When was twelfth night written and first performed

Twelfth Night ends and everyone, except Malvolio, is happy and Shakespeare speaks of the madness of love. Information provided about the Twelfth Night play William Shakespeare never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers there were no copyright laws protecting Shakespeare and his works during the Elizabethan era.

Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print. Date first performed The first recorded production of Twelfth night February 2 In the Elizabethan era there was a huge demand for new entertainment and Twelfth Night would have been produced immediately following the completion of the play. As William Shakespeare clearly did not want his work published details of the play would have therefore been noted, and often pirated without his consent, following a performance.

Details of this famous and other quotes follow, complete with information regarding the Act and the Scene, allowing a quick reference to the section of the play that these quotations can be found in.

Please click here for the full text of the script of the play. Twelfth Night Play by Shakespeare. It was common knowledge among lettered Elizabethans that while they were observing the Feast of St John the Catholic world was celebrating Twelfth Night.

And that included many families in those parts of England where the Old Religion haunted the shadows. Shakespeare, we can be sure, knew 27 December was Twelfth Night. We now recognize that Shakespeare and company performed before the Queen on Twelfth Night. But was their play Twelfth Night? While we have no certain knowledge, we may be able to draw an appealing inference.

Yes, the company could have played any number of old plays by Shakespeare or new plays by other authors. The holy day known as Twelfth Night is also known as the Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord Anglican and Catholic , 9 which remembers the discovery by the Magi of the infant Jesus in the manger. Candlemas celebrates two acts of recognition described in the Gospel of St Luke, chapter 2. On the fortieth day after the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph went to the Temple in Jerusalem to complete the rites of post-partum purification required of Jewish mothers.

She brought with her the infant Jesus, a first-born son. On Candlemas, 2 February, the audience at the Inns of Court was offered a play which climaxes in two acts of recognition, Viola-Sebastian and Sebastian-Viola, presented on a holy day commemorating two acts of recognition.

But Twelfth Night is equally appropriate as an entertainment for Twelfth Night, 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany and commemoration of the recognition of the infant Jesus by the Magi. Clearly, the play is appropriate to both occasions.

True, time out of mind, religious plays and pageants had been performed in English churches at Candlemas; many portrayed the visit of Mary and Joseph to the Temple and the recognition of infant Jesus.

And Twelfth Night does climax with a powerful scene of mutual recognition. But, as noted, Shakespeare named his play for Twelfth Night, not Candlemas. But had Virginio Orsini really travelled to London with flirtation in mind? Regarding the choice of entertainment, we know that Lord Chamberlain George Carey earlier had made a note to remind himself. As for Twelfth Night , in L. Salingar noted that the play embodies the sense of revelry and misrule that were traditional in Elizabethan celebrations of the Twelve Nights of Christmas.

But what about that dependent phrase? And, not incidentally, who is You? Is You us, the audience? Or just some general You? Scholarly attempts to crack the or What You Will crux have a long, inglorious, and often humorous history. It might be called Twelfth Night or by whatever other name. There are critics who connect the holiday and thus the title to characters in the play, like Sebastian and Viola, who could represent Christ's dual nature.

But these connections are dubious. All Rights Reserved. A good practise in it to make the steward beleeve his lady widdowe was in love with him, by counterfayting a letter as from his lady, in generall termes, telling him what shee liked best in him, prescribing his gesture in smiling, his apparaile It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older.

This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. Sources The plot of Twelfth Night is thought to have sprung from several possible sources: Ovid's Metamorphoses Shakespeare makes reference to the myth of Acteon in Twelfth Night.

His entry reads: At our feast wee had a play called Twelve Night, or what you will, much like the commedy of errores, or Menechmi in Plautus, but most like and neere to that in Italian called Inganni.