"Or What You Will"
Copyright © 2005 by Jim Mahood. All rights reserved.
From the plot outline that follows, can you guess the title and author of the book?
A young woman named Viola and her twin brother Sebastian look very much alike. After a shipwreck they are separated, each believing the other is dead. Viola disguises herself as a boy and takes the name Cesario in order to get a job as a page for a wealthy duke named Orsino. After she works for the duke awhile, she falls in love with him.
Orsino, however, is in love with Olivia who doesn’t want to think about love while she’s mourning the death of her brother. Ever hopeful, however, Orsino sends Cesario to plead the duke’s case to Olivia, but Olivia immediately falls in love with the boy who is really Viola in disguise.
Meanwhile, Sebastian shows up and is mistaken for Cesario by Olivia who summons a priest and rushes Sebastian into marrying her. It’s only a matter of time before Viola and Sebastian meet, recognize each other--and then what?
Will Olivia and Sebastian remain together, or will Orsino try to take her away from him? Will Viola’s love for the duke remain unrequited? You will learn the answer to the question of who ends up with whom when you read the rest of this play, “Twelfth Night; or What You Will,” written around 1600 by William Shakespeare.
If the idea of reading a play by Shakespeare is intimidating, I suggest you take a look at the “No Fear Shakespeare” version of “Twelfth Night,” edited by John Crowther and published in 2003 by SparkNotes, an imprint of Barnes & Noble.
No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete original text of “Twelfth Night” (or any other Shakespeare play) on left-hand pages, and an easy-to-understand translation into modern standard English on facing right-hand pages. The inclusion of a complete translation makes footnotes unnecessary. In translation, Shakespeare’s gender-bending comedy on mistaken identity is completely accessible.
You can stick with the translation of “Twelfth Night,” admittedly a confusing play, until you learn the characters’ names and understand the plot, then you can turn to the original text to savor the beauty and wit of the original Shakespeare.
For an idea of the translation’s helpfulness, consider Orsino’s soliloquy on love at the start of the play. The original opaque text reads as follows: “O spirit of love . . . notwithstanding thy capacity/ Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,/ Of what validity and pitch soe’er,/ But falls into abatement and low price/ Even in a minute. So full of shapes is fancy/ That it alone is high fantastical.”
Now consider No Fear’s translation: “Oh, love is so restless! It makes you want everything, but it makes you sick of things a minute later, no matter how good they are. Love is so vivid and fantastical that nothing compares to it.” Opacity gone, it’s clear as glass.
Shakespeare was no one-trick magician, so the question of who ends up with whom did not keep the play alive for more than 400 years. The subplot, which reveals the humorous schemes of Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria in removing the prig Malvolio from Olivia’s good graces, is a lot more responsible for the play’s continuing popularity.
Barnes and Noble Booksellers carries the entire line of No Fear Shakespeare plays, including “Twelfth Night ” (ISBN: 1-58663-851-3), which retails in paper for $4.95.
From the plot outline that follows, can you guess the title and author of the book?
A young woman named Viola and her twin brother Sebastian look very much alike. After a shipwreck they are separated, each believing the other is dead. Viola disguises herself as a boy and takes the name Cesario in order to get a job as a page for a wealthy duke named Orsino. After she works for the duke awhile, she falls in love with him.
Orsino, however, is in love with Olivia who doesn’t want to think about love while she’s mourning the death of her brother. Ever hopeful, however, Orsino sends Cesario to plead the duke’s case to Olivia, but Olivia immediately falls in love with the boy who is really Viola in disguise.
Meanwhile, Sebastian shows up and is mistaken for Cesario by Olivia who summons a priest and rushes Sebastian into marrying her. It’s only a matter of time before Viola and Sebastian meet, recognize each other--and then what?
Will Olivia and Sebastian remain together, or will Orsino try to take her away from him? Will Viola’s love for the duke remain unrequited? You will learn the answer to the question of who ends up with whom when you read the rest of this play, “Twelfth Night; or What You Will,” written around 1600 by William Shakespeare.
If the idea of reading a play by Shakespeare is intimidating, I suggest you take a look at the “No Fear Shakespeare” version of “Twelfth Night,” edited by John Crowther and published in 2003 by SparkNotes, an imprint of Barnes & Noble.
No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete original text of “Twelfth Night” (or any other Shakespeare play) on left-hand pages, and an easy-to-understand translation into modern standard English on facing right-hand pages. The inclusion of a complete translation makes footnotes unnecessary. In translation, Shakespeare’s gender-bending comedy on mistaken identity is completely accessible.
You can stick with the translation of “Twelfth Night,” admittedly a confusing play, until you learn the characters’ names and understand the plot, then you can turn to the original text to savor the beauty and wit of the original Shakespeare.
For an idea of the translation’s helpfulness, consider Orsino’s soliloquy on love at the start of the play. The original opaque text reads as follows: “O spirit of love . . . notwithstanding thy capacity/ Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,/ Of what validity and pitch soe’er,/ But falls into abatement and low price/ Even in a minute. So full of shapes is fancy/ That it alone is high fantastical.”
Now consider No Fear’s translation: “Oh, love is so restless! It makes you want everything, but it makes you sick of things a minute later, no matter how good they are. Love is so vivid and fantastical that nothing compares to it.” Opacity gone, it’s clear as glass.
Shakespeare was no one-trick magician, so the question of who ends up with whom did not keep the play alive for more than 400 years. The subplot, which reveals the humorous schemes of Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and Maria in removing the prig Malvolio from Olivia’s good graces, is a lot more responsible for the play’s continuing popularity.
Barnes and Noble Booksellers carries the entire line of No Fear Shakespeare plays, including “Twelfth Night ” (ISBN: 1-58663-851-3), which retails in paper for $4.95.
posted by olyguy at 12:01
3 Comments:
I kinda like the no fear thing...
Your description is captivating, no surprise here!
Thanks for the review. I'm not a senior, but this sounds like a fascinating book. I'll be sure to check it out.
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