Context & Introduction

Understanding the historical, social, and theatrical context of Twelfth Night is essential for a top-grade GCSE response. This lesson covers the Elizabethan world Shakespeare was writing in, the festival that gives the play its name, attitudes to gender and performance, and the genre conventions Shakespeare draws on.

The Elizabethan Era

Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night around 1601, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558--1603). Key features of Elizabethan England that shape the play:

Feature	Relevance to the Play
Patriarchal society	Women had limited legal rights; Olivia is unusual in controlling her own household
Social hierarchy	Malvolio's ambition to marry Olivia is shocking because it crosses class boundaries
Queen Elizabeth I	A powerful unmarried woman — resonances with Olivia's independence
Boy actors	All female roles were played by boys, adding layers to Viola's cross-dressing
Theatre as popular entertainment	The Globe attracted all social classes; comedy needed to work on many levels

Context box: Elizabeth I herself was famously skilled at self-presentation, managing her public image much as Viola manages her disguise. Shakespeare's audience would have recognised the theme of performed identity.

The Twelfth Night Festival

The play's title refers to the Feast of Epiphany (6 January), the twelfth night after Christmas. This was a festival of misrule — the normal social order was temporarily turned upside down.

Key Features of Twelfth Night / Epiphany Celebrations

A Lord of Misrule was appointed to oversee festivities
Servants could mock masters; social hierarchies were inverted
Cross-dressing and disguise were common
Excessive eating, drinking, and revelry were encouraged
The festival marked the end of the Christmas season — a return to normality

How the Festival Shapes the Play

TWELFTH NIGHT FESTIVAL               THE PLAY
─────────────────────────────         ─────────────────────────────
Inversion of social order      -->   Malvolio (steward) aspires to
                                      marry Olivia (countess)

Cross-dressing / disguise      -->   Viola disguises as Cesario

Lord of Misrule                -->   Sir Toby presides over revelry

Temporary freedom              -->   The play ends by restoring
                                      order: marriages, identities
                                      revealed

Festive excess                 -->   Sir Toby: "Dost thou think,
                                      because thou art virtuous,
                                      there shall be no more cakes
                                      and ale?" (2.3)

Examiner's tip: Linking the play's events to the Twelfth Night festival of misrule is a powerful way to show contextual understanding. The examiner wants to see that you understand why Shakespeare chose this title — it signals that the play's chaos is temporary and will resolve.

Gender, Cross-Dressing, and Boy Actors

Attitudes to Gender in Elizabethan England

Gender roles were strictly defined: men were active and public; women were passive and domestic
Cross-dressing was illegal under sumptuary laws (laws controlling what people could wear)
Despite this, the theatre was a licensed space for gender play

Boy Actors Playing Women

On the Elizabethan stage, all female parts were played by young male actors. This creates extraordinary layers of meaning in Twelfth Night:

LAYER OF IDENTITY IN PERFORMANCE
─────────────────────────────────────────────────
Layer 1:  A BOY ACTOR
Layer 2:  ...plays VIOLA (a woman)
Layer 3:  ...who disguises as CESARIO (a man)
Layer 4:  ...whom OLIVIA falls in love with
          (so a boy plays a girl playing a boy
           loved by a girl played by a boy)

Context box: Shakespeare's original audience would have found the layers of gender performance both comic and thought-provoking. The play asks: if identity can be performed so convincingly, what is "natural" about gender?

Illyria — The Setting

The play is set in Illyria, a fictional or semi-fictional country on the Adriatic coast (roughly modern-day Croatia/Albania). Shakespeare uses Illyria as:

A dreamlike, romantic space where normal rules do not apply
A place of emotional extremes — intense love, grief, revelry
Somewhere "other" — distanced from the audience's real world, allowing social critique
A location associated with pirates and disorder in classical sources

Examiner's tip: Think of Illyria as Shakespeare's "green world" — a space removed from everyday reality where identities can be explored and transformed before order is restored. Comparing Illyria to the Forest of Arden (As You Like It) or the island (The Tempest) can show wider reading.

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Twelfth Night is classified as a romantic comedy, but Shakespeare constantly pushes against the genre's boundaries.

Conventions of Romantic Comedy

Convention	How Shakespeare Uses It
Love at first sight	Olivia falls for Cesario immediately (1.5)
Obstacles to love	Viola's disguise, Orsino's misdirected love, Olivia's mourning
Mistaken identity / twins	Viola and Sebastian are confused throughout
Comic subplot	Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Maria, and the gulling of Malvolio
Happy ending / marriages	Three marriages resolve the plot (Viola/Orsino, Olivia/Sebastian, Toby/Maria)
Songs and music	Feste's songs punctuate the action and comment on themes

The Darker Edges

Despite its comic structure, the play contains:

Malvolio's humiliation — locked in a dark room and called mad
Orsino's possessive rage — he threatens to "kill what I love" (5.1)
Antonio's abandonment — his loyalty to Sebastian goes unrewarded
Feste's melancholy — "the rain it raineth every day" (5.1)

Examiner's tip: The best answers acknowledge that Twelfth Night is not simply a happy comedy. Exploring its darker moments and what happens to characters like Malvolio and Antonio after the "happy ending" can push your response into grade 8--9 territory.

Source Material

Shakespeare drew on several sources:

Barnabe Riche's "Apollonius and Silla" (1581) — the main plot of a woman disguised as a man serving the man she loves
Gl'Ingannati ("The Deceived"), an Italian play (1531) — the twins plot
Ovid's Metamorphoses — themes of transformation and desire

Shakespeare transforms his sources by:

Adding the subplot (Malvolio, Sir Toby, Maria)
Deepening the psychological complexity of characters
Introducing Feste as a philosophical commentator
Weaving in the Twelfth Night theme of festive misrule

Quick Revision Checklist

I can explain at least three features of Elizabethan society relevant to the play
I understand the Twelfth Night festival and its connection to the play's themes
I can explain the significance of boy actors and layered gender performance
I can describe Illyria and its function as a dramatic setting
I know the conventions of romantic comedy and how Shakespeare subverts them
I can name at least two of Shakespeare's source texts
I can link context to specific moments in the play (not just list facts)

Summary

Twelfth Night was written c. 1601 for an Elizabethan audience familiar with patriarchy, boy actors, and festive misrule.
The title refers to the Feast of Epiphany, a festival of inversion and disguise.
Gender is performed on multiple levels — the play questions what is "natural" about identity.
Illyria is a dreamlike space where transformation is possible.
The play is a romantic comedy that pushes into darker territory through Malvolio's treatment and the bittersweet ending.
Shakespeare's sources include Italian comedies and prose romances, but he adds psychological depth and the subplot.