Name: ______Per. ______
Twelfth Night Packet
Twelfth Night Character Chart
Name / Main Role/Job / Characteristics (min. 5 for major characters only)Viola
Olivia
Orsino
Sebastian
Malvolio
Feste
Sir Toby Belch
Maria
Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Antonio
Shakespeare Background Notes:
1. Where was Shakespeare born, and in what year? When did he die?
2. What kind of schooling did Shakespeare probably receive? What would he have learned?
3. When (and why) did Shakespeare marry? How old was he? How old was his wife? What children did they have?
4. What happened in the years following his marriage?
5. What is the most famous part of Shakespeare’s will? Why is this?
6. What did Shakespeare’s parents do? What kind of childhood/young adult life did this provide him?
7. When did Shakespeare first appear in London?
8. What reputation did the theater have at the time Shakespeare lived?
9. What was Shakespeare’s theater like? What was it called? Who attended plays there?
10. What two monarchs ruled England during Shakespeare’s lifetime?
11. What kinds of things did Shakespeare write, and what were they about?
12. What controversy surrounds all of Shakespeare’s writing?
13. What controversy surrounds Shakespeare’s sonnets?
Paraphrase the following sonnet line-by-line. Remember that a paraphrase should capture the gist of a quote; it need not be word for word. Note the TONE of this sonnet: Is it humourous? Serious? Both?
Sonnet 130
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare,
As any she belied with false compare.
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______
11. ______
12. ______
13. ______
- ______
Shakespearian/Dramatic Vocabulary
Word(s) / Definition
Rhyme
Alliteration
Couplet
Sonnet
Comedy
Pun
Exposition
Rising Action
Climax
Falling Action
Denouement
Exeunt
Aside
Monologue
Soliloquy
Setting
Reading Questions:
ACT I
1.1
1. Who gives the opening speech? What is he talking about? Give a short paraphrase of the following lines:
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
2. What is your first impression of Duke Orsino? What is wrong with him?
3. Why is Olivia in mourning and how long will it last?
1.2
4. Where is the setting of this scene?
5. What has just happened to Viola?
6. Why does Viola want to serve Olivia? What does she finally decide to do? What does she ask her Captain to do for her?
1.3
7. Who is Sir Toby and what is his relation to Olivia? What is his attitude toward life?
8. Who is Sir Andrew Aguecheek and why is he there? When he first appears, does he fit the description given of him earlier?
9. What does Andrew think the word "accost" means?
1.4
10. Who is Cesario and what is his relation to Duke Orsino?
11. What is Cesario being sent to do? Why has Orsino selected Cesario in particular for this task?
12. What problem does Viola have now?
1.5
13. What is your first impression of Feste (the clown)?
14. From what we see of her up to now, how seriously is Olivia mourning?
15. Paraphrase Feste’s line: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
16. What happens in the conversation between Viola/Cesario and Olivia? What has happened to Olivia by the end?
ACT II
2.1
17. Who is Sebastian? What do you expect will happen when he goes to Orsino's court?
18. Who is Antonio? Why shouldn't he go to Orsino's court, and why will he go anyway?
2.2
19. What does Viola/Cesario learn from her/his encounter with Malvolio?
20. Time is somewhat relative in this play. When should this scene occur? Why doesn't it?
2.3
21. What time is it? What are Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Feste doing? Why does Sir Toby think he can get away with it?
22. What is Malvolio's response to them? How does Sir Toby treat him?
23. What is Maria's plan for Malvolio? From what we have seen, does Malvolio deserve to have a trick like this played on him?
24. What sense of Sir Andrew do you get from the line "I was loved once, too."?
2.4
25. According to Orsino, should the man or the woman be older? Does he hear what Viola/Cesario is saying? How willing (or able) is Orsino to listen to other people's ideas?
26. What issue does Viola/Cesario raise? How does Orsino answer her?
27. What happens to Viola/Cesario at line 2.4.114? Does Viola almost give herself away? How does she cover herself in lines 116-120?
28. What is Viola feeling as she/he tells the “sister's” story? Is she trying to make Orsino see who she really is (consciously or unconsciously)? If she keeps going, will he figure it out?
29. Does Orsino change his behavior during Viola/Cesario's story about "his" sister? Notice that his questions respond to what she has said. Has he ever truly listened to anyone this way before?
2.5
30. What is Malvolio doing before he finds the letter? What does this tell us about him?
31. Complete the phrase "Some are born great …” What do these lines mean?
How does Malvolio take this? What other instructions does the letter give to Malvolio?
ACT III
3.1
32. What is Viola/Cesario saying about Feste in her soliloquy (Give a 1-2 sentence paraphrase)? How well does Viola understand Feste?
This fellow is wise enough to play the Fool;
And to do that well craves a kind of wit:
… This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man's art…
33. What does Viola/Cesario mean when s/he says, "I am not what I am"?
3.2
34. Why does Sir Andrew want to leave? Why doesn’t he?
3.3
35. What does Antonio give Sebastian, and why?
3.4
36. What does Malvolio look like when he enters? What misunderstanding takes place? How does Olivia diagnose what is wrong with Malvolio?
37. How do Sir Toby, Fabian, and Maria treat Malvolio? What do they say (at least to him) is the nature of his madness? How do they propose to treat it?
38. What is the significance of Fabian’s line, “If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction”? Why is it ironic?
39. What is Sir Andrew’s challenge? Would you say it is well-written?
40. Watch the "duel" scene. How eager are Viola/Cesario and Sir Andrew to fight? How are Fabian and Sir Toby helping matters along? Is the scene funny?
41. What happens when Antonio asks for his purse?
42. What should Viola learn from what Antonio says? Does she learn anything?Does anyone else learn anything or even recognize what has happened? Has Sir Toby understood anything?
43. What is Sir Andrew going to do next? Why?
ACT IV
4.1
44. What happens when Sir Andrew attacks the person he thinks is Cesario? Who wins?
45. What happens when Olivia interrupts them? What does she think is happening?
4.2
46. How do Sir Toby, Maria, and especially Feste treat Malvolio? Does Malvolio still deserve the treatment he receives?
4.3
47. Paraphrase Sebastian's response to what has happened:
This is the air; that is the glorious sun;
This pearl she gave me, I do feel't and see't;
And though 'tis wonder that enwraps me thus,
Yet 'tis not madness.
48. To whom does Olivia think she is talking? What does she want Sebastian to do? Will he do it?
ACT V
5.1
49. How successful is Feste in dealing with Orsino? Why is the Duke there?
50. The knots of this story are finally being untangled at this point; what happens when all the characters are finally brought together? Who realizes what?
51. Based on what Sir Andrew says when he enters, what has happened offstage? What revelation can we expect soon, and what happens between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew?
52. How is Malvolio's situation resolved?
53. What weddings will take place, and where? What characters are left out of the happiness?
54. Is Feste's song a fitting conclusion to the play?
10