ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Art and Culture Videos 17 videos
Dig up your trench coat, grab your magnifying glass, and stick on that fake mustache (we know you have one): it's time to unleash your inner Sherlo...
This novel is all about finding yourself, which hopefully you can accomplish before you find yourself smack dab in the middle of an ocean without a...
Guy in a black leotard. In a cage. Not eating. Weird? Yes. Popular? Absolutely. Kafka's short story includes iconic artist-figures: a mouse singer...
Twelfth Night 42474 Views
Share It!
Description:
We bet you didn't realize Shakespeare was such a rebel. Seriously. If he were around today, he'd be riding a motorcycle, TIVOing Sons of Anarchy , and getting a tattoo that reads "Down with the Man." That's actually a shame, because we really thought Shakespeare was the man.
Transcript
- 00:05
Twelfth Night, a la Shmoop. Shakespeare’s England.
- 00:12
A land where you could lose your head for breaking rules or for making a bad cup of
- 00:17
tea.
- 00:21
So just how did Shakespeare write a daring play like Twelfth Night and… keep his head?
- 00:27
Did theatre give him a license to break the rules for a laugh?
Full Transcript
- 00:30
Or do his portraits just have some killer Photoshopping?
- 00:34
Let’s review Shakespeare’s rule-breaking antics.
- 00:38
Rule number one:
- 00:39
You must dress according to your gender and class.
- 00:43
Right off the bat, Shakespeare blatantly disregards this with some cross-dressing, disguising
- 00:47
Viola as Cesario.
- 00:50
And to make it even more gender-bending, In Shakespeare’s day Cesario would have
- 00:53
been a male actor playing a woman playing a man.
- 00:59
Not to mention the stodgy Puritan Malvolio dressing in yellow stockings. Which is never
- 01:04
okay. Unless you’re Big Bird. Rule number two:
- 01:11
Women must obey.
- 01:13
Well, we already know Viola is a rule-breaker. She dresses as a man right to the end of the
- 01:18
play.
- 01:19
Although Shakespeare does explain: there are no spare dresses in Illyria. Anywhere.
- 01:25
And how about Olivia? If she were a good woman, she would not deny Duke Orsino marrying her.
- 01:33
Rule number three:
- 01:34
You must not move classes.
- 01:35
No, this doesn’t mean skipping gym for art class.
- 01:39
It means that it is way out of line for Olivia’s servant Malvolio and the penniless
- 01:44
Sir Andrew Aguecheek to both try to marry the wealthy Olivia.
- 01:54
Rule number four:
- 01:55
You must be a heterosexual.
- 01:57
Well, Olivia loves Viola.
- 02:00
Orsino loves Cesario, who is really Viola dressed as a man. Still.
- 02:07
And Antonio’s love for Sebastian seems a little more than friendly. But hey, what happens
- 02:11
at sea stays at sea.
- 02:13
Yes, Shakespeare tosses around some pretty racy notions for 1602.
- 02:17
Well, there you have it. Four rules, all broken.
- 02:20
But of course, he does restore order to the court in the end, leaving us with class and
- 02:25
gender appropriate couples, at least according to the rules of the time.
- 02:30
Because who could survive in a world with strong women, upward mobility, or, heaven
- 02:35
forbid, no dress code?
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
