Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare | Act 4, Scene 1

Professor Regina Buccola of Roosevelt University provides an in-depth summary and analysis of Act 4, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night.


William Shakespeare’s comedy is all about mistaken identities and misplaced love.

Viola, shipwrecked with her twin brother Sebastian, assumes that Sebastian is dead and attempts to find work in Illyria disguised as a boy. She falls for Orsino, duke of Illyria, though he is in love with Olivia. Meanwhile, Viola helps woo Olivia for Orsino, but Olivia falls for “Sebastian” instead.

As this romantic entanglement develops, it emerges that Sebastian has survived and is in the city. Misunderstandings ensue as the result of Viola's disguise and her lookalike brother's return from the dead.

Everyone ends up partnered off, but not before the bungling lovers' shenanigans reach a fever pitch.

Considered the most famous playwright in history, William Shakespeare was at his best with this comedy. Twelfth Night was first performed in 1601 or 1602, possibly for Queen Elizabeth I. The play is replete with all of the elements beloved by Elizabethan theatre-goers: double-crossing, mistaken identities, cross-dressing, and romance intertwine on the last night of the Christmas celebrations, at which time pandemonium was celebrated.

The comedy contains many of Shakespeare's favorite themes: a topsy-turvy world in which disguises and jests sometimes backfire; the folly of dwelling too long in grief; and the fine line between love and madness.


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[_larchiviste_]

I have an essay on that scene... wish me luck !