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English Literature "Twelfth Night" revision notes
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Revision Notes for Twelfth Night a collection of exam questions with the indicative content provided for many of the questions
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Twelfth Night‘In Twelfth Night, humour primarily comes from situations involving cruelty and suffering.’ To what
extent do you agree with this view? Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on
Shakespeare’s dramatic methods.
‘In Twelfth Night, love causes complications but leads ultimately to joy.’ To what extent do you agree
with this view? Remember to include in your answer relevant comment on Shakespeare’s dramatic
methods.
The play Twelfth Night is named after a festival where traditional social rules and roles were turned
upside down. Discuss how this is reflected in the events of the play.
While Viola’s disguise gives her access to a different world, it also causes many problems. Discuss the
problems that she encounters in Twelfth Night.
Truth in love can hurt. Discuss with reference to two characters in Twelfth Night.
‘A play in which love proves to be full of surprises.’ Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show
how far you agree with this view of love in Twelfth Night. Remember to support your answer with
reference to different interpretations.
‘The play’s notions of gender are very complex.’ Using your knowledge of the play as a whole, show
how far you agree with this view of Twelfth Night. Remember to support your answer with reference to
different interpretations.
Extract from an Examiners Report: “This question on notions of gender seemed to be
welcomed by many candidates and there were many impressive answers seen (although
essays across most of the mark range were noted by examiners). Some answers provided a
moderately successful ‘list’ of instances in the play where ideas about gender are explored.
Other candidates adopted a more sophisticated approach and attempted to synthesise a
subtle argument about the play’s broader concerns with gender. The topic seemed to chime
well with some candidates’ contemporary concerns with ‘gender issues’ and the term “non-
binary” featured in many answers. Other candidates took the opportunity to employ relevant
historical material about the Shakespearean tradition of all-male casts. Both professional
critical views and instances from performance history of the play were often cited to good
effect – with a particular focus for the latter on recent single-sex or gender-blind/reversed
castings of the play (such as the Emma Rice production at Shakespeare’s Globe).”
Extract from mark scheme:
, “In Section 1, part (b), the equally weighted assessment objectives are: AO1 and AO5. AO1,
Articulate informed, personal and creative responses to literary texts, using associated
concepts and terminology, and coherent, accurate written expression; and AO5, Explore
literary texts informed by different interpretations. Answers should be creative, informed and
relevant (AO1) and supported with textual reference. The answer is in itself a response to a
critical view, but may make reference to the interpretations of other audiences and readers
(AO5), which may include a discussion of changing critical views of the play over time, and
which may include both historic and contemporary performances of the play.
Many candidates will bring to their reading of the play a sense of the current importance of
this subject. The play certainly has a great deal to offer for discussion in this area. Recent
performances make the most of the gender complexities implicit in the play (including Mark
Rylance’s performance as Olivia, gender-blind casting of the sub-plot in a Stratford
production ten years ago, and Emma Rice’s choice of a drag queen as Feste partnering a
female Malvolio). Discussion of the conventions of the Elizabethan theatre is likely to be
useful, unless it too obviously involves drop-in paragraphs of context. This play capitalises on
all the quirks and implications of casting boy actors in the female roles. Beyond a mere
listing of the gender complexities in the plot of the play (cross-dressing; characters falling in
love with members of the ‘wrong’ sex; implicit consideration of the nature of masculinity and
femininity) some candidates might choose to consider how this aspect of the text contributes
towards the idea of Twelfth Night as a comedy of mistaken identities and (self-) discoveries,
with (at times) a quiet solemnity and hint of loss (especially the moving revelations about
Cesario’s non-existent sister in 2.4.) The link between the topic of gender in this question and
the matters presented in the context passage (Question 6(b)) may be touched on by some
candidates, who may make use of the developing intimacy between Orsino and Cesario
portrayed in 1.4. This indicative content is intended to indicate aspects of questions that may
feature in candidates’ answers. It is not prescriptive, nor is it exclusive; examiners must be
careful to reward original but well-focused answers and implicit as well as explicit responses
to questions. “
Additional Notes for revision purposes
His cross-dressed heroine Viola – who calls herself a ‘monster’ in Act II, scene 2 – is no social pariah, but
a glorious demonstration of the range of gender possibilities available to early modern people. Viola
disguises herself as a boy and wins the love of a man and a woman (Orsino and Olivia); her epicene twin
brother Sebastian is beloved of both Olivia and the lovelorn Antonio. On the seventeenth century stage,
with female roles taken by boys, the play was even more fluid in its gender dynamics: Viola is in fact a
boy playing a girl playing a boy for most of the play, indistinguishable from a boy playing a boy
(Sebastian) and surrounded by boys playing women (Olivia and Maria) as well as men playing men.
In Twelfth Night gender really is what a person makes of it.
After braving several cases of mistaken identity, accidental gayness, awkward sexual tension, and the
general tomfoolery symbolic of the festival of Twelfth Night, our heroine Viola finds herself in the final
scene of the final act preparing for marriage festivities. The heteronormative status quo appears to have
been restored with the righting of the ambiguously gendered pairings: Viola is finally together with her
beloved Duke Orsino, and Olivia appears satisfied with her replacement Cesario, Sebastian. A closer
examination of various scenes in the play, however, suggests that perhaps the significance of these
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