Assessment Week Work
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UAL Level 3 Performing & Production Arts
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Shakespeare
Research – Twelfth Night
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The
hyperlinks will give you a first source for the answers to the questions.
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When was Twelfth Night written?
What else was happening around this time? Who was in power in England? What
do you know about this ruler?
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Twelfth Night was written in 1601. In 1601 the "old poor law" was inforced and the "Act for the relief of the poor" was on going, The Poor Relief Act 1601 or more popularly known as "The Elizabethan Poor Law" was an act of Parliament in England.
It was passed in 1601 and created a national poor law system in the UK. The Law originates back to the 15th century with the decline of the monasteries and the breakdown of the medieval social structure
The main point of this law was to protect those who were unemployed and to help them into work. For example, poor people were to be looked after in the farm houses and offered relief to those who could not work, for example, blind people, elderly people, people with illnesses or just for those who were not fit to work. This law also protected "Pauper" children and they were looked after and usually would become an apprentice to someone with a higher status.
Elizabeth the 1st was in power in England from 1533 until 1603.
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The alternative title to the play is "What you will"
The play has two titles as it was named Twelfth Night due to Shakespeare being commissioned for the play on the 6th of January, which is the 12th night of Christmas, although the play has next to nothing to do with Christmas. Twelfth night in Elizabeathan times was when people would drink, party and eat to excess as it marked the end of a celebratory period, and this can be seen by Andew Agucheek and Toby Belch, who drink, eat and party to excess, so this has a small relevance to the name of the play.
And the title "What you will" has never been explained by anyone, lots of people believe it was called What you will as the play is full of strange behaviour, drunken people, people falling in love, deception and questioning sexuality, it is simply what you make of it yourself, there is no definition of the play and what the title should be, so "what you will" fits it quite well actually as it is literally what you will make of it, it does not need a name as it is full of madness and insanity. People also believe that Shakespeare simply did not know what to call it, he named it Tweflth Night as he was commissioned on the 12th night of Christmas, but he could of just made up " what you will" as an extra name as he did not know what to call it himself! Shakespeare leaves the name for the audience to decide, it is what the audience "will" make of it, he has no definition of the play, which is very dismissive of him, but it is interesting too, as the play is seen as a mystery.
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What
are the main themes of the play?
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The main themes are: Duality(the twins) relationships, love, all the different kinds of love, (family love, unconditional love, unrequited love, uncertainty of love)
The uncertainty of gender and the question of the characters sexuality. As Olivia falls in love with Cesario(Viola) and Orsino falls in love with Cesario who is played by Viola.
Insanity and madness as a result of love is another major theme I feel, as Shakespare explores just how love can affect a persons mental health and how it can change someone into something they did not know they were, and how love alters a persons viewing on life and situations.
I feel another theme in this play is Tricks. As lots of the characters are constantly playing tricks on each other. For example: When Olivia pretends to Malvolio that Cesario gave her a ring, when infact it is her ring. And when Mariah writes a letter to Malvolio pretending to be Olivia, when Feste puts on a disguise to trick Malvolio, Toby and Andrew are constantly tricking and playing games with Malvolio and Feste is tricking them all by travelling between the two houses, and Viola is pretending to be a man the whole way through. The play involves a lot of lies and deception throughout.
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What are the
main differences & similarities between Shakespeare’s Tragedies and Comedies?
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The main similarities between comedies and tragedies I feel are:
- Lovers are always a big part of the story
- Love is always a main theme
- There is always some sort of Feud between the lovers families or friends
- Marriage
- Death
- Both will contain an element of humour and sadness
The main differences I found out are:
- The ending in a tragedy is usually always the death of a main character(s) and the ending in a comedy is usually marriage
- The comedy romance will be light and funny, whereas the tragedy romance will be deep and destructive
- The comedy always includes jokes and trickery, whereas the tragedy will include murder and deception
- The depth of the characters
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Name one of
the characters in the play and write short character profile.
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Olivia.
She is the heiress to her dead father and dead brothers inheritance, she is extremely wealthy and has a very high status. She is thought to be in her 20's, and after the death of her brother and father she claimed she was to be in mourning for the next seven years and refuses to leave her house and the grounds. She is very beautiful and is at the heart of most of the romance in the play and has many men interested in her, but the only one she is interested in is Sazario, which is infact Viola! She begins to pursue Cesario and falls in love with him very quickly, this questions her sexuality as Cesario is actually a female in disguise. She becomes very obsessive over Cesario and decides very quickly she wants to marry him, even after declaring she will be in mourning for seven years! She is very impulsive, and does what she wants. She is not interested in what anyone else thinks and I feel she is not phased by anyone else in the play, she spends the whole time fixated on Cesario and no one else really gets her attention. She is a very kind hearted woman but still maintains her status and will not be made a fool of, but she is very lenient of Feste as he is employed by her to make jokes. I like Olivia and feel she is a strong woman and is very set on what she wants, she is another fine example of a strong character, who when affected by Love, acts in the most obsessive and erractic of ways, just like Malvolio.
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Malvolio is described as
a “Puritan”
by Sir Toby Belch– who and what is a puritan?
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A puritan is somebody who is very religious and who does everything by the book. They are very "straight" people and believe themselves to be very high status and important. They do not agree with drinking, drugs, sex before marriage or "outrageous" behaviour. As seen in Twelfth Night, Malvolio does not agre with Toby Belch and Andrew's drunken behaviour and finds them very insulting. Puritans believe themselves to be very stable and calm, but Malvolio contradicts this belief as when he believes Olivia has written him a love letter, he changes completely and starts to act very erractic and euphoric. This proves that Malvolio is not as "straight" as he makes out to be and love affects him just the same as anybody else in the play. It makes him go crazy and he appears nothing like he was at the beginning of the play.
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Shakespeare
introduced more than 1700 common words to the English Language. Name 5 of them.
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Five words I discovered Shakespeare introduced were;
Barefaced
Dishearten
Gossip
Radiance
Fashionable
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