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    Twelfth Night
    Twelfth Night
    Twelfth Night
    Ebook144 pages1 hour

    Twelfth Night

    By William Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    William Shakespeare is almost universally considered the English language's most famous and greatest writer. In fact, the only people who might dispute that are those who think he didn't write the surviving 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems still attributed to him. Even people who never get around to reading his works in class are instantly familiar with titles like King Lear, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo & Shakespeare.


    Twelfth Night is a comedy that makes reference to the Eve of the Feast of Epiphany, which comes 12 nights after Christmas. In Shakespeare's time, it was a Catholic holiday that was transformed into a celebration full of partying, with people dressing up as the opposite sex and servants dressing up like their masters. This theme is used to advance the plot of Shakespeare's comedy to reach the ending.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKrill Press
    Release dateDec 7, 2015
    ISBN9781518328756
    Author

    William Shakespeare

    William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

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      Book preview

      Twelfth Night - William Shakespeare

      TWELFTH NIGHT

      ..................

      William Shakespeare

      MASQUERADE PRESS

      Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.

      This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.

      All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

      Copyright © 2015 by William Shakespeare

      Interior design by Pronoun

      Distribution by Pronoun

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Twelfth Night

      Characters of the Play

      Act I

      Scene I. Duke Orsino’s palace.

      Scene II. The sea-coast.

      Scene III. Olivia’s house.

      Scene IV. Duke Orsino’s palace.

      Scene V. Olivia’s house.

      Act II

      Scene I. The sea-coast.

      Scene II. A street.

      Scene III. Olivia’s house.

      Scene IV. Duke Orsino’s palace.

      Scene V. Olivia’s garden.

      Act III

      Scene I. Olivia’s garden.

      Scene II. Olivia’s house.

      Scene III. A street.

      Scene IV. Olivia’s garden.

      Act IV

      Scene I. Before Olivia’s house.

      Scene II. Olivia’s house.

      Scene III. Olivia’s garden.

      Act V

      Scene I. Before Olivia’s house.

      Twelfth Night

      By

      William Shakespeare

      Twelfth Night

      Published by Masquerade Press

      New York City, NY

      First published 1602

      Copyright © Masquerade Press, 2015

      All rights reserved

      Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      About Masquerade Press

      Masquerade Press publishes the greatest dramas ever written and performed, from the Ancient Greek playwrights to icons like Shakespeare and modern poets like Oscar Wilde.

      TWELFTH NIGHT

      ..................

      CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY

      ..................

      Orsino, Duke of Illyria.

      Sebastian, brother to Viola.

      Antonio, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian.

      A Sea Captain, friend to Viola.

      Valentine and Curio, gentlemen attending on the Duke.

      Sir Toby Belch, uncle to Olivia.

      Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

      Malvolio, steward to Olivia.

      Fabian and Feste, a Clown, servants to Olivia.

      Olivia.

      Viola.

      Maria, Olivia’s woman.

      Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants.

      Scene: A city in Illyria, and the sea-coast near it.

      ACT I

      ..................

      SCENE I. DUKE ORSINO’S PALACE.

      ..................

      Enter Duke Orsino, Curio, and other Lords; Musicians attending

      Duke Orsino

      If music be the food of love, play on;

      Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

      The appetite may sicken, and so die.

      That strain again! it had a dying fall:

      O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound,

      That breathes upon a bank of violets,

      Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:

      ’Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

      O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,

      That, notwithstanding thy capacity

      Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

      Of what validity and pitch soe’er,

      But falls into abatement and low price,

      Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy

      That it alone is high fantastical.

      Curio

      Will you go hunt, my lord?

      Duke Orsino

      What, Curio?

      Curio

      The hart.

      Duke Orsino

      Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:

      O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

      Methought she purged the air of pestilence!

      That instant was I turn’d into a hart;

      And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

      E’er since pursue me.

      Enter Valentine

      How now! what news from her?

      Valentine

      So please my lord, I might not be admitted;

      But from her handmaid do return this answer:

      The element itself, till seven years’ heat,

      Shall not behold her face at ample view;

      But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk

      And water once a day her chamber round

      With eye-offending brine: all this to season

      A brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh

      And lasting in her sad remembrance.

      Duke Orsino

      O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame

      To pay this debt of love but to a brother,

      How will she love, when the rich golden shaft

      Hath kill’d the flock of all affections else

      That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,

      These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill’d

      Her sweet perfections with one self king!

      Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:

      Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

      Exeunt

      SCENE II. THE SEA-COAST.

      ..................

      Enter Viola, a Captain, and Sailors

      Viola

      What country, friends, is this?

      Captain

      This is Illyria, lady.

      Viola

      And what should I do in Illyria?

      My brother he is in Elysium.

      Perchance he is not drown’d: what think you, sailors?

      Captain

      It is perchance that you yourself were saved.

      Viola

      O my poor brother! and so perchance may he be.

      Captain

      True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,

      Assure yourself, after our ship did split,

      When you and those poor number saved with you

      Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,

      Most provident in peril, bind himself,

      Courage and hope both teaching him the practise,

      To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;

      Where, like Arion on the dolphin’s back,

      I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

      So long as I could see.

      Viola

      For saying so, there’s gold:

      Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,

      Whereto thy speech serves for authority,

      The like of him. Know’st thou this country?

      Captain

      Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born

      Not three hours’ travel from this very place.

      Viola

      Who governs here?

      Captain

      A noble duke, in nature as in name.

      Viola

      What is the name?

      Captain

      Orsino.

      Viola

      Orsino! I have heard my father name him:

      He was a bachelor then.

      Captain

      And so is now, or was so very late;

      For but a month ago I went from hence,

      And then ’twas fresh in murmur — as, you know,

      What great ones do the less will prattle of —

      That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

      Viola

      What’s she?

      Captain

      A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count

      That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her

      In the protection of his son, her brother,

      Who shortly also died: for whose dear love,

      They say, she hath abjured the company

      And sight

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