L.O. To be able to identify and anylse the different forms of comedy in 'Twelth Night' by responding, in essay form, to the following title :
             Traditionally, in the merrymaking of Twelth Night the general order of things is overturned. Show, by reference to several examples, how this topsy-turvydom is presented in 'Twelth Night'.
             Shakespeare wrote this play in about 1600 to be performed in front of Queen Elizabeth and her court on the Twelth Night of Christmas. Twelth Night is a romantic comedy of misreadings. In the play disguise, mistaken identity and the ambiguities of language all conspire to confuse the characters' judgement of one another and their perception of the World. Throughout the play the humour in Twelth Night varies from slapstick comedy to dramatic irony. Shakespeare is constantly mocking how idiodically people behave when they are in love. He presents the audience with a range of characters illustrating the different types of comedy and emphasising the contrasts between them. The audience is manipulated by using situations that we can identify with. Throughout the play we find ourselves laughing at the misfortune of most, if not all the characters within the play because we recognise the ironies that they encounter. The situations and themes featured within the play are exaggerated by Shakespeare in order to produce comedy. Twelth Night reflects the way in which people misread situations and how they are blind to the reality that lies in front of them. In short, Twelth Night demonstrates how love is madness - it is Human Nature. The reason that a modern audience can still relate to Shakespeare's play is because the Human Nature has not changed.
             Shakespeare creates comedy through confusion of identity, thus creating farce humour. In Elizabethan time men played the female characters. The original Elizabethan audience would have found special sophistication in viola's situation, where a man dresses up as a woma...