Context (OCR A-Level English Literature): Revision Notes
Context
Understanding the historical context of Twelfth Night helps us appreciate how Shakespeare's play reflects and challenges the values, beliefs, and social practices of Elizabethan England. Written in 1601, the play draws on Renaissance ideas, festive traditions, and theatrical conventions whilst subtly questioning social norms around class, gender, and identity.
The Elizabethan era and social structure
Twelfth Night was written during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a period known as the Elizabethan Era (1558–1603). This was a time of relative stability and prosperity in England, and the arts flourished, particularly theatre. Shakespeare was at the centre of this cultural blossoming.
Rigid social hierarchy
Elizabethan society was organised into a strict hierarchy with clear divisions between different social classes:
- The nobility (aristocrats and royalty)
- The gentry (landowners)
- The middle classes (merchants and tradespeople)
- The lower classes (labourers and servants)
Social mobility was extremely limited. People were expected to remain in the class they were born into, and attempts to rise above one's station were viewed with suspicion and ridicule.
The rigid class structure of Elizabethan society meant that your birth determined your entire life trajectory. Moving between classes was not only difficult—it was actively discouraged and often mocked by society.
Social class in the play
This rigid class structure is reflected in Twelfth Night through several characters and plot elements:
- Malvolio, Olivia's steward, dreams of marrying his mistress and rising in social status. His ambitions are mocked by other characters, reflecting the period's attitudes towards those who tried to break class boundaries.
- The subplot involving Malvolio's humiliation shows the consequences of overstepping social bounds.
- The play highlights the tension between personal ambition and the fixed societal roles of the time.
Exam tip: When discussing Malvolio's character, consider how Shakespeare uses him to explore Elizabethan attitudes toward social climbing and class transgression.
The Twelfth Night festival
The play's title refers to the Twelfth Night festival, which marked the end of the Christmas season (celebrated on either the 5th or 6th of January). This was an important celebration in Elizabethan England.
Festive disorder and role reversal
Twelfth Night celebrations were characterised by:
- Revelry and merrymaking
- Temporary disorder and chaos
- Inversion of normal social hierarchies
- Mischief, disguise, and role reversals
- Permission to behave in ways that would normally be forbidden
During these festivities, servants might give orders to masters, and traditional rules of behaviour were relaxed or overturned.
The Twelfth Night festival was a time when normal social rules were suspended. This temporary reversal of order is crucial to understanding the play's atmosphere and themes of chaos and transformation.
Connection to the play's themes
The spirit of the Twelfth Night festival is central to understanding the play's atmosphere:
- Disguise and mistaken identity: Viola's disguise as Cesario mirrors the festival's tradition of people adopting false identities.
- Gender confusion: The blurring of gender roles reflects the topsy-turvy nature of the celebrations.
- Temporary chaos: The comedic confusion throughout the play echoes the disorder of the festival.
- Rule-breaking: Characters stepping out of their usual roles would have resonated with audiences familiar with these temporary reversals.
The play captures the sense that during this special time, normal rules don't apply, and anything can happen.
Gender roles and cross-dressing in Elizabethan theatre
Understanding gender dynamics in Elizabethan theatre adds another fascinating layer to Twelfth Night.
Theatrical conventions
In Shakespeare's time, women were not permitted to perform on stage. All female roles were played by boy actors. This theatrical convention creates a complex situation in Twelfth Night:
- A boy actor would play Viola (a female character)
- Who disguises herself as Cesario (a male character)
- Creating a play within a play effect
This means audiences watched a boy pretending to be a girl pretending to be a boy—adding multiple layers of gender performance and confusion.
The layered gender performance in Twelfth Night would have been immediately apparent to Elizabethan audiences. They knew that every "woman" on stage was actually a boy actor, making Viola's disguise as Cesario even more complex and meta-theatrical.
Challenging gender expectations
Shakespeare's treatment of gender in Twelfth Night reflects both contemporary attitudes and subtle challenges to them:
Elizabethan expectations of women:
- Women had very few legal rights
- They were expected to be submissive and obedient
- Their primary roles were as daughters, wives, and mothers
Shakespeare's female characters:
- Viola is intelligent, resourceful, and demonstrates agency
- She actively pursues her goals rather than waiting passively
- Her character subtly challenges the conventional view of women as weak or submissive
The play explores ideas about identity, gender fluidity, and the constructed nature of gender roles—themes that would have been thought-provoking for contemporary audiences.
Key concept: Cross-dressing in the play isn't just a plot device; it raises questions about what makes someone male or female, and whether gender is performance or essence.
Renaissance influences on the play
Shakespeare's work was deeply shaped by the Renaissance, a cultural and intellectual movement that began in 14th-century Italy and spread across Europe.
Renaissance ideals
The Renaissance emphasised:
- Human potential: Belief in the capacity of individuals to achieve greatness
- Individualism: Focus on personal identity and self-expression
- Humanism: Interest in human emotions, experiences, and relationships
- Artistic and literary innovation: New forms of expression and creativity
Renaissance themes in Twelfth Night
These ideals appear throughout the play:
- Emotional complexity: Characters like Viola and Duke Orsino are driven by their emotional desires and passions.
- Self-discovery: The play explores how characters learn about themselves through their experiences.
- Human nature: Shakespeare examines the complexities of love, deception, and identity.
- Individual agency: Characters actively pursue their goals rather than accepting their fate passively.
The Renaissance focus on human emotions and individual experience shapes Shakespeare's approach to characterisation, making his characters feel psychologically real and relatable—a departure from more allegorical medieval drama.
Attitudes towards love and marriage
The play's treatment of romantic relationships reflects the complex and sometimes contradictory attitudes of Elizabethan society.
Marriage in Elizabethan England
In Shakespeare's time, particularly among the upper classes:
- Marriages were often arranged for social and financial advantage
- Love was not considered the primary basis for marriage
- Economic and political considerations took precedence
- Parents controlled their children's marriage choices
Romantic love in literature
Despite these practical attitudes, romantic love had become a popular literary theme, influenced by:
- Courtly love traditions: Medieval conventions of idealised, often unrequited love
- Renaissance poetry: Emphasis on emotional intensity and personal desire
- Italian literature: Stories of passionate, transformative love
There was a fascinating tension in Elizabethan society between the practical reality of arranged marriages and the literary idealisation of romantic love. Shakespeare's plays often explore this contradiction.
Different types of love in the play
Twelfth Night presents a range of love experiences:
- Romantic love: Viola's genuine affection for Orsino develops gradually and sincerely
- Foolish infatuation: Olivia's sudden attraction to Cesario shows the irrational nature of desire
- Self-deluded love: Orsino's love for Olivia is more about his enjoyment of being in love than genuine feeling
- Malvolio's ambition: His attraction to Olivia is tangled up with social climbing
Shakespeare's perspective
The play suggests that love is:
- Irrational and unpredictable
- Sometimes foolish or misguided
- Capable of crossing boundaries of class, gender, and social expectation
- Transformative and fulfilling when genuine
- Both comic and serious
This treatment aligns with more progressive Renaissance views that valued emotional authenticity over purely practical considerations.
Exam tip: When analysing love in the play, consider how different characters' experiences of love reflect or challenge Elizabethan attitudes.
Italian and classical literary influences
Shakespeare drew on established literary traditions when creating Twelfth Night, particularly Italian comedy and Roman plays.
The exotic setting
The play is set in Illyria, an ancient region on the Adriatic coast (roughly modern-day Croatia and Albania). This choice of setting:
- Creates an exotic, faraway atmosphere
- Mirrors the settings of popular Italian romances
- Allows Shakespeare to explore themes that might be controversial in an English setting
- Was typical of Italian comedy, which often featured distant locations
By setting the play in a distant, exotic location, Shakespeare created artistic distance from English society. This allowed him to explore controversial themes like gender fluidity and class transgression without directly criticising English social norms.
Literary sources and influences
Shakespeare borrowed and adapted from earlier works:
- Roman comedy: Plays by ancient Roman writers like Plautus featured mistaken identities, separated twins, and complex plots.
- Italian comedy: The play shares plot elements with Italian works like Gl'Ingannati (The Deceived), which features twins, mistaken identity, and disguise.
- Common motifs: Separated twins, cross-dressing, mistaken identity, and romantic confusion were popular themes in both Roman and Italian comedy.
Why these influences matter
Understanding these sources helps us see:
- How Shakespeare adapted existing stories for his purposes
- The international nature of Renaissance theatre
- Why certain plot devices (like twins and disguise) would have been familiar to audiences
- How Shakespeare's genius lay in his execution and psychological depth rather than complete originality
Puritanism and the character of Malvolio
Malvolio's character can be understood as a satirical representation of Puritanism, a religious and social movement that was gaining influence in Shakespeare's time.
Who were the Puritans?
Puritans were a religious group who:
- Sought to reform the Church of England
- Wanted to eliminate Catholic practices and rituals
- Advocated for stricter moral codes and behaviour
- Were highly critical of theatre, which they viewed as immoral and corrupting
- Disapproved of festive celebrations and frivolous entertainment
Malvolio as Puritan satire
Several aspects of Malvolio's character reflect Puritan attitudes:
- Self-righteousness: He considers himself morally superior to others
- Disapproval of merriment: He tries to suppress Sir Toby's festive behaviour
- Stern moral code: He lacks humour and spontaneity
- Ambition cloaked in piety: His desire for social advancement contradicts his moral pretensions
Malvolio's famous line "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" perfectly encapsulates the tension between Puritan austerity and Elizabethan festivity.
The tension in the play
Malvolio represents:
- The Puritan desire to control and suppress enjoyment
- Opposition to the festive, carefree spirit of the Elizabethan court
- The threat posed by Puritan opposition to theatre itself
His eventual humiliation in the play suggests:
- Shakespeare's audience would have enjoyed seeing puritanical attitudes ridiculed
- The play celebrates festivity and pleasure over strict moral codes
- There was cultural tension between Puritan values and court entertainment
Important context: Since Puritans opposed theatre, Malvolio's mockery in a play would have been particularly satisfying for Shakespeare's audience—essentially using the theatre to defend itself against its critics.
Key Points to Remember:
- Twelfth Night was written in 1601 during the Elizabethan Era, a time of strict social hierarchy where class boundaries were rarely crossed.
- The play's title refers to a festival of disorder and role reversal, which influenced the themes of disguise, mistaken identity, and temporary chaos in the plot.
- Gender roles were complex in Elizabethan theatre: boy actors played female characters, adding layers of meaning to Viola's cross-dressing as Cesario.
- The play reflects Renaissance ideals of individualism and human potential whilst exploring the irrational and transformative nature of love.
- Shakespeare drew on Italian and classical literary traditions, particularly the use of mistaken identity and twins, whilst satirising Puritanism through Malvolio's character.