Introduction

This study guide to William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: Or, What You Will combines a selection of modernised and annotated key passages drawn from the play with two types of extracts, called ‘Contexts’ and ‘Interpretations’. The ‘Contexts’ section gathers documents that influenced Shakespeare’s presentation of the fictive world of the play, including its dramatic and narrative sources, contemporary pamphlets that focus on some of the central issues explored in the play, and earlier literary texts that had a tangible impact on Shakespeare’s style. The ‘Interpretations’ section includes some of the most influential responses to Twelfth Night on page (critical studies), on the stage (theatrical productions) and on screen (cinematic adaptations).