10. Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601. 272 pages. [Source: Bought][Shakespeare play; Classic]

First sentence: If music be the food of love, play on;

 Premise/plot: Twins (Sebastian and Viola) are shipwrecked and separated. Adventures and misadventures await the pair in the coming weeks. Viola dresses as a man and takes a job in the service of Duke Orsino. Orsino is truly, madly, deeply in love with a woman, Olivia, who is mourning the death of her brother. Viola becomes his messenger--delivering his unwanted love letters. Olivia thinks that Viola is better than a letter. Sebastian, meanwhile, finds a few buddies to hang out with. As with all Shakespeare plays, this one has a few fools in it--not all fools are foolish though, mind you. Sometimes the fools have more common sense than all the main characters combined. For example,

CLOWN. Good madonna, why mourn'st thou?
OLIVIA. Good fool, for my brother's death.
CLOWN. I think his soul is in hell, madonna.
OLIVIA. I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
CLOWN. The more fool, madonna, to mourn for your brother's soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.

My thoughts: I always take this play for granted. It doesn't leap out at me as being MY FAVORITE. (The one that does leap out is MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.) But Twelfth Night is a pleasant--more than pleasant--diversion for a winter's night. It is a comedy with some GREAT lines. I absolutely LOVE and ADORE the first line, "If music be the food of love, play on." That may just be one of my favorite Shakespeare lines ever.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Virtue that transgresses is but patch'd with sin; and sin that amends is but patch'd with virtue.
• If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reason, be brief. 
• Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon'em. 
• Words are grown so false, I am loth to prove reason with them.
• Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.

© 2020 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601. 220 pages. [Source: Library]

Twelfth Night is not in my top three list of plays by Shakespeare. But I often forget that I do really enjoy it all the same. For one thing, it is a comedy. And I just love how this one opens. I must admit that the line, "If music be the food of love, play on" is a great, great line.

So. Essentially this one is about a shipwreck and the romantic misunderstanding that arise from that shipwreck. Sebastian and Viola are twins. Each think the other perished in the wreck. Viola, with a little help from a sea captain, decides to "become" a man and seek employment with Orsino the Duke of Ilyria. Her new name is Cesario. Sebastian is rescued by a man named Antonio, who also happens to be a sea captain, but not the same that rescued Viola. These two will not realize that the other is alive for most of the play. Olivia is the "love" of Orsino's life. The problem? Olivia is mourning because of her brother's recent death, and, she really can't be bothered with the Duke's attempts of wooing and courtship. Most of the characters in the play are from Olivia's household. (Also the Duke's household.) Feste, a clown, bridges the two together in a way. He's in scenes at both houses. (He may just be my favorite character from this play).

So what is the misunderstanding? Well, Olivia falls madly, deeply in love with Cesario at first sight. Cesario is the Duke's messenger. Viola herself falls head over heels in love with the Duke. It seems love will make a fool of all three since there can be no happy ending as matters stand. There are further misunderstandings, but, this is the big one.

One of the comic elements of this play involves a practical joke of sorts in Olivia's household. Malvolio, her steward, is led to believe that Olivia is madly in love with him. He believes this easily, and, soon becomes a very, big fool all in the name of love.

I think I appreciate this one more having seen it performed when I was in college.

Favorite lines:

Anything that's mended is but patched. Virtue that transgresses is but patched with sin, and sin that amends is but patched with virtue. ~ Feste, Act I, scene V

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon'em. ~ Malvolio reading a letter "from Olivia" Act II, scene V

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. ~ Olivia to Cesario, Act III, scene I

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601-02. 272 pages. [Source: Bought]

If music be the food of love, play on;

I've always loved that line: "If music be the food of love, play on;" but I have to admit I love it even more after falling in love with this little music video.

This is one of the Shakespeare plays with cross-dressing. I love this Dorothy Sayers' quote in Whose Body: "I'm sure if I'd been a Shakespeare hero, the very minute I saw a slim-legged young page-boy I'd have said: "Odsbodikins! There's that girl again!"

Twelfth Night is one of the Shakespeare comedies that I am quite familiar with. I think this was my fourth time to read it. I don't love it because it's romantic or oh-so-magical. Of the couples that end up together, I'm not sure any of them are truly, deeply in love with each other. I don't doubt for one second that Viola loves the Duke (Orsino). But as for the Duke's oh-so-easy transference of love from Olivia to Viola, whom he has only known as Cesario, I'm not convinced. Same goes with Olivia's transference of her affections from Viola (dressed as Cesario) to Sebastian. Sebastian, well, he gets an instant wife, I'm not sure he's complaining though. The happy endings are rushed and superficial perhaps.

I think the reason I keep reading Twelfth Night is that it's enjoyable, entertaining, fun. It's also one of the few Shakespeare plays that I've seen performed. It's a merry little play with clever little exchanges between characters. I just like it.

Favorite quotes:

If music be the food of love, play on;

O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou!

If you be not mad, be gone; if you have reason, be brief:

It shall be inventoried; and every particle and utensil labeled to my will: as item, two lips indifferent red; item, two grey eyes with lids to them; item, one neck, one chin, and so forth. 

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.

Them that dally nicely with words may quickly make them wanton.

Words are very rascals.

Words are grown so false I am loath to prove reason with them.

I would you were as I would have you be!

Love sought is good, but given unsought is better. 

Example of banter:

Duke: I know thee well. How dost thou, my good fellow?
Clown: Truly, sir, the better for my foes and the worse for my friends.
Duke: Just the contrary; the better for thy friends.
Clown: No, sir, the worse.
Duke: How can that be?
Clown: Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends I am abused; so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make your two affirmatives, why then, the worse for my friends and the better for my foes.  

© 2013 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare. 1601-02. 272 pages.

If music be the food of love, play on;

I recently treated myself to a reread of Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. Now Twelfth Night is not one of my favorite, favorite Shakespeare comedies. (That would be Much Ado About Nothing followed by A Midsummer Night's Dream.) But it is one I have read several times before. And it does have some GREAT scenes in it. (It is also the only Shakespeare I've seen performed on stage.)

Viola and Sebastian are brother and sister. Each think the other has perished in the shipwreck. Viola arrives in Illyria and decides to disguise herself as a young man taking the name Cesario. She enters the service of the Duke (Orsino). One of her tasks is to woo a young woman still in mourning, Olivia. Cesario delivers Orsino's messages just as he asks, but her heart isn't exactly in it. For she has fallen for the Duke herself, a matter only complicated by the fact that Olivia has fallen in love with her. Not that Olivia knows she's fallen in love with a woman-in-disguise. (I'm reminded of a Dorothy Sayers quote!!!) But still. Meanwhile, the audience becomes aware that Sebastian is very much alive and is also in Illyria. He has become friends with Antonio. That covers the "romance" of the play. (I'll leave it up to you to decide if it's truly-truly romance.) The comedy, for the most part, focuses on a cast of side characters mostly attached to Olivia's household. These include Malvolio, Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Feste. Essentially, a group of people team up to make a big, big fool of Malvolio.

Read Twelfth Night

• If you enjoy a light blend of romance and comedy; the language is very beautiful in places--love the opening line!!! And some of the scenes are just very funny! 
• If you're a fan of William Shakespeare

© 2012 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews