Talk:Twelfth Night

message: I assume the sentence asserting Sir Toby provokes Sir Andrew to make sexual overtures towards Maria references Act 1 Scene 3 when Sir Toby says "Accost, Sir Andrew, accost."  It's not clear to me that Sir Toby is using accost to speak of sexual solicitation.  Rather, in my opinion, Sir Toby is merely prompting Sir Andrew to properly greet Maria but the idiot Sir Andrew misunderstands him.  I'm going to remove the relevant sentence.  Please revert if I'm reading this wrong.
Erroneous01 18:21, 20 April 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the answer is something of both. Andrew is using Accost, as to "greet", Maria. Andrew interprets that as her family name (Mary Accost). However, that misunderstanding also prompts Toby to mock the incompetent Andrew as per AndyJones. Logical2u 13:26, 5 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Good Mistress Accost 

message: Have there been any modern adaptations of this play? If so, what are they?--Light current 18:34, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Adaptations 

message: Since Pokemon has an article for each character, surely Shakespeare must get the same treatement?
*Cool. Here's the list. Do you want to start? AndyJones 08:08, 2 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Characters 

message: In the article it states that Illyria refers to Albania. Isn't it more in the area of modern Dalmatia?
It certainly is. I've had a go at rewriting the whole "where is Ilyria?" section because the original text says among other things that it didn't refer to a real area in Shakespeare's time, which is plain wrong, and there are arguments for Shakespeare wanting us to think it's set there (regardless of how surreal he then makes it). Agonoid 21:12, 31 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Location of Illyria 

message: According to the accompanying interpretation/description of the German Reclam edition, the theory about the origin of Orsino's name is disputed. According to the text, it would have been very inappropriate to name such a character after a nobility present during the performance of the play.
It seems a bit odd this interpretation is presented as a factoid in the introductory section. — Ashmodai (talk · contribs) 23:41, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll go along with that.  In fact I'm inclined to delete the entire opening line after the word "Shakespeare".  (See below, "Twelfth Night or What You Will")--King Hildebrand 12:07, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

text: Orsino means Little Bear, but I doubt that that gets us any further.--King Hildebrand 12:07, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Orsino 

message: I was wondering if there was anything important about the name "Cesario," as it would be unlike Shakespeare to have a character make up a name with no relevance to what it assigned to. Of course, it could just be a meaningless name, but I haven't found anything for or against it. Commander Regulus 23:18, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: It is unlike Shakespeare to have meaningless names. Stephen Orgel notes that "Cesario" both designates Viola as "belonging to Caesar," and therefore off-limits (I would cite the page if I had the book, Impersonations, handy), as well as "cut" (same root as scissors, scio, etc.), or castrated. That is to say, Viola self-names in sexual frustration. --Jgurd (talk) 18:10, 8 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Cesario

message: Does anyone understand the origin of the name?  The article states, "...named after the Twelfth Night holiday of the Christmas season."  Well, there is such a date in the Christian calendar, also known as Epiphany, when tradition has it, the three wise men arrive at Bethlehem to pay their homage to the newborn Jesus.  But what has that to do with the play?  The action clearly takes place over several days, possibly weeks, none of which can be associated with any particular date on the calendar.
The subtitle, What You Will, suggests that Shakespeare on this occasion was at a loss (perhaps uniquely!) and could not think of any suitable title.
The opening line of the article begs the question, but singularly fails to answer it.  As it adds nothing other than doubt and confusion, perhaps the misexplanation should be deleted.--King Hildebrand 12:03, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: This might be a useful source. An Improbable Fiction: J L Lockett --King Hildebrand 12:42, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Twelfth Night or What You Will 

message: In Act 5, Scene 1, Feste quotes the following:
:"Why, "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them..."
Feste did not attend with Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian behind a boxtree to see Malvolio read the fake love letter. Feste's quote originated from that fake love letter. Was it a coincidence that Feste read the fake love letter after Malvolio finished reading the letter?  Originally, Shakespeare planned Feste to attend with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew to see Malvolio reading the fake love letter. However, at the time that Fabian, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew were watching Malvolio reading the fake love letter, Feste was entertaining Duke Orsino. Or did Shakespeare forget to change Feste's lines? May it also be something else different? --Mayfare 21:09, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Feste's Mysterious Quote 

message: Although Viola did mention that she would go into service as a castrato (eunuch) it is highly unlikely that she did that, from evidence of the text.  Firstly, that would make the jealousy of the Duke in Act V ludicrous.  Why would the Duke be jealous of a castrated man?  Secondly, clearly in the capacity of a castrato it would be pointless for Olivia to pine for Viola-Cesario as a husband.  Hence it is pretty clear that either Viola (or Shakespeare) has changes in thoughts concerning her means of disguise. I have made the changes. 116.14.209.39 (talk) 07:20, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Are you suggesting that no eunuch has ever married, and that it is impossible that one ever should? Twelfth Night seems to focus on emotional love, not sexual. 67.22.211.139 (talk) 05:50, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: In the context of Elizabethan England, it seems wilful to suggest anyone would. As for mere platonic love, again it seems unlikely given the fact Olivia hardly knows either Cesario or Sebastian, given the short time she knows either.  220.255.1.36 (talk) 13:25, 9 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: Viola as eunuch

message: This interpretation, currently adorning the lede, certainly can be read into the supplied reference, which also deals, separately,  with the play's subtitle What You Will. It seems, however, to be stretching things to declare that the "Hard graft is put in by their servants" is an alternative meaning of What You Will: linking the two topics is synthesis and not in the original. Propose deletion. --Old Moonraker (talk) 13:52, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. --Old Moonraker (talk) 05:26, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Hard graft is put in by their servants" 

message: If you want to write about the 2009 production in NYC Central Park Delacorte Theater, here's a review:
I Love You, You’re Perfect. You’re a Girl?' by Charles Isherwood 2009-06-26 New York Times Jodi.a.schneider (talk) 16:37, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  review of 2009 production in NYC Central Park Delacorte Theater 

message: I am not the ideal contributor to assess this section, being a little out of touch with such modern concepts as "a future where the human race has expanded and inhabits a multitude of planets", one of the current links. While completely accepting that Shakespeare was a  poet for all time, I think that, even so,  this connexion may be a little tenuous. Anybody want to put me right, before I start a heavy trim there? --Old Moonraker (talk) 13:22, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: As a further indication of the need for other editors' input on this, I have just been upbraided on my talk page for failing to find a connection between Twelfth Night and Les Mains Sale,  Jean-Paul Sartre's tale of political assassination in a war-time "ally of Nazi Germany on the verge of being annexed to the Eastern Bloc". --Old Moonraker (talk) 14:00, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Influence" section 

message: I noticed that some websites like this Quote Garden called Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as The Twelfth Night.  I'm getting confused!  Is "The Twelfth Night" just a mislabeling or something?! --Angeldeb82 (talk) 20:29, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: "The Twelfth Night"?

message: Viola, Olivia and Duke Orseo 84.128.175.100 (talk) 12:26, 16 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Relationships 

message: I don't think the following line needs to be in here, as it's merely one supposed critic's opinion, and the film is quite funny: "Much of the comic material was downplayed into straightforward drama, and the film received some criticism for this." 140.141.140.41 (talk) 04:43, 21 November 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  1996 movie version