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Twelfth NightIntroduction and Act One

For more detailed instructions, see the Getting Started presentation.

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Introduction

This presentation looks at the first act of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare.

Before we start looking at the play itself, we are going to look briefly at the life of the playwright, William Shakespeare.

We will also look at some of the background to the play, including when and why it was written.

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Author information

Name: William Shakespeare

Dates: 1564 - 1616

Biographical Information:

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. His father, John, was a fairly wealthy man. His son probably went to the local grammar school. Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in 1582, and they had three children together.

Shakespeare moved to London to work as a writer and an actor. As well as writing plays and poems during his life, Shakespeare also invested money in the London theatres.

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Background to the text

It is widely thought that Twelfth Night was performed to Queen Elizabeth and her Italian guest, Orsino, on Twelfth Night in 1601. The title Twelfth Night refers to the night before the Feast of the Epiphany, just after Christmas.

Festivals such as Twelfth Night played an important part in Elizabethan Society. This particular feast was associated with the over-turning of normal authority, when people could indulge themselves without the usual rules applying.Many of the characters in the play in some way act out these types of behaviour.

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Studying a play

Studying a play is not the same as studying a novel or a poem, and you will need to take a different approach. But how exactly is a play different? Write some of your ideas down below.

studying a play

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Here are some of the ideas that you might have written.

A play is written to be performed.

A play is mainly written in dialogue.

There will usually be stage directions.

A play is interpreted by the director,

actor, and audience or reader.There may be various

different interpretations.

A play may be written in verse or in prose.

Studying a play

studying a play

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Extension work

Complete the following tasks to develop your understanding of Twelfth Night:

Find out the names of some of Shakespeare’s other comedies. See if you can discover what their plots are as well. Are there any similarities to Twelfth Night?

Find out some more information about William Shakespeare’s life and work.

See what else you can find out about the festival of Twelfth Night.

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Duke __________ is in love with Countess _________,

but she does not return his feelings. There has been a

shipwreck on the coast of ________. Viola, one of the

survivors, believes her twin brother ___________ has

been drowned in the storm. Viola decides to dress as a

_____ and go to work for the Duke. We meet the drunk,

Sir ________, his friend __________ Aguecheek, and

Olivia’s servant Maria.

Act One – Plot summary exercise

Complete the plot summary by filling in the blanks:

Orsino Olivia

Illyria

Sebastian

boy

Toby Andrew

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Viola, now known as __________ is trusted by Orsino to

deliver his message of love to _________. Viola does not

want to do this, because she has fallen in love with

_________ herself. Olivia agrees to see Cesario, who

passes on the Duke’s message. Olivia refuses to change

her mind about the Duke’s proposals of love. However,

she is impressed by Cesario and when ‘he’ leaves she

sends ___________ to take ‘him’ a _______.

Cesario

Olivia

Orsino

Malvolio ring

Plot summary exercise

Complete the plot summary by filling in the blanks:

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Setting the scene

There are various different settings in the play, and a director would need to decide what each of these settings looked like, and also how to change scenes between the different settings.

Choose one of the settings listed below and either design a stage set, or make a drawing of that place.

Duke Orsino’s palace

Near the sea-coast

Olivia’s house

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The characters

We meet a lot of characters in the first act, some of whom are very important to the story, others less so. After introducing Duke Orsino and Viola at the start of the play, Shakespeare then begins his comic sub-plot, which runs alongside the main story.

On the next slides you will find blank character studies for three of the characters in this act. Complete the character studies for each person, then look at the answer slides to check what you have written.

All the information you need to complete the character studies can be found in the text of Act One. If Shakespeare does not specify a particular detail, write ‘unknown’.

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Viola

Name(s): ___________________________________

Occupation: ___________________________________

Relatives: ___________________________________

___________________________________

Personality: ___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

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Name(s): Viola / Cesario

Occupation: Servant to Duke Orsino

Relatives: Sebastian, her twin brother

Personality:

Brave – she takes on a boy’s clothing so that she can work for Orsino.

Loving – she cares deeply for her twin brother.

Talented – she can sing and speak cleverly. This helps her win Orsino’s and Olivia’s affections.

Viola

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Name(s): ___________________________________

Occupation: ___________________________________

Relatives: ___________________________________

___________________________________

Personality: ___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

Orsino

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Name(s): Duke Orsino

Occupation: Duke of Illyria

Relatives: Unknown - he is a bachelor

Personality:

Passionate – he believes himself to be deeply in love with Olivia.

Lyrical – he loves music and poetry.

Determined – he tries hard to get Olivia to return his affections. He is not put off by her repeated rejection of his ‘love’.

Orsino

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Olivia

Name(s): ___________________________________

Occupation: ___________________________________

Relatives: ___________________________________

___________________________________

Personality: ___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

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Name(s): Olivia

Occupation: Gentlewoman

Relatives: Her father died a year earlier; her brother shortly afterwards

Personality:

Determined – once she falls in love with ‘Cesario’, she pursues him relentlessly.

Devoted – she is determined to mourn her brother’s memory.

Secretive – she hides her face behind a veil.

Olivia

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Who is being described?

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True or false?