Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's funniest comedies. Shipwrecked and believing her twin brother drowned, Viola disguises herself as a young man and falls into the service of Duke Orsino, whom she promptly falls for. He sends her to woo the countess Olivia on his behalf, and Olivia falls for the disguised Viola instead. It is a sharp, bittersweet comedy of mistaken identity and tangled love, with one of Shakespeare's cruellest and most memorable subplots running underneath.
Characters
Famous Quotes
See all quotes →“If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.”
Duke Orsino — Act 1, Scene 1
“She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek.”
Viola — Act 2, Scene 4
“I am not what I am.”
Viola — Act 3, Scene 1
Further Reading
10 Powerful Female Characters in Shakespeare
From Lady Macbeth to Beatrice, these ten women prove that Shakespeare's female characters are anything but dated. Meet the heroines who seize agency, mock patriarchy and still set the bar for complexity.
23 Shakespeare Phrases We Still Use Today
"Break the ice," "wild-goose chase," "green-eyed monster": these everyday expressions all started with Shakespeare. Here are 23 phrases the Bard gave us, with the plays they come from and what they really mean.
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