What do you think?
Rate this book
Twelth Night, A Winter's Tale, The Tempest
This book is a collection of three plays by the renowned English playwright William Shakespeare. The first play, Twelfth Night, is a comedy that follows the story of Viola, a young woman who disguises herself as a man to work in the household of Duke Orsino. The play is filled with mistaken identities, love triangles, and humorous situations.The second play, A Winter's Tale, is a tragicomedy that tells the story of King Leontes, who becomes jealous of his wife's relationship with his best friend and accuses her of infidelity. The play explores themes of jealousy, forgiveness, and redemption.The third play, The Tempest, is a romance that takes place on a remote island where the sorcerer Prospero and his daughter Miranda have been living in exile for many years. The play features themes of magic, revenge, and forgiveness.Overall, this book is a great introduction to Shakespeare's works and showcases his ability to write both comedic and tragic plays that are still relevant and entertaining today.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.
496 pages, Paperback
Published June 17, 2004
14 people are currently reading
277 people want to read
About the author
William Shakespeare
27.9k books47.2k followersWilliam Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
June 17, 2024
The Winter’s Tale
Undoubtedly, each of us has done something that caused pain to someone, for which we later endlessly regretted. Unfortunately, the results of such actions can hardly be repaired. Such is the story described by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale: there is a tragic event that cannot be fixed, as in fairy tales, with a wave of the magic wand. And although it has a happy ending, the tale remains "wintry" because it still feels something cold.
At the beginning we find a happy royal family of the king of Sicily, Leontes, who has a young son Prince Mamillius, a beautiful and faithful wife Hermione, who is expecting a second child. The little prince is so charming that all his subjects are enchanted by him.
Camillo
I very well agree with you in the hopes of
him. It is a gallant child—one that indeed physics
the subject, makes old hearts fresh. They that went
on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to
see him a man.
As is always the case in life, we cause ourselves the greatest personal troubles and that is, what others cannot do to you, you do it yourself. Leontes has invited his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), to be his guest. Polixenes was his best childhood friend, the one with whom you expect the sun to shine forever.
Polixenes
We were, fair queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day tomorrow as today,
And to be boy eternal.
The conflict arises from the fact that Leontes doesn't want his friend to leave and asks Hermione to join in his requests to Polixenes to postpone his trip again. The submissive wife does, but her kind sincerity causes Leontes to become so jealous that he suspects adultery.
According to him, the last time she spoke so passionately was when she promised to become his wife.
Leontes
aside
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practiced smiles
As in a looking glass, and then to sigh, as ’twere
The mort o’ th’ deer—O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.—
A conversation about sons ensues and Polixenes declares how much he loves his son Florizel.
Polixenes
He’s all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all.
He makes a July’s day short as December,-
But from now on in the play, the bad events will begin, caused by Leontes's inexorable jealousy.
Leontes
Go play, boy, play. Thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave. Contempt and clamor
Will be my knell. Go play, boy, play.
Now Leontes wants to destroy Hermione and insists that Camillo, the courtier, also accuse the queen of fornication with Polixenes. Camillo, outraged, refuses.
Camillo
I would not be a stander-by to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so without
My present vengeance taken.
Leontes can no longer think straight because of his jealousy.
Leontes
Make that thy question, and go rot!
Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation, sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets—
Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. But the noble courtier informs Polixenes of what Leontes is up to and escapes with him to Bohemia. Polixenes is in dismay by the suspicions and jealousy of Leontes.
Polixenes
O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly, and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to
A savor that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunned,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great’st infection
That e’er was heard or read.
The tragedy in the play is happening. Prince Mamillius will tell Hermione a sad tale because it suits the winter - this is a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Mamillius
A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one
Of sprites and goblins.
The destructive emotions have already overtaken Leontes' reason.
Leontes
There may be in the cup
A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present
Th’ abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander.
There is a plot against my life, my crown.
To the well-meaning advice of the courtier Antigonus, Leontes pays no heed.
Antigonus
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:
Yourself, your queen, your son.
Instead, Leontes asks the Oracle of Delphi if his suspicions are correct. So we tend to often leave the decisions that are important, to be taken in a haphazard way.
Also futile are the efforts of Paulina, Antigonus's wife, to appease Leontes' anger and jealousy by showing him his newborn child, a girl.
Leontes
Traitors,
Will you not push her out? To Antigonus. Give her
the bastard,
Thou dotard; thou art woman-tired, unroosted
By thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,
Take ’t up, I say. Give ’t to thy crone.
Leontes orders Antigonus to take the baby and leave it in the wilderness, which is perhaps impartial and will have more pity on the newborn.
Antigonus
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.
The next scene is painful because it represents Hermione's trial. Whether Shakespeare is here referring to the trial that Henry VIII organized against Queen Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn, is difficult to say. It is possible, but such situations can arise at any time, in any family.
Hermione
Sir, spare your threats.
The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
To me can life be no commodity.
The crown and comfort of my life, your favor,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went.
The message from the Oracle of Delphi arrives that Hermione is innocent, but the irreparable has happened: the unfortunate events have so hurt Prince Mamillius, his mother so cruelly accused, that he dies.
Servant
O sir, I shall be hated to report it.
The Prince your son, with mere conceit and fear
Of the Queen’s speed, is gone.
Hermione is also devastated by the terrible news and later reported dead. Only then does Leontes wakes up to reality, but the only thing left for him is sadness and lamenting the lost loved ones.
Leontes
Once a day I’ll visit
The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there
Shall be my recreation. So long as nature
Will bear up with this exercise, so long
I daily vow to use it. Come, and lead me
To these sorrows.
Following Leontes' command, Antigonus will abandon Leontes' daughter on the seashore of Bohemia, but nature or the gods punish him for this. A storm arises and the ship on which Antigonus is traveling sinks.
Mariner
Ay, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry
And frown upon ’s.
Because of his bad deed, Antigonus is torn apart by a bear. A shepherd finds the baby and calls her Perdita - lost. The sad part of the play ends.
The Chorus appears as Time - in the movies nowadays, we read the caption - Twenty years later - in this case sixteen years have passed. Shakespeare switches genres with the skill and confidence that only he can, and we find ourselves amidst spring and beauty, expecting to wake up in midst of flowers and love. And this really happens - it is implied that the children of Leontes and Polixenes - Perdita and Florizel have grown up and fallen in love with each other, and what will be the fate of this love, whether their fathers will finally reconcile, is a teaser for the viewers to keep them tuned.
A long time has passed and Camillo wants to see the penitent King Leontes, but Polixenes does not want to let him go.
Polixenes
As thou lov’st me, Camillo, wipe not out the
rest of thy services by leaving me now. The need I
have of thee thine own goodness hath made. Better
not to have had thee than thus to want thee.
Prince Florizel is also a concern for both of them.
Camillo
Sir, it is three days since I saw the Prince.
What his happier affairs may be are to me unknown,
but I have missingly noted he is of late
much retired from court and is less frequent to his
princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
It's easy to guess that a young man "disappears" when he's taken in by the love of a pretty girl. This is where the happy tale begins.
Camillo
I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a
daughter of most rare note. The report of her is
extended more than can be thought to begin from
such a cottage.
Autolycus is a thief who carries out his thefts at fairs, his cover up is pretending to be a peddler. He is not treacherous, but cheerful, sings and is always in high spirits.
Autolycus
When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh, the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year,
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
With heigh, the sweet birds, O how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth an edge,
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
Autolycus meets the Clown, Perdita’s “brother”, who as suggested by his name is not very clever, and steals his purse.
The shepherd, Perdita’s “father” is throwing a Sheep-shearing feast: Prince Florizel is of course there to woo Perdita. She is somewhat startled by his position in society and fears that it may interfere with their love.
Perdita
Sir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me;
O, pardon that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o’ th’ land, you have obscured
With a swain’s wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,
Most goddesslike pranked up.
King Polixenes and Camillo also come to the feast to see how much the Prince is in love with his beloved.
Perdita presents the King with a bouquet of spring flowers:
Reverend Sirs,
For you there’s rosemary and rue. These keep
Seeming and savor all the winter long.
Perdita symbolizes spring with the splendor of the budding spring flowers that have bloomed for the celebration.
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one—O, these I lack
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o’er and o’er.
Autolycus sneaks into the crowd and advertises his goods with funny verses.
Autolycus
Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cypress black as e’er was crow,
Gloves as sweet as damask roses,
Masks for faces and for noses,
Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady’s chamber-
The clown is in love with the shepherdess Mopsa. He likes her so much that he buys her a song with an absurd content: about a girl who turned into a fish because she refused intimacy to the boy in love with her. This song is considered good because at least five judges were present at the event. At the insistence of Polixenes, a dance by satyrs is performed: this intensifies the atmosphere at the party. Polixenes and Camillo are disguised and Polixenes tricks Florizel into confessing his love for Perdita.
Florizel
And he, and more
Than he, and men—the Earth, the heavens, and
all—
That were I crowned the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge
More than was ever man’s, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all,
Commend them and condemn them to her service
Or to their own perdition.
These words infuriate Polixenes.
Polixenes
removing his disguise
Mark your divorce,
young sir,
Whom son I dare not call. Thou art too base
To be acknowledged. Thou a scepter’s heir
That thus affects a sheep-hook!—
The young, however, are determined to stay together, and they succeed much more than Romeo and Juliet. The young couple, following Camillo’s advice, run to Sicily and find protection at Leontes court.
After all these years, Leontes has completely repented for his inexplicable jealousy.
Leontes
Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself, which was so much
That heirless it hath made my kingdom and
Destroyed the sweet’st companion that e’er man
Bred his hopes out of.
Florizel presents Perdita as a Libyan princess, the daughter of King Smalus.
Leontes
What might I have been
Might I a son and daughter now have looked on,
Such goodly things as you?
Leontes is atoned for his sin for he really receives a new son and a daughter.
Polixenes and Camillo also arrive in Sicily, however Florizel is determined to fight for his love.
Florizel
to Perdita
Dear, look up.
Though Fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us with my father, power no jot
Hath she to change our loves.
The impostor Autolycus becomes the reason for the happy ending: he has brought the shepherd and his son to the ship on which Polixenes and Camillo sailed and has urged them to tell them about the jewels and gold with which Perdita was found.
From here on, the fairy-tale events unfold. Paulina takes everyone to her villa to show them the statue of Hermione, who seems almost alive, and so much like Perdita everyone is startled. And the statue comes to life, to prove that it is Hermione, who lived all those years here, in Pauline's villa. Of course, Leontes and Hermione get back together, but Leontes insists that his most loyal Paulina and Camillo also have personal happiness, suggesting that they two should marry.
Leontes
O peace, Paulina.
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife. This is a match,
And made between ’s by vows. Thou hast found
mine—
But how is to be questioned, for I saw her,
As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many
A prayer upon her grave. I’ll not seek far—
For him, I partly know his mind—to find thee
An honorable husband.—Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.
Undoubtedly, each of us has done something that caused pain to someone, for which we later endlessly regretted. Unfortunately, the results of such actions can hardly be repaired. Such is the story described by Shakespeare in The Winter's Tale: there is a tragic event that cannot be fixed, as in fairy tales, with a wave of the magic wand. And although it has a happy ending, the tale remains "wintry" because it still feels something cold.
At the beginning we find a happy royal family of the king of Sicily, Leontes, who has a young son Prince Mamillius, a beautiful and faithful wife Hermione, who is expecting a second child. The little prince is so charming that all his subjects are enchanted by him.
Camillo
I very well agree with you in the hopes of
him. It is a gallant child—one that indeed physics
the subject, makes old hearts fresh. They that went
on crutches ere he was born desire yet their life to
see him a man.
As is always the case in life, we cause ourselves the greatest personal troubles and that is, what others cannot do to you, you do it yourself. Leontes has invited his childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), to be his guest. Polixenes was his best childhood friend, the one with whom you expect the sun to shine forever.
Polixenes
We were, fair queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind
But such a day tomorrow as today,
And to be boy eternal.
The conflict arises from the fact that Leontes doesn't want his friend to leave and asks Hermione to join in his requests to Polixenes to postpone his trip again. The submissive wife does, but her kind sincerity causes Leontes to become so jealous that he suspects adultery.
According to him, the last time she spoke so passionately was when she promised to become his wife.
Leontes
aside
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are, and making practiced smiles
As in a looking glass, and then to sigh, as ’twere
The mort o’ th’ deer—O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.—
A conversation about sons ensues and Polixenes declares how much he loves his son Florizel.
Polixenes
He’s all my exercise, my mirth, my matter,
Now my sworn friend and then mine enemy,
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all.
He makes a July’s day short as December,-
But from now on in the play, the bad events will begin, caused by Leontes's inexorable jealousy.
Leontes
Go play, boy, play. Thy mother plays, and I
Play too, but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave. Contempt and clamor
Will be my knell. Go play, boy, play.
Now Leontes wants to destroy Hermione and insists that Camillo, the courtier, also accuse the queen of fornication with Polixenes. Camillo, outraged, refuses.
Camillo
I would not be a stander-by to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so without
My present vengeance taken.
Leontes can no longer think straight because of his jealousy.
Leontes
Make that thy question, and go rot!
Dost think I am so muddy, so unsettled,
To appoint myself in this vexation, sully
The purity and whiteness of my sheets—
Leontes orders Camillo to poison Polixenes. But the noble courtier informs Polixenes of what Leontes is up to and escapes with him to Bohemia. Polixenes is in dismay by the suspicions and jealousy of Leontes.
Polixenes
O, then my best blood turn
To an infected jelly, and my name
Be yoked with his that did betray the Best!
Turn then my freshest reputation to
A savor that may strike the dullest nostril
Where I arrive, and my approach be shunned,
Nay, hated too, worse than the great’st infection
That e’er was heard or read.
The tragedy in the play is happening. Prince Mamillius will tell Hermione a sad tale because it suits the winter - this is a foreshadowing of what is to come.
Mamillius
A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one
Of sprites and goblins.
The destructive emotions have already overtaken Leontes' reason.
Leontes
There may be in the cup
A spider steeped, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected; but if one present
Th’ abhorred ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
Camillo was his help in this, his pander.
There is a plot against my life, my crown.
To the well-meaning advice of the courtier Antigonus, Leontes pays no heed.
Antigonus
Be certain what you do, sir, lest your justice
Prove violence, in the which three great ones suffer:
Yourself, your queen, your son.
Instead, Leontes asks the Oracle of Delphi if his suspicions are correct. So we tend to often leave the decisions that are important, to be taken in a haphazard way.
Also futile are the efforts of Paulina, Antigonus's wife, to appease Leontes' anger and jealousy by showing him his newborn child, a girl.
Leontes
Traitors,
Will you not push her out? To Antigonus. Give her
the bastard,
Thou dotard; thou art woman-tired, unroosted
By thy Dame Partlet here. Take up the bastard,
Take ’t up, I say. Give ’t to thy crone.
Leontes orders Antigonus to take the baby and leave it in the wilderness, which is perhaps impartial and will have more pity on the newborn.
Antigonus
Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens
To be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.
The next scene is painful because it represents Hermione's trial. Whether Shakespeare is here referring to the trial that Henry VIII organized against Queen Elizabeth I's mother, Anne Boleyn, is difficult to say. It is possible, but such situations can arise at any time, in any family.
Hermione
Sir, spare your threats.
The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
To me can life be no commodity.
The crown and comfort of my life, your favor,
I do give lost, for I do feel it gone,
But know not how it went.
The message from the Oracle of Delphi arrives that Hermione is innocent, but the irreparable has happened: the unfortunate events have so hurt Prince Mamillius, his mother so cruelly accused, that he dies.
Servant
O sir, I shall be hated to report it.
The Prince your son, with mere conceit and fear
Of the Queen’s speed, is gone.
Hermione is also devastated by the terrible news and later reported dead. Only then does Leontes wakes up to reality, but the only thing left for him is sadness and lamenting the lost loved ones.
Leontes
Once a day I’ll visit
The chapel where they lie, and tears shed there
Shall be my recreation. So long as nature
Will bear up with this exercise, so long
I daily vow to use it. Come, and lead me
To these sorrows.
Following Leontes' command, Antigonus will abandon Leontes' daughter on the seashore of Bohemia, but nature or the gods punish him for this. A storm arises and the ship on which Antigonus is traveling sinks.
Mariner
Ay, my lord, and fear
We have landed in ill time. The skies look grimly
And threaten present blusters. In my conscience,
The heavens with that we have in hand are angry
And frown upon ’s.
Because of his bad deed, Antigonus is torn apart by a bear. A shepherd finds the baby and calls her Perdita - lost. The sad part of the play ends.
The Chorus appears as Time - in the movies nowadays, we read the caption - Twenty years later - in this case sixteen years have passed. Shakespeare switches genres with the skill and confidence that only he can, and we find ourselves amidst spring and beauty, expecting to wake up in midst of flowers and love. And this really happens - it is implied that the children of Leontes and Polixenes - Perdita and Florizel have grown up and fallen in love with each other, and what will be the fate of this love, whether their fathers will finally reconcile, is a teaser for the viewers to keep them tuned.
A long time has passed and Camillo wants to see the penitent King Leontes, but Polixenes does not want to let him go.
Polixenes
As thou lov’st me, Camillo, wipe not out the
rest of thy services by leaving me now. The need I
have of thee thine own goodness hath made. Better
not to have had thee than thus to want thee.
Prince Florizel is also a concern for both of them.
Camillo
Sir, it is three days since I saw the Prince.
What his happier affairs may be are to me unknown,
but I have missingly noted he is of late
much retired from court and is less frequent to his
princely exercises than formerly he hath appeared.
It's easy to guess that a young man "disappears" when he's taken in by the love of a pretty girl. This is where the happy tale begins.
Camillo
I have heard, sir, of such a man, who hath a
daughter of most rare note. The report of her is
extended more than can be thought to begin from
such a cottage.
Autolycus is a thief who carries out his thefts at fairs, his cover up is pretending to be a peddler. He is not treacherous, but cheerful, sings and is always in high spirits.
Autolycus
When daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh, the doxy over the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet o’ the year,
For the red blood reigns in the winter’s pale.
The white sheet bleaching on the hedge,
With heigh, the sweet birds, O how they sing!
Doth set my pugging tooth an edge,
For a quart of ale is a dish for a king.
Autolycus meets the Clown, Perdita’s “brother”, who as suggested by his name is not very clever, and steals his purse.
The shepherd, Perdita’s “father” is throwing a Sheep-shearing feast: Prince Florizel is of course there to woo Perdita. She is somewhat startled by his position in society and fears that it may interfere with their love.
Perdita
Sir, my gracious lord,
To chide at your extremes it not becomes me;
O, pardon that I name them! Your high self,
The gracious mark o’ th’ land, you have obscured
With a swain’s wearing, and me, poor lowly maid,
Most goddesslike pranked up.
King Polixenes and Camillo also come to the feast to see how much the Prince is in love with his beloved.
Perdita presents the King with a bouquet of spring flowers:
Reverend Sirs,
For you there’s rosemary and rue. These keep
Seeming and savor all the winter long.
Perdita symbolizes spring with the splendor of the budding spring flowers that have bloomed for the celebration.
Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty; violets dim,
But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes
Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses,
That die unmarried ere they can behold
Bright Phoebus in his strength—a malady
Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and
The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds,
The flower-de-luce being one—O, these I lack
To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend,
To strew him o’er and o’er.
Autolycus sneaks into the crowd and advertises his goods with funny verses.
Autolycus
Lawn as white as driven snow,
Cypress black as e’er was crow,
Gloves as sweet as damask roses,
Masks for faces and for noses,
Bugle bracelet, necklace amber,
Perfume for a lady’s chamber-
The clown is in love with the shepherdess Mopsa. He likes her so much that he buys her a song with an absurd content: about a girl who turned into a fish because she refused intimacy to the boy in love with her. This song is considered good because at least five judges were present at the event. At the insistence of Polixenes, a dance by satyrs is performed: this intensifies the atmosphere at the party. Polixenes and Camillo are disguised and Polixenes tricks Florizel into confessing his love for Perdita.
Florizel
And he, and more
Than he, and men—the Earth, the heavens, and
all—
That were I crowned the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy, were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve, had force and knowledge
More than was ever man’s, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all,
Commend them and condemn them to her service
Or to their own perdition.
These words infuriate Polixenes.
Polixenes
removing his disguise
Mark your divorce,
young sir,
Whom son I dare not call. Thou art too base
To be acknowledged. Thou a scepter’s heir
That thus affects a sheep-hook!—
The young, however, are determined to stay together, and they succeed much more than Romeo and Juliet. The young couple, following Camillo’s advice, run to Sicily and find protection at Leontes court.
After all these years, Leontes has completely repented for his inexplicable jealousy.
Leontes
Whilst I remember
Her and her virtues, I cannot forget
My blemishes in them, and so still think of
The wrong I did myself, which was so much
That heirless it hath made my kingdom and
Destroyed the sweet’st companion that e’er man
Bred his hopes out of.
Florizel presents Perdita as a Libyan princess, the daughter of King Smalus.
Leontes
What might I have been
Might I a son and daughter now have looked on,
Such goodly things as you?
Leontes is atoned for his sin for he really receives a new son and a daughter.
Polixenes and Camillo also arrive in Sicily, however Florizel is determined to fight for his love.
Florizel
to Perdita
Dear, look up.
Though Fortune, visible an enemy,
Should chase us with my father, power no jot
Hath she to change our loves.
The impostor Autolycus becomes the reason for the happy ending: he has brought the shepherd and his son to the ship on which Polixenes and Camillo sailed and has urged them to tell them about the jewels and gold with which Perdita was found.
From here on, the fairy-tale events unfold. Paulina takes everyone to her villa to show them the statue of Hermione, who seems almost alive, and so much like Perdita everyone is startled. And the statue comes to life, to prove that it is Hermione, who lived all those years here, in Pauline's villa. Of course, Leontes and Hermione get back together, but Leontes insists that his most loyal Paulina and Camillo also have personal happiness, suggesting that they two should marry.
Leontes
O peace, Paulina.
Thou shouldst a husband take by my consent,
As I by thine a wife. This is a match,
And made between ’s by vows. Thou hast found
mine—
But how is to be questioned, for I saw her,
As I thought, dead, and have in vain said many
A prayer upon her grave. I’ll not seek far—
For him, I partly know his mind—to find thee
An honorable husband.—Come, Camillo,
And take her by the hand, whose worth and honesty
Is richly noted and here justified
By us, a pair of kings. Let’s from this place.
October 10, 2016
This book was okay, the main storyline was interesting but there was too much going on, which took the focus off of the bigger issues.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2021
In all honesty, I believe that the play was rather boring due to the continuous foolishness shown by all the characters. It lacked a plot and a hook, everything within the play seemed a bit out of place, and disorganized, (not by the actors, but by the script itself), The reason I didn’t give it one star is because I believe that the actors do deserve some credit, they portrayed their characters flawlessly. I just didn’t see it as something particularly enjoyable.
February 5, 2021
Thoroughly enjoyed the twelfth night.
Wrote an essay based on the play and have learnt all the dialogues. Perfect message as well as light-hearted comedy. A real feel of what love is and how one-sided love is felt. Beautiful. One of my favourite plays by Shakespeare.
Wrote an essay based on the play and have learnt all the dialogues. Perfect message as well as light-hearted comedy. A real feel of what love is and how one-sided love is felt. Beautiful. One of my favourite plays by Shakespeare.
April 6, 2022
You know what. Did not like when I started it, was iffy throughout because I honestly thought Leontes was annoying. The story was like any Shakespeare story, but I couldn't figure out what exactly the moral message was supposed to be. But the longer I sat with it the more I liked it. 3.5/5.
June 26, 2018
Classic
May 18, 2019
Shakespeare was a woman
May 31, 2019
I enjoyed this. It’s nice and heartfelt. Lots of silliness and doubles and a real summery feel.
Read
August 7, 2019Read Twelfth Night out of this edition
November 18, 2022
ما بين الاتهام والبراءه خرجت تلك القصه لتنتهى نهايه سعيده كما يحبها الجمهور
January 26, 2011
Twelth Night is a fiction novel that based on disguises.Most of the characters in Twelth Night disguise themselves. Their disguises are either basesd on their physical aparance or on their feelings.Viola disguised herself as a man so she could start over in a other country. Olivia disguise her feelings by saying that she will mourn her brother's death for seven years by staying away from men and relationships.The fool disguises himself as a priest so he could play a prank on Malvolio and also he played the role of a fool but really he was the smarter character in the book.At one time all of those characters took off their disguise and reveal their real selves. At the end of the book Viola took off her disguise and Orsino who was falling in love with her was pleased that she was a girl not a man.Olivia also took off her disguise as soon she lay eyes on viola/Curio.She married Viola's brother Sebastian thinking he was Curio/Viola.The fool told Olivia and Malvolio that he was the one who was pretending to be the priest so he could revenge himself. He made Malvolio remembered how he humiliated him on front of everyone at a party.
Read
January 24, 2011Twelth Night was a interesting romantic comedy that stimulated many thoughts throughout my mind. I liked this play because although it was written many years ago, the plot still made since with several issues dealing with love today. I also liked how Shakespeare's usage of figurative language allowed me to feel a closer relationship to the characters. I think that Shakespeare's decision to not allow the Fool to find love depicted the theme of the drama; this proves that only true fools fall in love. Although there were many things that I liked about the drama, I did not like how Shakespeare made each character, except for the Fool, find love. I think that if each character did not find love it would have been more realistic, and it would have drawn me more into the plot. Overall, I enjoyed reading Twelth Night and I look forward to reading another one of Shakespeare's dramas.
December 1, 2009
I LOVE shakespeare! I love how they put his writing on one side
then the "readable" verssion on the other so.....anyway......heart the book.
then the "readable" verssion on the other so.....anyway......heart the book.
January 4, 2010
Except I only read the Winter's Tale. From what I can remember, that was my favorite Shakespeare play.
April 15, 2010
The Tempest is interesting!!!
January 6, 2016
GAY AS HELL NOW GIMMIE MY DRINKTH AND GET IN MY CHAMBER
July 13, 2023
Don’t like Shakespeare but I like this
April 4, 2017
Not a fan, but once the language was decoded I enjoyed the story line. I also liked watching this as a play my school put on.
Read
September 20, 2018This book was is about twins who were separated on a shipwreck and at the end they find each other and realize that everything has been a mess because of what each had gone through. It has a theme combination of love, time, and confusion.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
May 20, 2019read sophomore year of college
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews