Twelfth Night or, What You Will

To make Twelfth Night more accessible for the modern reader, our Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic includes the unabirdged play plus a glossary of the more difficult words, as well as convenient sidebar notes to enlighten the reader on aspects that may be confusing or overlooked. In doing this, it is our intention that the reader may more fully enjoy the beauty of the verse, the wisdom of the insights, and the impact of the play.During the period that lasted from Halloween to January 6, Elizabethan Christians celebrated a season of trickery, in which normal patterns and conventions were turned upside down. Shakespeare wrote Twelfth Night to mark the last night of this season, and, accordingly, it includes cross-dressing, practical jokes, multiple cases of mistaken identity, and its own "Lord of Misrule," the unforgettable Sir Toby Belch.This play is also an examination of certain religious conflicts that were inflaming England in Shakespeare's day. Malvolio, the humorless Puritan, is the butt of the play's main practical joke; although he is stripped of power and dignity in the play, England's Puritans were gathering strength and would soon become so powerful that they could execute the King.More than anything else, Twelfth Night is a love story. Its characters are as foolish and wonderful in their romantic swooning as any other lovers in all of literature. New readers of Shakespeare will find the play immediately enjoyable and want to return to it again and again.