#Twelfth-Night or What You Will

[uwmspeccoll]

Shakespeare Weekend!

This weekend we return to Nicholas Rowe’s (1674-1718) The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. Published in London in 1709 by Jacob Tonson (1655-1736), perhaps the most prolific of Shakespeare publishers, this second edition holds an important place within Shakespearean publication history. The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes is recognized as the first octavo edition, the first illustrated edition, the first critically edited edition, and the first to present a biography of the poet.  

This week, we introduce you to the second which consists of all comedies, including A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Taming of the Shrew, All’s Well that Ends Well, Twelfth-Night; or What You Will, and The Winter’s Tale. A full-page engraving by the French Baroque artist and book illustrator François Boitard (1670-1715) precedes each play. 

In addition to Rowe’s editorial decisions to divide the plays into scenes and include notes on the entrances and exits of the players, he also normalised the spelling of names and included a dramatis personae preceding each play. The only chronicled critique of Rowe’s momentous editorial endeavor is his choice in basing his text on the corrupt Fourth Folio. 

Perhaps of interest to some of our readers is the exceptional use of signature marks and catchwords throughout the volumes of The Work of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes. Found on the bottom of the pages, the signature marks and catchwords helped the bookbinder or printer make sure the pages were sent to the press in the right order and that subsequent leaves were bound in the correct order. Signature marks through the use of a letter and number combination marking the first page of a leaf or section, and catchwords by way of anticipating the first word of the following page.  

View more volumes of The Works of Mr. William Shakespear; in Six Volumes here.

View more Shakespeare Weekend posts.

-Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

#Shakespeare Weekend #William Shakespeare #Shakespeare #Nicholas Rowe #The Works of Mr. William Shakespear #Jacob Tonson #François Boitard #A Midsummer Night's Dream #Merchant of Venice #As You Like It #Taming of the Shrew #All's Well That Ends Well #Twelfth-Night or What You Will #The Winter's tale #signature mark #catchword #etching

[stimmingmushroomstudios]

#shakespeare #twelfth night #or what you will #shakespeare quotes #people take this man too seriously

[eva-eyre]

Twelfth Night Illustrations by W. Heath Robinson.

#Twelfth Night #What You Will #William Shakespeare #W. Heath Robinson #William Heath Robinson #Illustration #Shakespeare #art #historical art #classic lit #classic literature

[rebelsafoot]

Ok so we all love donnarose but…

Donna x Rose x 10 poly??

Based on the “ppl your currently dating” post

YESSS THIS IS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT!!! This is the doctor's girlfriend rose and rose's girlfriend donna type beat. bi4bi4lesbian its real in my heart its real to ME!!!!!

#ask reply #i feel like i should start a donnarose tag atp #i have been considering drawing them as that one twelfth night photo (you all know the one) #this might be what gets me to actually do it

[grendelsmilf]

hamlet/horatio is rly some of the most boring shakespeare yaoi in my honest opinion. like even putting aside whatever i got going on with iago/cassio and edgar/albany (my problematic favs) there’s also like. toxic caesar death polycule. the undeniable potency of antonio/sebastian. the kind of epic fool4fool slay that is touchstone/jaques. rosalind/celia yuri. olivia/viola also. and these are just off the top of my head

#as you like it & twelfth night the lgbt sisters #(what all at once??) #o

[feste-de-jester]

🃏 ⤷ Twelfth Night Incorrect Quotes #67

Orsino: Viola and I are no longer dating. Viola: That’s a horrible way of telling people we’re married.

#twelfth night incorrect quotes #twelfth night #what you will #incorrect quotes #shakespeare #shakespeare incorrect quotes #viola #cesario #orsino #duke orsino

[karl-von-moor-official]

Hello ;) could I interest you in some Twelfth Night memes?

#i couldn’t sleep until I’d made these #twelfth night #or #what you will #william shakespeare #shakespeare #Memes #lit shit post #shakespeare memes #classical literature

[little-candy-store-of-horrors]

I receive Cursed Header Image you receive Cursed Anime fanart @oldfritz

Favourite Details:

#historical hetalia #hetalia fanart #aph prussia #aph hungary #aph austria #frying pangle #gilbert beilschmidt #elizaveta hedervary #roderich edelstein #historical fanart #my art #18th century #pruhun #aushun #prusaus #Yeah the faVouRitE dEtAiLs r just a couple of orders specifically the pour le merite n order of the golden fleece sorry for being a NERD #And also sorry for being a h*talia at heart still lmao. Like yes i actually have opinions on how they look smh my head #Also technically his bruised hand vs his bloodied glove #Anyway enough rambling from me as always lmao idk if it's what you had in mind but I hope you like it Suzanne!! #OH and thank you Amadeus 1984 as well for wig colouring ideas. And also anne hathaway twelfth night ofc #P.S sorry Prussia's uniform isn't accurate i lost my reference and couldn't find it again so i made it up halfway through 💀

[butchhamlet]

Hello!! When I tell you I literally use your blog as a Shakespeare resource ALL THE TIME like I just have so much respect for all your takes and your ability to hold so much in your head?? Insane. I am vv curious to hear your thoughts & feelings about Maria from Twelfth Night?? I just got cast as her in a very cool production and while I’m working on my own interpretation I am very curious and interested in what you think are important things to bear in mind with her!! <3

HI ANON!!! SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO ANSWER YOU HAVE PROBABLY FIGURED OUT EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR OWN MARIA BY NOW AND PERHAPS HAVE EVEN DONE YOUR SHOW (IN WHICH CASE I HOPE IT WENT WELL; IF NOT THEN GOOD LUCK!)

but yeah! yeah! maria! i think about her! she fascinates me, actually, because it's--i was going to say "hard to tell whose side she's ever on," but that makes twelfth night sound like some kind of war plot, when the gulling subplot is in fact just an elaborate prank. but i guess i can say that she fascinates me because her feelings toward olivia and toby are never entirely clear. she's olivia's maid, and they seem to have some fondness for each other, but she's also not above imitating olivia's handwriting (and thus kind of? impersonating her?) for a prank that olivia doesn't get to know about (and depending on how you interpret malvolio and olivia, this could be either maria going "haha this'll be so funny" or maria just not caring if this man makes olivia uncomfortable). and she seems to care about toby as well, and certainly jokes around with he and andrew, but it's also clear that she is exasperated if not harried by his constant bullshit. and yet she marries him--does that prove that she loves him, and the annoyance she feels about him partying at odd hours is just that, annoyance, because the people we love have flaws? or does she marry toby because it's her shot at social mobility? how much does she resent being a maid? is toby her stepladder or her true love or both? does she recognize that irony that by marrying toby she's doing exactly what malvolio hoped to do and can't--marrying up and becoming part of the household nobility? and does she feel bad for him?

anyway beyond all that i think she's fucking awesome. when toby was like "maria you could step on my throat" he was right. don't worry queen i know you're the root of some have greatness thrust upon them

#max.txt #asks #once again im not sure this is helpful to you since i did not answer it for months but i hope it's interesting at least... #i would love to know about what you've chosen to do with her if you want to tell me abt your production!!! #also thank you so much re: the first part of this ask whaddafuck. ;__; #twelfth night #maria

[abracazabka]

When Viola/Cesario said "I am all the daughters of my father's house, / And all the brothers too" in Twelfth Night (2.5.121-122) that was very transgender and I appreciate it

#shakespeare #viola twelfth night #cesario twelfth night #twelfth night or what you will #twelfth night #transgender #terfs dni #transphobes dni #genderqueer #literature #lit

[callixton]

aro kid in class keeps challenging the idea of love as a universal theme in plays/stories but like. so far they’ve exclusively done it to other people who r aro

#i also. idk i think they keep approaching it in a bit of a bad faith way #i don’t think that everyone experiences love or that it’s what makes us human or anything #but i do think that the perception of love is an indisputable part of the fabric of our world. like you can’t just ignore it’s influence on #- society and stories? in fact i think that’s the point of amanormativity? #they did this last semester about company….. 2 me a guy who wrote a whole essay abt why company is aro #also the thing today was about twelfth night and. maybe they just weren’t listening bc i do not think rose ever said love as a universal the #*theme #just that ideas present at the time of its writing also resonate with people today #and their whole concept was that the characters ideas of ‘love’ was shallow #it’s so not important they just keep using ‘i’m aro’ as a bit of a gotcha and like. bud so am i!! #ted talks

[abortedfetusgummy]

made by my friend Lily :)) @catamingo

#shakespeare comedies #shakespeare #twelfth night #what you will #Viola #olivia twelfth night #Fabian #Sir toby belch #Feste the clown #Malvolio #sir andrew aguecheek #sebastian twelfth night #duke orisino #antonio twelfth night #Maria twelfth night #shakespeare memes #classic lit memes #this is not my art #nice argument unfortunately

[withasideofshakespeare]

not sure if images work. i am once again asking for thy trans shakespeare headcanons please & thank you. i will Stop entering your ask box and leaving just not tonight

by the way in response to trans tn response (<3 love it) i raise thee t4t seb and ant (tn) (but also tempest) (reasoning: hits you w transgenderification beam)

ALL of my current Shakespeare trans HCs in one post??? I am going to try...

Hamlet:

Hamlet- he/they, transmasc (afab) (I’ve talked about this theory a few times, and I like it a lot for a variety of reasons! See my other posts.)

Ophelia- she/they, ftnb (projection. PROJECTION!!!)

Horatio- either mtnb he/they OR everybody’s token cis friend (Non-binary Horatio makes for 1. a beautiful t4t couple/throuple if Ophelia is here too and 2. a fun story about Horatio’s gender crisis upon meeting Hamlet. Token cis friend Horatio is just funny. Hamlet and Ophelia discuss their shared genderqueer experience and Horatio gives them a thumbs-up like “I don’t understand this but I love you.”)

Laertes- she/him, genderfluid. (I saw Laertes played by a woman the first time I saw this play and now that experience has combined with all the masc Laerteses I have seen to create genderfluid Laertes.)

Rosencrantz- he/they, mtnb (Their name shortens to “Rose”. There is no way he’s cis.)

Macbeth:

Malcolm- they/he or they/them. I cannot decide which direction they’re trans in. (I am generally very attached to Malcolm. Maybe I’ll write a post about this later because there is way too much to say here.)

Lady Macbeth- she/they (Lady Macbeth would insult you for “having pronouns in your bio” but would also hit you for using their pronouns incorrectly.)

I HC like all the minor characters in Macbeth to be trans in one direction or another (not for any good reason, I just think they should be) so trans Macbeth characters speedrun: Caithness- she/they, transfemme; Angus- she/her, transfemme, Ross- he/him, transmasc.

Twelfth Night:

Sebastian- he/him, ftm (Explains identical twins of different genders and I like the complexity it adds to his relationships- see my other post.)

Viola/Cesario/Vi/Visario- they/them, ftnb (Again, this explains the twin thing and I really like the idea of Vi using their identity as Cesario to explore their gender.)

Antonio- he/him, either ftm or token cis man (Similar to Horatio, you either get a great t4t pairing or a slightly confused cis man pulling a guy out of the ocean and inadvertently getting a lesson about trans people.)

Maria- she/her, mtf (Literally no reason, I just think she is transfemme.)

Much Ado:

I haven’t read this one in a hot minute, but Beatrice is a she/they icon.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Puck- they/them (Fairy gender doesn’t work like human gender, but they’re queer even for a fairy.)

Moth- she/they (Fairy gender things. Honestly, this goes for all Titania’s attendants.)

Titania- she/they

Oberon- he/they

Peter Quince- he/they (literally no reason, it just works)

Helena- she/her, transfemme perhaps (maybe he/they Lysander also?)

Romeo & Juliet:

I saw an all-trans/nb production of this play and now pretty much everybody is trans.

Romeo- he/they, ftm (t4t R&J!!!!)

Juliet- she/they, mtf (t4t R&J!!!!)

Mercutio- they/he, probably performs drag shows in his free time (the queerest person in this play, I love them.)

Juliet’s Nurse- she/her, mtf (Transfemme elders deserve love)

And that is all of my trans HCs off the top of my head.

#shakespeare #trans hcs #hamlet #twelfth night #macbeth #romeo and juliet #much ado about nothing #A Midsummer Night's Dream #amsnd #if you asked me five years ago where i'd be in five years #this is NOT what i would've said #but i have transed the genders of william shakespeare's characters #and i am embracing it.

[magnus-rhymes-with-swagness]

THEATRE ‼️ 💛 💥🔥✨🧡⚡️

#theatre gives me shrimp emotions that are sometimes hard to articulate other than ‘THEATRE ‼️💛💥🔥✨🧡⚡️’ but yeah! theatre! i love it so much! #the other week in the theatre class i’m taking this semester we got in groups and in turn performed a scene from twelfth night #which was super fun! it was the scene where viola and and olivia meet for the first time #and it was really neat to see how each group interpreted it #i was the olivia of my group and i made her really assertive / almost kind of aggressive because i interpreted her as trying to hide her #curiosity about viola beyond a very confident/assertive exterior; but some people played her as openly curious; or super mysterious; #or what have you; and it was so interesting! #the department is currently doing twelfth night (which is why we’re studying it in class) so a few classes later the actors playing olivia #and viola came in and performed the same scene; which was also very unique! it was SO COOL :D #they also talked a bunch about their interpretations of their characters and i got some really interesting insight into the characters that #i hadn’t considered before (for example viola’s actor said that she and the director are throwing around the idea of viola dressing as a #man in order to keep her brother alive; because at that point in time she thinks he’s dead) #and when they were done the costume designer for the same show talked to us about her process and showed us a slideshow of her renderings #+ some other relevant stuff which was super cool as i don’t know very much about costume design in general #i learned so much it was soooo cool :D #AND THEN today i saw the production of firebringer i’m working on which was also so cool but i think i’ll make a separate post about that #once i can gather my thoughts #but yeah! THEATRE ‼️💛💥🔥✨🧡⚡️ #my words #elliott’s theatre adventures

[feste-de-jester]

🃏 ⤷ Twelfth Night Incorrect Quotes #64

Olivia: Do you ever get pre-annoyed? Like you already know someone is going to piss you off? Cesario: What? No, I— Orsino: *enters room* Olivia: *jaw clenches*

#twelfth night incorrect quotes #twelfth night #what you will #incorrect quotes #shakespeare #shakespeare incorrect quotes #olivia #cesario #viola #orsino

[britneyshakespeare]

has anyone ever written about how much the comedy of errors (shakespeare's first comedy and one of his earliest plays in general) has in common with the late romances, as far as tropes go? that play where the main plot was ripped from terence but then he added in a second pair of twins for more slapstick and extra complications? the really really silly one that for centuries many considered to be too low to be a proper "comedy" and instead was actually just a farce? that play where, like in the late romances, a family is seemingly lost and ripped apart forever for most of the play until the miraculous ending when everything comes back together again and the peace is restored? has anyone ever written a paper about that? because i think about it ALL the time

#i guess you could say twelfth night is kiiiiinda similar to this with tropes too #but twelfth night doesn't have the stakes really to be categorized with the romances #like. egeon is going to be executed in the first act of coe #and reveals his tragic backstory #like it IS that deep to me #and the ending is so much like. well all the romances really but i suppose the shipwreck aspect #that gets everyone separated in the first place reminds me especially of pericles #text post #shakespeare #and the long space in time between comedy or errors and the romances is what really gets me #that's CRAZY #and i love the romances #that also gets me #i love the romances so much #the comedy of errors