What country, friends,
is
this
?
Captain
This is
Illyria
,
lady
.
VIOLA
And what should I do in Illyria?
My brother he is in Elysium.
Perchance he is not drown'd: what think you, sailors?
Captain
It is perchance that you yourself were saved.
VIOLA
O my poor brother! and so perchance may
he
be
.
Captain
True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,
Assure yourself, after our ship did split,
When you and those poor number saved
with
you
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,
Most provident in peril, bind himself,
Courage and hope both teaching him the practise,
To a strong mast that lived upon
the
sea
;
Where, like Arion on the
dolphin's
back
,
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
So long as I
could
see
.
VIOLA
For saying so,
there's
gold
:
Mine own escape unfoldeth to
my
hope
,
Whereto thy speech serves for authority,
The like of him. Know'st thou this country?
Captain
Ay, madam, well; for I was bred
and
born
Not three hours' travel from this very place.
VIOLA
Who
governs
here
?
Captain
A noble duke, in nature as
in
name
.
VIOLA
What is
the
name
?
Captain
Orsino.
VIOLA
Orsino! I have heard my father
name
him
:
He was a
bachelor
then
.
Captain
And so is now, or was so
very
late
;
For but a month ago I went from hence,
And then 'twas fresh in murmur,—as,
you
know
,
What great ones do the less will
prattle
of
,—
That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.
VIOLA
What's
she
?
Captain
A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count
That died some twelvemonth since, then
leaving
her
In the protection of his son, her brother,
Who shortly also died: for whose
dear
love
,
They say, she hath abjured the company
And sight
of
men
.
VIOLA
O that I served
that
lady
And might not be delivered to the world,
Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,
What my
estate
is
!
Captain
That were hard to compass;
Because she will admit no kind
of
suit
,
No, not the duke's.
VIOLA
There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;
And though that nature with a
beauteous
wall
Doth oft close in pollution, yet
of
thee
I will believe thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character.
I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am, and be
my
aid
For such disguise as haply shall become
The form of my intent. I'll serve
this
duke
:
Thou shall present me as an eunuch
to
him
:
It may be worth thy pains; for I
can
sing
And speak to him in many sorts of music
That will allow me very worth his service.
What else may hap to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy silence to
my
wit
.
Captain
Be you his eunuch, and your mute
I'll
be
:
When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes
not
see
.
VIOLA
I thank thee: lead
me
on
.
Exeunt
Scene III. Olivia's House.
Enter SIR TOBY BELCH and MARIA
SIR TOBY BELCH
What a plague means my niece, to take the
death
of
her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy
to
life
.
MARIA
By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in
earlier
o
'
nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great
exceptions to your ill hours.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Why, let her except, before excepted.
MARIA
Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest
limits of order.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than
I
am
:
these clothes are good enough to drink in; and
so
be
these boots too: an they be not, let
them
hang
themselves in their own straps.
MARIA
That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard
my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish
knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?
MARIA
Ay
,
he
.
SIR TOBY BELCH
He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.
MARIA
What's that to the purpose?
SIR TOBY BELCH
Why, he has three thousand ducats
a
year
.
MARIA
Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats:
he's a very fool and a prodigal.
SIR TOBY BELCH