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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, a...
Twelfth Night 42474 Views
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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?
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