Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare's most complex and intriguing plays, Twelfth Night is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. In recent years it has returned to the center of critical debate surrounding gender and sexuality. The introduction explores the multiple factors that make up the play's rich textual, theatrical, critical, and cultural history. Keir Elam surveys the play's production and reception, emphasizing the role of the spectator both within the comedy and the playhouse. He also discusses the themes of perspective and interpreting visual images, theatric and film adaptations of the play, and Twelfth Night's comedic elements, and provides individual analyses of Malvolio, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste, Orsino, Olivia, and Viola. Editorial craft, casting and the use of music are addressed in the appendices, which also include a list of abbreviations and references, a catalog of Shakespeare’s works and works partly by Shakespeare, and citations for the modern productions mentioned in the text, other collated editions of Twelfth Night, and other related reading.
The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play’s foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader.
Keir Elam is a Professor of English Literature at the University of Bologna, where he is Head of the Department of Modern Languages.
Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare's most complex and intriguing plays, Twelfth Night is a classic romantic comedy of mistaken identities. In recent years it has returned to the center of critical debate surrounding gender and sexuality. The introduction explores the multiple factors that make up the play's rich textual, theatrical, critical, and cultural history. Keir Elam surveys the play's production and reception, emphasizing the role of the spectator both within the comedy and the playhouse. He also discusses the themes of perspective and interpreting visual images, theatric and film adaptations of the play, and Twelfth Night's comedic elements, and provides individual analyses of Malvolio, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste, Orsino, Olivia, and Viola. Editorial craft, casting and the use of music are addressed in the appendices, which also include a list of abbreviations and references, a catalog of Shakespeare’s works and works partly by Shakespeare, and citations for the modern productions mentioned in the text, other collated editions of Twelfth Night, and other related reading.
The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play’s foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
General Editor's preface
Preface
Introduction
Ay, That's the Theme: Topics in Twelfth Night
Endings and Beginnings
Or What You Will: The Pleasures and Trials of Spectatorship
We Three: The Interpretation Compulsion
We Three: The Interpretation Compulsion
Around Twelfth Night
A Very Opal: The Play of Perspective
'Tis My Picture: Deciphering Visual Images
Changeable Taffeta: Materials and Materiality
In What Chapter of his Bosom?: Reading the Body
Sicken and So Die: Disease, Contagion and Death
As an Eunuch: Castration, Civility, and Intertextuality
This is Illyria, Lady: Space and Place
The Whirligig of Time: Levels of Temporality
Words are Very Rascals: Language and Discourse
Make a Good Show On't: Twelfth Night in Performance
If This Were Played Upon a Stage: Performances Virtual and Actual
First Night
Later Nights: Adaptations and Rearrangements
Our Shows Are More than Will: Victorian Special Effects and Modernist Experiments
Seasonal Nights
Illyrian Variations
The Mettle of Your Sex: Gender and Homoeroticism
Show You the Picture: Twelfth Night on Film
Are You A Comedian?: Players and Parts
Art Any More Than a Steward?: Malvolio
Your Drunken Cousin: Sir Toby
An Ass-head and a Coxcomb and a Knave: Sir Andrew
An Allowed Fool: Feste
A Noble Duke: Orsino
Here Comes the Countess: Olivia
I Am Not That I Play: Viola
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
Appendix 1: The Text and Editorial Procedures
Appendix 2: Casting
Appendix 3: Music
Abbreviations and References
Abbreviations Used in Notes
Works By and Partly By Shakespeare
Editions of Shakespeare Collated
Other Works Cited
Index
Critically acclaimed as one of Shakespeare's most complex and intriguing plays, Twelf
