Let's Bust a Recap : Twelfth Night

Ok, despite this post coming to you in March, I did manage to squeeze Twelfth Night into the month of February so huzzah! for a new tradition. And if this is your first time reading one of my Shakespearean recaps, you may as well know that I give all the spoilers so if you've lived this long without ever seeing She's the Man (or, I guess, actually reading the play itself) and you'd like to stay in the dark on how this one turns out, by my troth, get out of here already. 

Twelfth Night opens on the completely lovesick Duke of Illyria (named Orsino) lamenting the fact that Olivia will not give him the time of day because she's sworn off men since her brother died (don't even get me started on the potential implications of that crazy—all things considered, Shakespeare's humor has always been a bit on the twisted side). 

After we've established the fact that this Orsino guy has it bad for this Olivia chick, we meet Viola who has washed up on the shore of Illyria after surviving some type of gnarly storm at sea and has enlisted her friend the sea captain to help her disguise herself as a man for reasons that will forever remain a mystery to me. She promptly offers her services to Orsino whom she even more promptly falls in love with. 

Orsino sends Viola off to talk Olivia into loving him. But Viola is apparently one very attractive dude (which makes me seriously question her potential for beauty as a female, I'm just sayin') and Olivia falls in love with her. 

In the meantime, we have several minor characters who are up to all sorts of ridiculous shenanigans including Olivia's uncle Sir Toby Belch (what a name), Sir Andrew Aguecheek (who is also interested in Olivia and is being prodded on by Sir Toby to go for it even though he keeps talking about leaving since he obviously doesn't have a chance with her), and Malvolio (that guy everyone hates because he's so full of his own goodness—you know the one) and Maria (maybe the weirdest character in the entire play) who are servants of Olivia. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria conspire to make Malvolio believe that Olivia is actually in love with him so that he'll make a total fool of himself and they can make his life miserable. (I mean, you get what you get when you make yourself despicable, am I right?)

By the way, their scheme totally works and they lock Malvolio up in a dungeon.

While Malvolio is stuck in the dungeon talking to a clown pretending to be a priest (yeah...), Sir Toby is playing mind games with Sir Andrew trying to get him to duel with Cesario aka Viola. At this point, Antonio shows up to rescue Viola because he thinks she's her twin brother Sebastian.

Oh did I forget to mention Viola has a twin brother named Sebastian who she thought had died in the gnarly sea-storm? Well, she does and they both thought the other died. Sebastian was rescued by some guy named Antonio and they showed up in Illyria sometime in the middle of all this. And apparently, Antonio's got bad blood with people in Illyria.

So when Antonio comes to Viola's rescue by drawing his sword on Sir Andrew, he gets arrested. And he's all, "Yo Sebastian man, can I get my money, bruh?" And Viola's all, "Look, I really appreciate you saving my life and all but I have no idea what you're talking about."

While all that's going down, the real Sebastian is busy running into Olivia and marrying her upon request because even though he has no idea what's going on and thinks he must be dreaming, Olivia is supa' fly and can get any guy she wants. And in Shakespeare's world, marrying a perfect stranger is entirely acceptable behavior.

Meanwhile, Orsino has decided he is not taking no for an answer, and he and poor, tormented, lovesick Viola go to find Olivia so he can sweep her off her feet. When they find her, Olivia's all, "Oh hey husband!" to Viola and Orsino's all, "How could you betray me like that, man?!" and Viola's all, "What in the actual is going on here?!?!" and things are about to go south in a major way when Sebastian shows up, he and Viola realize they're both still alive, Sebastian admits to marrying Olivia, Orsino figures out Viola's a girl and totally in love with him, and all the goons confess what they did to Malvolio.

So naturally, Orsino tells Viola to go dress like a girl and he'll marry her and they'll all be one big happy family. Because playing second fiddle to Olivia is evidently no problem for Viola as long as she gets Orsino. Whatever, sister.

And Sir Toby Belch and Olivia's maid Maria get married. Because apparently plaguing Malvolio's life out together constitutes a courtship. Good luck with that relationship.

And everyone lives happily ever after. Sure, pal.

Except Malvolio. You had it coming, bro.


Definitely entertaining and definitely just as outrageous (if not more so) as the rest of Shakespeare's comedies. I flew through this one. It was a little easier to get into because I was pretty familiar with the plot already. Much Ado About Nothing is still tops for me (with the possible exception of The Taming of the Shrew), but I would rank Twelfth Night higher than A Midsummer-Night's Dream. I think this would be a pretty fun one to start with if you're thinking about breaking into Shakespeare for the first time.

Have you read this one? What's your favorite Shakespearean comedy? And which one should go on next year's list? I'm leaning towards As You Like It or All's Well That Ends Well. Feel free to cast your vote below or suggest something entirely different.

For now, I'll just go watch She's the Man for about the millionth time.