The play

Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night in the middle of his career. It was not the first time he had experimented with themes of mistaken identity, having written Comedy of Errors about seven years before, which also begins with twins being separated in a shipwreck. However, it is his only play with a double title; ‘Twelfth Night’ or ‘What You Will.’ The first title refers to the festival on the Twelfth Night after Christmas – in Christian theology, this night marks the Feast of the Epiphany, celebrating the three wise men who brought gifts to baby Jesus. But for the Elizabethans, it marked the end of Yuletide revelry when they had the biggest, craziest, drunkest party of the year. Borrowing from the Roman tradition of Saturnalia, on Twelfth Night the Elizabethans would turn social order upsidedown. A ‘Lord of Misrule’ was often appointed to preside over the chaos, where servants were served by their masters, guests insulted, crazy clothes worn, everyone ate and drank and danced and all the normal rules were inverted for a day. This explains the many social transgressions and overall “madness” throughout the play, with Sir Toby as an ideal candidates for the ‘Lord of Misrule’ figure. Remember, though, that after the Twelfth Night festival, everything went back to normal, just as at the end of the play the characters are married off and the loose ends resolved. Consider then, that any comment Shakespeare seems to be making during the play’s major action, of female empowerment, the proletariat’s superiority, or the transcendence of love, is in fact the opposite of what society truly valued. The temporarily allowed misrule can be interpreted as an orchestrated outlet for the oppressed in order to prevent revolution, ultimately perpetuating oppression.