History Theatre / TwelfthNight

* AllThereInTheScript: Viola doesn't get named in the play itself -- as opposed to the stage directions -- until the very last scene. It doesn't hurt that she spends most of the play as "Cesario"...

* AmbiguouslyBi: Both Viola and Olivia. Viola's definitely into Orsino, but some of her interactions with Olivia could ''very'' easily be read as her having feelings for her, as well, and most modern productions ramp up the subtext. Olivia, meanwhile, canonically falls in love with Viola. Granted, she thinks Viola is a man, but it's her ''personality'' that she fell for; Viola turning out to be female doesn't actually change anything Olivia was attracted to.

* CompressedHair: Not universal, but very common for Viola.

* DirtyCoward: Andrew Aguecheek, who resorts to attacking Sebastian, whom he mistakes for Cesario[=/=]Viola (with Cesario denying Antonio's acquaintance), only for Andrew to get beaten and bruised by Sebastian.

* EveryoneIsBi: Averted, but just barely. With all the (misaimed?) crushes going on, the audience is definitely invited to wonder.

* {{Foil}}: Malvolio, to Feste, Toby Belch, Andrew Aguecheek, Maria and Fabian. See also MeaningfulName

* FourthDateMarriage: Even for an Elizabethan comedy, in which this trope was expected, ''Twelfth Night'' stands out: Orsino proposes to Viola the instant he learns that she is a woman, and more ridiculously still, Sebastian marries Olivia, a woman he has literally just met, ''without even telling her his real name''. Most productions will try to mitigate this this by blocking Orsino and Viola's scenes to show obvious physical chemistry they're trying to ignore, but with Sebastian and Olivia, you might as well lean into the absurdity.

** Since the next day starts at midnight, any time after midnight (e.g., 12:05 A.M.) would be considered part of the next day, which starts at midnight.

* IWillShowYouX: In Act II, Scene V, as Malvolio is deciphering a letter that reads "M, O, A, I doth sway my life", while Toby, Andrew and Fabian are hiding in the box-tree:
-->'''Malvolio''': "M", but then there is no consonancy in the sequel; "A" should follow, but "O" does.\\

-->'''Feste''': ...and thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.\\

* NoPeriodsPeriod: Averted, if only in a minor way. Olivia dismisses "Cesario" by snapping, "'Tis not [[AllPeriodsArePMS that time of moon with me]] to make one in so skipping a dialogue." Cue Olivia's handmaid Maria trying to usher Cesario out: "Will you set sail sir? Here lies your way!"

* JerkassHasAPoint: Malvolio's a fun hating puritan, but he's completely justified in calling out Toby and his friends for their behavior, given they don't stop to think of how their good time bothering everyone around them.

** Sir Toby Belch may be charming, but he's also the most actively malacious presence in the play. His hard partyting lifestyle proves to be a great annoyance to those around him, with Toby not caring a bit. While Malvolio's also a dick, Toby's plotting against him is at best, DisproportionateRetribution. Between his mooching for money and and direct acts against him , he's also a pretty awful friend to Andrew. The worst of all his targeting though is when he goes after Viola, who hasn't done a single thing remotely wrong to him. He later tries to get into two fights with her (actually Sebastian) [[KarmaHoudiniWarranty which winds up giving him a pretty well deserved beatdown]].

** Going the other way around, Andrew is this to Toby. While he does supply him money, he's ultimately of no use to him in their mischevious plots. Noticeably, Andrew is winds up being absent from Malvolio's humiliations because Toby is instead working to humiliate ''him'' at the same time.

* LoveDodecahedron: Orsino is pining after Olivia, who's got a thing for "Cesario," his actually-female servant, who invokes the ire of Malvolio, Olivia's steward who dreams of marrying her, meanwhile Cesario-actually-Viola tries to suppress her love for Orsino while dodging challenges from Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is ''also'' courting the Countess, but who accidentally runs into Viola's twin brother...

** Orsino for Olivia. He even says as much - he says he doesn't care about her fabulous inheritance and wealth, but for her beauty, without a hint of self-consciousness.

* RagsToRoyalty: Neither Sebastian nor Viola are stated to be of any great lineage and yet they marry a Duke and a Countess.

** And, of course, this is The Fool's job.

** In Act 3, Antonio encounters Cesario/(Viola), who is mistaken for Sebastian, having entrusted his money to Sebastian's care. When Antonio is arrested by the officers, he asks Cesario for the money which he had entrusted to Sebastian, whom he rescued from the sea after the shipwreck. Unaware that he's actually been speaking with Cesario, Antonio is annoyed that Sebastian (actually Cesario) apparently treats him like a total stranger. Unaware of Sebastian's existence or friendship with Antonio, Cesario remarks that ingratitude is more abhorrent than lying, drunkenness, or any other flaw of human nature, infuriating Antonio as he is led away by the officers.

* EnsembleCast: Viola is agreed to be the lead, but but focus is spread quite fairly amongst eleven principle roles keeping this trope in play. Olivia and Malvolio are also occasionally classified as leading characters as well.

[deep breath] Olivia has given over the management of her household to her Puritan steward Malvolio, whose new position causes him to look down on Olivia's uncle, Sir Toby Belch. Sir Toby is taking advantage of a [[UpperClassTwit brainless rich boy]] named Andrew Aguecheek, by convincing the hapless Sir Andrew that Olivia would like to marry him. However, Olivia has no intention of the kind, and Sir Toby simply likes to use Andrew's money to fund his drinking and revelry. Malvolio comes down hard on Sir Toby, who, along with Olivia's handmaid Maria, decides to play a little trick on the lecherous social climber Malvolio...

* SlobsVsSnobs: Malvolio, the snide, squeaky-clean manservant versus Toby, the [[CoolLoser lewd and belligerently drunken knight]].

* JerkassWoobie: Malvolio-- who spends most of the play as a HateSink-- is imprisoned, gaslighted, and publicly shamed for the crime of being a joyless wannabe.

* AngstySurvivingTwin: The premise, though, not the conclusion.
* ArtifactTitle: It's believed that the play is only called ''Twelfth Night'' because it was first performed on Twelfth Night. This is probably why its EitherOrTitle is "or, What You Will," meaning "or whatever you want." The play really doesn't have a proper name, so you can call it what you want.

* {{Bifauxnen}}: Viola

* DefrostingIceQueen: Olivia, who thaws out pretty quickly.

* DueToTheDead: Olivia even overdoes it.

* {{Gaslighting}}: Maria forges a letter in Olivia's handwriting, urging Malvolio to smile in Olivia's presence, wear yellow stockings and crossed garters. When Malvolio does these and makes amorous advances to Olivia, she has him confined to a dark room to recover his sanity.

* HilarityEnsues: It's Shakespeare. It always does.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Feste uses this to convince Olivia that she is the foolish one:
-->'''Olivia''': [[ShooOutTheClowns Take the fool away.]]\\

-->'''Feste''': Good madonna, why mournest thou?\\

* IronicEcho: One of the most memorable ever employed.
--> '''Malvolio:''' I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal: I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already; unless you laugh and minister occasion to him, he is gagged...

* KickTheDog: The severity of Malvolio's imprisonment varies with production, but in general the level of MindScrew that Feste and the others put him through is a little bit [[DisproportionateRetribution excessive]], even if he is a JerkAss.

* TheLoad: Sir Toby Belch to Andrew, since he frequently borrows from Andrew's allowance. When Andrew offers Viola his horse Capilet to call off the fight, Toby mentions in an aside:
-->'''Toby Belch''': Marry, I'll ride your horse as well as I ride you.

* LovingAShadow: Orsino for Olivia. He even says as much - he says he doesn't care about her fabulous inheritance and wealth, but for her beauty, without a hint of self-consciousness.

* MandatoryMotherhood: One argument why Olivia should marry.

* SeeminglyProfoundFool: Feste, who uses intricate discourse to convince Olivia that she's a fool by illustrating her folly in mourning for her brother whose soul is in heaven.

* SweetPollyOliver: Viola.

* TwelfthNightAdventure: The TropeNamer.

* WholesomeCrossdresser: Viola

* AmbiguouslyGay: Antonio.

* {{Gaslighting}}: Feste, Toby and Maria try to pull this on Malvolio during his mock-exorcism.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: Downplayed. Illyria is what balkanized into modern day Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia. However, the play is set during summertime, so, if we accept the title as indicative, it should be in the Southern Hemisphere[[note]]In the Northern Hemisphere, Twelfth Night would be a winter holiday, not a summer holiday[[/note]]. Admittedly, there's no confirmation that the events of the play are happening during the Twelfth Night festivities, which are only referenced in the title and briefly in a song by Sir Toby; the play is likely only called that because it was ''literally'' first performed on Twelfth Night.

* LovingAShadow: Orsino for Olivia. He even says as much - he says he doesn't care about her fabulous inheritance and wealth, but for her beauty, without a hint of self-consciousness. Well done, dude. Possibly lampshaded when Maria refers to Malvolio "practicing behavior to his own shadow".

* TriangRelations: A type 2. Viola loves Orsino, who loves Olivia, who loves Cesario, who ''is'' Viola in disguise. Sebastian's main role in the plot is resolving the triangle.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b000021_4630.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: ''"Why, this is very midsummer madness!"'']]
[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/7ef3f972_0bc7_4b8a_8037_0e8dd0a1024e.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] The ‘Twelfth Night or What you Will’ 1996 movie poster.]]

** As his [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first lines of the play,]] Malvolio harshly puts down Feste by insulting his wit, casually implying he'd be better off with a debilitating infirmity. While Malvolio may not like Feste's jokes, his scorn comes in response to Feste trying to cheer Olivia up when she's mourning her dead brother, and Malvolio then scoffs disdainfully at Olivia for finding Feste amusing.

* FourthDateMarriage: Even for an Elizabethan comedy, in which this trope was expected, ''Twelfth Night'' stands out: Orsino proposes to Viola the instant he learns that she is a woman, and more ridiculously still, Sebastian marries Olivia, a woman he has literally just met, ''without even telling her his real name''. Most productions will try to mitigate this this by blocking Orsino and Viola's scenes to show obvious physical chemistry they're trying to ignore, but there's not much to be done with Sebastian and Olivia.

* ExcessiveMourning: Orsino argues that Olivia should resort to new means to remember her family. Like, having children.

* BigFun: Sir Toby Belch, who likes to spend quite a bit of his spare time (as well as a sizable portion of Andrew's salary) eating and drinking, as contrasted to his {{foil}}, Malvolio, who tries to keep order in Olivia's household. Though

* ButtMonkey: Malvolio and Andrew Aguecheek. It's PlayedForLaughs for most pf the show, but it eventually becomes clear that their respective treatments are overly mean spirited and they receive suitably sad endings.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Malvolio's a fun hating puritan, but he's completely justified in calling out Toby and his friends for their behavior, given they don't stop to think of how their good time bothering everyone around them.
* JerkassWoobie: Malvolio-- who spends most of the play as a HateSink-- is imprisoned, gaslighted, and publicly shamed for the crime of being a joyless wannabe.
* TheJester: Feste is one of Shakespeare's finest takes on this trope.

* BigFun: Sir Toby Belch, who likes to spend quite a bit of his spare time (as well as a sizable portion of Andrew's salary) eating and drinking, as contrasted to his {{foil}}, Malvolio, who tries to keep order in Olivia's household.
* BittersweetEnding: Feste's melancholic ending song aside, almost everyone got a happy ending, except for Antonio, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Malvolio.

* ButtMonkey: Malvolio and Andrew Aguecheek.

* MilesGloriosus: Andrew Aguecheek, who attacks Sebastian after his attempted duel with Cesario[=/=]Viola is interrupted by Antonio, only for Sebastian to kick Andrew's butt to kingdom come.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: Sir Toby and Fabian urge Sir Andrew Aguecheek to fight Cesario (Viola in disguise) in a fencing duel, with the hopes that Andrew might have a better chance of gaining Olivia's hand. Toby and Fabian accompany Andrew as dueling seconds, urging Cesario to participate in the duel. Moments later, Antonio encounters Cesario, mistaking him for Sebastian and asking for the money which he had entrusted to Sebastian. Later on, Andrew attacks Sebastian, mistaking him for Cesario, only for Sebastian to thrash and bruise Sir Andrew.

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d1c99718_60da_4bcc_96b7_79e3ae9d76cc.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] The ‘Twelfth Night or What you Will’ 1996 movie poster.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d1c99718_60da_4bcc_96b7_79e3ae9d76cc.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] The 1996 movie poster.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Click[[labelnote:here]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/d1c99718_60da_4bcc_96b7_79e3ae9d76cc.jpeg]] [[/labelnote]] for the poster of 1996 movie.]]