Twelfth Night Critical Quotes

Fry, unlike other actors who have interpreted the role, never descends to farce, slapstick, or any comic absurdity that would cost him the slightest shred of his imperious dignity- Walter Kaizer (fry)
You may, if you’re lucky, see another Shakespearean production that’s as good as this one, but its unlikely you’ll ever see one that’s better Walter Kaizer (globe version)
Silvery undertone of sadness Murray (sad)
The joyful resolutions at the end of Twelfth Night are possible only within its fantasy world Walter Kaizer (ending)
The thing that this society of pleasure seekers have forgotten is the wind and the rain Harold C Goddard
Appearances constantly fluctuate between what is real and what is illusionary Karen Grief (appearances)
Every character has his masks, for the assumption of the play is that no character is without a mask in the seriocomic business of the pursuit of happiness Joseph H Summers
I summarise that the ultimate effect of twelfth night is to make the audience ashamed of itself Ralph Berry
To say “I love you” is always at some level a quotation Terry Eagleton (i love you)
Characters in love are simultaneously at their most “real” and “unreal”, most true and most feigning Terry Eagleton (real)
Sebastian could never have done what was necessary to win Olivia, and his only chance was for his sister to perform this masculine role for him Pequigney (masculine role)
Sebastian’s function is that he acts as a male substitute for his sister Stephen Travis Crowder (substitute)
The only overtly homosexual couple in Shakespeare except for Achilles and Patroclus Stephen Orgel (gay)
Love and desire pass from a youth to a girl, and a girl to a youth. Cesario is viola, viola is Sebastian Jan Kott
Feste is an outsider because his experiences have damaged his capacity for joy Marilyn French
He does not attempt to judge, or even to reason. He just states fact Anne Barton
We do not laugh with Feste; we laugh at what he amplifies for our scrutiny Nettie Jensen
While it is perfectly true that malvolio’s own desire for Olivia is inextricably caught up with his own ambition, he is as, or more, capable of affection as any character in Illyria Richard Levin (desire)
She knows the power of her beauty over men, and wields it against Cesario Ashley Perko (beauty)
It is as Viola that she should be pitied, in love but unloved; it is as cesario she is loved Ashley Perko (love)
For who else would fall in love with the self-intoxicated Orsino? Harold Bloom
Malvolio’s gullibility reveals that he is yet to measure certain of the more cynical elements in the life around him Richard Levin (cynical)
It is not Sebastian’s masculinity to which Antonio is attracted, but rather his physical and social manifestation of femininity Austin Brown (manifestation)
Sir Andrew is a mere echo and shadow of the heroes of his adoration William Hazlitt (andrew)
illusion is perhaps too deeply embedded in human experience to ever be completely separate from reality Karen Grief (illusion)
But a silly play, not relating to the name or day Samuel Pepys (1661)
As constant and indispensable as punctuation Karen grief (Feste)
July 28, 2019