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Brief Overview

Twelfth Night is a complex play that is difficult to grasp without watching or reading it. This site has many references to characters and passages that would be almost impossible to understand without some sort of reference point. There are clips on each page which should help to clarify some of the analyses, but there is also a side-by-side synopsis of the three characters discussed on this site below. If Twelfth Night is new to you, be sure to read these first so as to know a little background information.

Olivia is a countess in the Land of Illyria. Her brother has just died and her father is dead. She is left in mourning. We first see her in Act I scene 5 where she falls in love with Viola who is dressed as Cesario. Olivia is being pursued by Orsino and is at the same time pursuing Viola. In the end she marries Viola's twin Sebastian. 

Viola is a young woman who has been in a shipwreck and has been separated from her twin brother Sebastian. Viola finds herself in the land of Illyria where she knows the Duke to be Orsino. She immediately identifies Orsino with her father and tries to devise a way to serve him. She resolves to dress as a boy and begins service for Orsino under the name Cesario. In the course of her service she falls in love with Orsino. She is employed to try to win the love of Olivia for Orsino. In the end Orsino pledges to marry her when he discovers that she is a woman. 

*Viola is referred to as Viola throughout this site even when she is represented as a boy in the play.

Orsino is the Duke of Illyria. He is a comic figure who is more interested than the state of his romantic life than that of his country. Orsino is originally engaged in "love", or what we might call petrarchan desire for Olivia. As the play progresses the object of his affection slowly changes from Olivia to Viola/Cesario. In the end he professes his love for Viola. 

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