Twelfth Night

Shakespeare's festive comedy of twins shipwrecked, mistaken identities, and melancholy counted out in Illyria.

Specifications & Metrics

author

William Shakespeare

type

Comedy

era

Elizabethan (c. 1601–1602)

language

Early Modern English

setting

Illyria

source text

Barnabe Rich's tale via Cinthio's Gli Ingannatori tradition

acts

5 acts

Relative Scale in Plays

Core Principles & Analysis

• First recorded in 1602 at Middle Temple, London.
• Viola's cross-dressing service under Orsino drives the mistaken identities.
• Its title marks the Twelfth Night feast that closed the Christmas revels.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Twelfth Night