Twelfth Night William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Twelfth Night.

Twelfth Night Material

  • Study Guide
  • Lesson Plan

Join Now to View Premium Content

GradeSaver provides access to 2368 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11018 literature essays, 2792 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.

Twelfth Night Essays

An appetite for love: assessing 'twelfth night' and 'of apolonius and silla' katelyn white college, twelfth night.

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night , Shakespeare closely transcends the idea of an appetite for love from Of Apolonius and Silla by Barnabb Rich. The appetite for love is demonstrated through many characters throughout Twelfth Night and is one...

The Role of the Fool: Feste's Significance Brad Knisley

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the Feste's role might originally appear to be as a minor character, but in actuality his role is of principal significance. Because the action of the play occurs during the revelry of the holiday season, the clown...

The Fool as a Playwright in Twelfth Night Michael Yank

Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life...

It is Theater Virginia Brannon

Theatre began as a presentation of stories and ideas, mostly revolving around festival times in the calendar of the church year. This concept was carried on in Shakespeare's times and is exemplified in his plays Twelfth Night, or What You Will and...

To Believe, or Not To Believe Virginia Brannon

In the study of three of Shakespeare's plays, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, The Tragedy of Richard II, and Henry IV, Part 1, one of the themes that is presented is the contrast of "appearance vs. reality." Sometimes the confusion is comedic,...

The Function of Plot Divisions in Twelfth Night and in Doctor Faustus Anonymous

In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there exists a high and a low (or comic) plot. This plot division serves as a parallel - the actions and characters in the low plot coincide with the actions and characters in the high plot. The...

Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Saturnalia, or Just Sad? Sanjana Krishna

Topic: One theatre critic has said of Twelfth Night: "...the key question seems to me how much one regards it as a festive piece of saturnalia, written for a very specific occasion, and how much as a dark comedy about impermanence and pain." What...

The Dark Side of Twelfth Night Jesse Brundige

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare creates a duality between the worlds of the nobility and its associates and the said "outsiders." There is a great element of selfishness involved in the actions of the characters deemed "in" as they peruse through...

Deception, Delusion and the Danger of Half-Perceived Truths Anonymous

It has often been said that "the clothes make the man." It could never seem truer than in Twelfth Night where disguises and mistaken identities run the gamut of use. The identity of people, things and ideas are swept away under the facade of...

The Transformative Power of the Character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous

The character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" represents the dynamic factor in an otherwise static equation. Illyria is an immutable place, and the people who live and visit the land become ensnared in a stasis. Shakespeare uses the device of...

Elusive Happy Medium Anonymous

Quoted centuries before Shakespeare's birth, the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus believed that "in everything the middle course is best; all things in excess bring trouble to men." Often times, society focuses its sights on the attainment...

Loveable Knaves: The Humanity of Malvolio and Parolles Barret Buchholz

Malvolio and Parolles both appear as relatively unlikable characters due to their inflated egos, and convince themselves that they are socially greater than they are in reality. In Twelfth Night, Malvolio, a mere steward, behaves with utter scorn...

Love Is Love... Or Is It? Tamanna Haque

In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare illustrates love in various forms and suggests that, like beauty, the true meaning of love exists in the eye of the beholder. Love is seen as bordering on insanity, a frivolous game of ever-changing affections, and...

To Gender or Not to Gender Mandy Geddes

"Sex is one of the constants in human experience; sexuality, one of the variables."

Bruce Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England.

Sexuality in Renaissance England was ambiguous. The current common idea or definition of "homosexual" did...

Swerving Women in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous

When Lady Olivia first beseeches Viola, a girl disguised as the male page Cesario, to love her, the two share a repartee that seems to question Cesario's affection for the countess. But as Viola responds to Olivia, "you do think you are not what...

Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv Sophie Victoria Curlett

Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv

Chosen extract: Act 2, Scene iv

In Twelfth Night , it is love’s revolutionary potential to inspire awareness, question authority, and disrupt the anti-comic balance that makes love so...

Discuss the function of cross-dressing in Renaissance drama. Anonymous

Cross-dressing on the early modern stage was a highly exploited theatrical device. It subverted the traditional conceptions of gender, evoking a recurring sense of dramatic irony. Jean E. Howard explains that “behavioural differences” and “...

Comic Cruelty in Twelfth Night Anonymous

In a Shakespearean comic setting where chaos, asininity, and insolence reign, the very qualities of comic irreverence become virtues. A comic hero or side character who relentlessly pranks stooges and straight men for the audience's enjoyment is...

The Functions of Comedy in Twelfth Night Mark Carver

Salinger (1974) calls Twelfth Night a “comedy about comedy” in which Shakespeare demonstrates his “fundamental debt to the earlier Renaissance tradition of comic playwriting and his abiding sense of detachment from it” (pg 242), and it is from...

Gender Expectations and Courtship in As You Like It and Twelfth Night Carly Czajka

Although some Shakespearean plays carve out a more passive, male-defined role for women, such as that which is exemplified through Ophelia’s obedience to Polonius in Hamlet, the comedies of As You Like It and Twelfth Night explore women’s...

Intrinsic Factors and Extenuating Forces in the Determination of Romantic Relationships in Twelfth Night and Othello Anonymous 12th Grade

In Shakespeare's Othello, the primary obstacle in Othello and Desdemona's relationship is Othello’s race, and hence, his status as an outsider. This difference becomes a barrier when Brabantio objects to their marriage, however, it plays much more...

The Sexuality of Service, the Female Relationship, and Freaky Family Connections in Twelfth Night Molly Brothers 12th Grade

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has a host of characters: a cross-dressing woman, an uppity, lower-class servant, a quick-witted, tricky gentlewoman, a rowdy, vulgar nobleman and his misguided friend. With so many characters to keep track of, an array...

The Pursuit of Love in “Twelfth Night” and “Enduring Love” Kareem Belfon 12th Grade

In both “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare and “Enduring Love” by Ian McEwan, the pursuit of love is presented within the main characters. Their attempts to pursue a relationship could be seen as romantic and passionate; however, it could also...

Malvolio: The Puritan Plays the Fool Mary Anne Phillips 11th Grade

Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste -- a licensed jester. Yet upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare merely uses Feste as a critic of the comedic disarray in Illyria, which parallels the...

thesis statement for twelfth night

  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Information Science and Technology
  • Social Issues

Home Essay Samples Literature Twelfth Night

The Theme of Love in "Twelfth Night"

Table of contents, types of love, unrequited love's impact, love's whimsical nature, love's transformative power.

  • Shakespeare, W. (1623). Twelfth Night, Or What You Will. First Folio.
  • Garber, M. (1994). Coming of Age in Shakespeare. Routledge.
  • Greenblatt, S. (Ed.). (2012). The Norton Shakespeare. W. W. Norton & Company.
  • Mowat, B. A., & Werstine, P. (Eds.). (2013). Twelfth Night (No Fear Shakespeare). SparkNotes.
  • Stallybrass, P., & White, A. R. (1986). The Politics and Poetics of Transgression. Cornell University Press.

*minimum deadline

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below

writer logo

  • Tragic Hero
  • A Hunger Artist
  • The American Scholar
  • J. K. Rowling
  • Rich Dad Poor Dad

Related Essays

Need writing help?

You can always rely on us no matter what type of paper you need

*No hidden charges

100% Unique Essays

Absolutely Confidential

Money Back Guarantee

By clicking “Send Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails

You can also get a UNIQUE essay on this or any other topic

Thank you! We’ll contact you as soon as possible.

IMAGES

  1. Thesis Statement For Twelfth Night: Thesis Of Love In Shakespeare's

    thesis statement for twelfth night

  2. The Twelfth Night by Shakespeare

    thesis statement for twelfth night

  3. Thesis Statement For Twelfth Night: Thesis Of Love In Shakespeare's

    thesis statement for twelfth night

  4. Twelfth Night essay

    thesis statement for twelfth night

  5. (DOC) Twelfth night essay

    thesis statement for twelfth night

  6. Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare Essay Example

    thesis statement for twelfth night

VIDEO

  1. How to Write the Thesis Statement for your Academic Essay

  2. Penn State Centre Stage Presents Twelfth Night!

  3. Twelfth night play # Act wise Summary of the play#Critical Analysis#Literature student AlishbaMalik

  4. Twelfth Night an Introduction

  5. #Lecture# Prof. Sunita Sinha on Twelfth Night

  6. Shakespeare's view of love in "Twelfth Night"( M.A. previous) paper 1