Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night' - Topicality as a problem

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,5, Martin Luther University (Anglistik / Amerikanistik), course: Shakespearean Plays, language: English, abstract: This paper is concerned with the topical references included in Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night or What you will. Topicality in the context of this paper is defined as all facts included in the play that are supposed to have been of current interest in the Elizabethan Age. For this purpose, the paper will proceed in three steps. First of all, some topical references frequently named by the secondary literature will be presented with special attention to the link established between the play and the several facts. Secondly, it is interesting to ask why some references were included. Taking the facts mentioned above into account, one basic assumption for this step is that playwrights do not only unconsciously mirror reality but do it for special, recipient-oriented reasons. At least one interesting theory developed by Anthony Alridge in his monograph Shakespeare and the Prince of Love. The Feast of Misrule in the Middle Temple will be discussed in this chapter. Finally, the facts discussed until that point will be summarized and questioned once more under another aspect: can topicality be a problem and for whom? That is why some thoughts will be spent on topicality as a problem in Shakespeare's times and for the recipient in our post-modern days. Even though especially the last question concerning the gap between the horizons of understanding of both periods could be of special note for teachers, e.g., theirs is only little space for this particular topic because of the limitations this paper naturally has to take into account. This is also the reason why only some of the most stressing topical references can be discussed in the course of the paper. A lot of details have to be excluded. So the paper can show only some examples and discuss possible reasons for them.