Viola, the young woman who was shipwrecked but manages to disguise herself as a young man (she looks very much like her twin brother, Sebastian, who may have been lost at sea), gains the trust of the Duke, the love of the Duke’s lady, and the respect of his household, all while passing herself off as a man. One of Shakespeare’s more likable heroines, she is also witty and sardonic. Unlike some of Shakespeare’s comedies, the ending of this one leaves everyone happy.
The Meaning Behind the Name
Sounds reasonable, you say. But who the heck knows why it’s called “Twelfth Night.” There are no twelves, and nothing even remotely like a twelve occurs. Does the narrative span a whole calendar year? It seems a lot longer than that.
We’ve all realized by now that the title is completely unrelated to the narrative. Even the book’s subtitle, or What You Will, reads more like Shakespeare opening a new window saying, “I don’t know what to call this, but here you go,” before handing over a pile of paper scrap.
It turns out that the play’s debut for Queen Elizabeth I would take place at a celebration called Twelfth Night, opens in a new window in 1601, and so when good old Will couldn’t think of a better title, that’s the one that stuck.
To begin, let’s define the holiday known as “Twelfth Night.”
On the evening of January 5, the twelfth day following Christmas, people celebrate the celebration known as Twelfth Night (Holiday). Known as Epiphany in most Christian-established Western societies, opens a new window. Depending on your beliefs, this might be the day that the Three Wise Men brought presents to the baby Jesus or the day that John the Baptist baptized him. The former is the one most often celebrated in contemporary Western Christianity; the latter is known as Three Kings Day in various places, especially in Latin America.
The secular celebration of Christmas comes to an end. The day after Thanksgiving when we finally put away the decorations and start experiencing true winter.
Epiphany means “appearance” or “manifestation” in its Greek origin. It is used in the Greek translation of the Bible in several books because of its association with the manifestation of a deity to a believer. It became a festival honoring Jesus’ birth in Christian tradition over time.
On January 6, under the rule of the Church of England in Elizabethan England, opens in a new window a celebration that would last for the next week would begin. The Yule Log was put out and the charcoal was stored till next year. There was a very special Twelfth Cake, and whomever discovered the bean within would become the king for the day, opens a new window opens a new window (dubbed Lord of Misrule), while whoever found the villain, the fool, or the tart would take on those roles for the day.
That’s what we thought. It’s possible that one of the Queen’s courtiers is the mysterious Twelfth Night Tart.
Twelfth Night (holiday) celebrations in England have mellowed from eight days of debauchery and spices to a more mellow night for attending plays, but the core idea of merriment to end the Christmas season remains.
