Resumo de Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare

'Twelfth Night' (or What you Will) is a 17th Century play by the world famous playwright, William Shakespeare. It isin the Comedy genre, and focuses upon the tensions and drama that enfolds due to mistaken identity and disguise.Performed the world over, in numerous languages, the central story concerns a pair of opposite sex twins, who areshipwrecked upon a foreign land (Illyria) which is strangely comparible to 1600's England. Yet, there is a place near Bosnia and Croatia known as Illyria, in the baltics. One imagines that the author was using his creative liberty in terms of the geography of the location. Essentially, the ship they are travelling is ruined in treacherous seas, and the female twin, Viola (later known as 'Cesario', believes her dearly beloved brother, Sebastian, to have been lost and thus drowned at sea. She arrives on land with the sea captain, who helps her to disguise herself as a man (frighteningly similar to her brother!) so that she can set out to find work in this new land.Meanwhile we learn that Sebastian and his closest friend have indeed survived, and are in hiding in Illyria as they have been at opposition in the wars with the ruler, Duke Orsino, who is a young, amorous gentleman, currently trying to woo the lovely Olivia She has recently lost her brother, and is in mourning, refusing to go out and wearing black all of the time. She is a lady who is attended to by Malvolio and Maria, her closest servants. Her cousin Sir Toby is staying with her, a somewhat useless drunk who imposes on her kindness, and his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, whom Sir Toby tricks into thinking might have a chance in love with the beautiful Olivia. This he does to ensure he can still make use of Andrew's money for more drinking and merriment!There are many love tangles in the play and episodes of trickery and disguise, which Shakespeare uses on stage to make the audience know more than the players about what is going on - this is called Dramatic Irony. In brief, Viola (disguised as a man called 'Cesario') goes to work for Duke Orsino wooing Lady Olivia. He/She is so successful with words that Olivia starts to fall in love with 'Cesario' instead, whilst Viola begins to fall in love with Orsino herself. Malvolio is tricked into thinking that Olivia is in love with him, by Maria and Sir Toby, who also declare their love at the end. Malvolio's arrogance leads to him being locked up as mad, and the strange and curiously wise jester, called Feste, plays a large part in this trickery.In the end, the twins are reunited and Olivia mistakes Cesario for Sebastian, his/her lookalike, and they marry. Viola reveals herself to be a woman, and gets together with Duke Orsino. It is a joyous outcome, except for the vain and ambitious Malvolio, who declares revenge on them all and storms out of Olivia's house in anger.The play follows the strict conventions of Shakespearean Comedy, with a happy ever after outcome.

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