Where I Think I Get It, Finally

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Possibly the most fun of Shakespeare's comedies--my favorite, anyway--Twelfth Night made so much less sense to me in my second semester of college about 40 years ago. But since then, a couple things happened: first, with years and practice, I got a little better than college me at reading Shakespearean English; and second, I finally realized that, yes, that's all the plot there is. I'm not missing anything.

Here it is, sorta: Viola dresses like a guy for [waves hands] reasons; she falls in love with Orsino, her boss (for no reason I can see); she pleads his case to Olivia, who quite reasonably doesn't care for him; Olivia, meanwhile, falls in love with Viola's male avatar.

That's most of it. Then Olivia's houseguests and serving woman play a trick on her steward just to mess with him. That becomes a sizable chunk of the overall play!

As a young person, I thought his plays were always deep and always had significant plots, but when I was unable to find all that, I was confused. Reading Shakespeare with shallow understanding (no aids, no outlines, no handouts) and finding nothing I expected, I literally thought I was missing it, that the deep stuff resided in the lines I didn't understand. But now I think that, if you just let the play be a goof, a bit of silly fun, it makes perfect sense. (Having additional resources like the "No Fear" books is a big help, too.)

All of the conflicts and troubles are greatest after Viola's brother (the one she thought drowned) returns and looks just like her in male dress. Antonio believes Sebastian has betrayed him and ends up in jail; Malvolio is locked up for a madman; Olivia is betrothed, she thinks, to Cesario, who then denies her; Viola, still dressed as a man, sees her love for the duke frustrated; Maria is about to be in trouble with Olivia for her part in a mean prank; and both Sebastian and Viola think the other is dead. All these are quickly resolved. Viola marries Orsino; her brother marries Olivia; and even Maria gets married, to Sir Toby. And Antonio--I'm not sure what happens to Antonio. I think he gets released...

(But did Shakespeare have to have the two main female characters be named Viola and Olivia? Why not just name all the guys John and all the women Betty?)

Silly story. I like it. Took me a long time to get here.

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