Twelfth Night William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Twelfth Night.
Twelfth Night Material
- Study Guide
- Lesson Plan
Join Now to View Premium Content
GradeSaver provides access to 2365 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 11012 literature essays, 2781 sample college application essays, 926 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.
Twelfth Night Essays
The role of the fool: feste's significance brad knisley, twelfth night.
In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, the Feste's role might originally appear to be as a minor character, but in actuality his role is of principal significance. Because the action of the play occurs during the revelry of the holiday season, the clown...
The Fool as a Playwright in Twelfth Night Michael Yank
Feste, the fool character in Twelfth Night, in many ways represents a playwright figure, and embodies the reach and tools of the theater. He criticizes, manipulates and entertains the other characters while causing them to reflect on their life...
It is Theater Virginia Brannon
Theatre began as a presentation of stories and ideas, mostly revolving around festival times in the calendar of the church year. This concept was carried on in Shakespeare's times and is exemplified in his plays Twelfth Night, or What You Will and...
To Believe, or Not To Believe Virginia Brannon
In the study of three of Shakespeare's plays, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, The Tragedy of Richard II, and Henry IV, Part 1, one of the themes that is presented is the contrast of "appearance vs. reality." Sometimes the confusion is comedic,...
The Function of Plot Divisions in Twelfth Night and in Doctor Faustus Anonymous
In both plays, Twelfth Night and Doctor Faustus, there exists a high and a low (or comic) plot. This plot division serves as a parallel - the actions and characters in the low plot coincide with the actions and characters in the high plot. The...
Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Saturnalia, or Just Sad? Sanjana Krishna
Topic: One theatre critic has said of Twelfth Night: "...the key question seems to me how much one regards it as a festive piece of saturnalia, written for a very specific occasion, and how much as a dark comedy about impermanence and pain." What...
The Dark Side of Twelfth Night Jesse Brundige
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare creates a duality between the worlds of the nobility and its associates and the said "outsiders." There is a great element of selfishness involved in the actions of the characters deemed "in" as they peruse through...
Deception, Delusion and the Danger of Half-Perceived Truths Anonymous
It has often been said that "the clothes make the man." It could never seem truer than in Twelfth Night where disguises and mistaken identities run the gamut of use. The identity of people, things and ideas are swept away under the facade of...
The Transformative Power of the Character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous
The character of Sebastian in "Twelfth Night" represents the dynamic factor in an otherwise static equation. Illyria is an immutable place, and the people who live and visit the land become ensnared in a stasis. Shakespeare uses the device of...
Elusive Happy Medium Anonymous
Quoted centuries before Shakespeare's birth, the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus believed that "in everything the middle course is best; all things in excess bring trouble to men." Often times, society focuses its sights on the attainment...
Loveable Knaves: The Humanity of Malvolio and Parolles Barret Buchholz
Malvolio and Parolles both appear as relatively unlikable characters due to their inflated egos, and convince themselves that they are socially greater than they are in reality. In Twelfth Night, Malvolio, a mere steward, behaves with utter scorn...
Love Is Love... Or Is It? Tamanna Haque
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare illustrates love in various forms and suggests that, like beauty, the true meaning of love exists in the eye of the beholder. Love is seen as bordering on insanity, a frivolous game of ever-changing affections, and...
To Gender or Not to Gender Mandy Geddes
"Sex is one of the constants in human experience; sexuality, one of the variables."
Bruce Smith, Homosexual Desire in Shakespeare's England.
Sexuality in Renaissance England was ambiguous. The current common idea or definition of "homosexual" did...
Swerving Women in "Twelfth Night" Anonymous
When Lady Olivia first beseeches Viola, a girl disguised as the male page Cesario, to love her, the two share a repartee that seems to question Cesario's affection for the countess. But as Viola responds to Olivia, "you do think you are not what...
Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv Sophie Victoria Curlett
Love as Comedic Energy: Viola and Orsino, Twelfth Night II.iv
Chosen extract: Act 2, Scene iv
In Twelfth Night , it is love’s revolutionary potential to inspire awareness, question authority, and disrupt the anti-comic balance that makes love so...
Discuss the function of cross-dressing in Renaissance drama. Anonymous
Cross-dressing on the early modern stage was a highly exploited theatrical device. It subverted the traditional conceptions of gender, evoking a recurring sense of dramatic irony. Jean E. Howard explains that “behavioural differences” and “...
Comic Cruelty in Twelfth Night Anonymous
In a Shakespearean comic setting where chaos, asininity, and insolence reign, the very qualities of comic irreverence become virtues. A comic hero or side character who relentlessly pranks stooges and straight men for the audience's enjoyment is...
The Functions of Comedy in Twelfth Night Mark Carver
Salinger (1974) calls Twelfth Night a “comedy about comedy” in which Shakespeare demonstrates his “fundamental debt to the earlier Renaissance tradition of comic playwriting and his abiding sense of detachment from it” (pg 242), and it is from...
Gender Expectations and Courtship in As You Like It and Twelfth Night Carly Czajka
Although some Shakespearean plays carve out a more passive, male-defined role for women, such as that which is exemplified through Ophelia’s obedience to Polonius in Hamlet, the comedies of As You Like It and Twelfth Night explore women’s...
Intrinsic Factors and Extenuating Forces in the Determination of Romantic Relationships in Twelfth Night and Othello Anonymous 12th Grade
In Shakespeare's Othello, the primary obstacle in Othello and Desdemona's relationship is Othello’s race, and hence, his status as an outsider. This difference becomes a barrier when Brabantio objects to their marriage, however, it plays much more...
The Sexuality of Service, the Female Relationship, and Freaky Family Connections in Twelfth Night Molly Brothers 12th Grade
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night has a host of characters: a cross-dressing woman, an uppity, lower-class servant, a quick-witted, tricky gentlewoman, a rowdy, vulgar nobleman and his misguided friend. With so many characters to keep track of, an array...
The Pursuit of Love in “Twelfth Night” and “Enduring Love” Kareem Belfon 12th Grade
In both “Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare and “Enduring Love” by Ian McEwan, the pursuit of love is presented within the main characters. Their attempts to pursue a relationship could be seen as romantic and passionate; however, it could also...
Malvolio: The Puritan Plays the Fool Mary Anne Phillips 11th Grade
Initially, the salient fool in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night appears to be Feste -- a licensed jester. Yet upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare merely uses Feste as a critic of the comedic disarray in Illyria, which parallels the...
Gender and Sexual Fluidity in Twelfth Night Taryn Mayer College
Because disguise and mistaken identity is such a central theme in many of Shakespeare’s comedies, so too then is gender ambiguity, with many female characters disguising themselves as men. The fact that young male actors played these characters,...
“The Twelfth Night” by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis Essay
- To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
- As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
- As a template for you assignment
| Introduction | The play of William Shakespeare is one of his most performed pieces. The romantic comedy tells the story of a woman who disguises herself as a man and thus changes the foundations of gender roles and romantic relationships. The central themes explored in the piece are love, disguise and deception, and gender confusion. |
| Techniques | Apart from it, literary techniques, which were used by the author to explain it, include monologue, metaphor, enjambment, repetition, personification, rhetorical question, and others. |
| Body Paragraph 1- | |
| Theme/Idea | presents the significance of love as a mighty force with its own will, which constitutes one of the main themes of the poem. Apart from it, the love of a man and a woman is different, as shown in the example of Orsino and Viola’s unrequited feelings. If the former appears to be more passionate and determined, the latter pretends to be sensitive and loyal. |
| If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die (Shakespeare, 2019) | |
| Analysis | With these monologue lines, Duke Orsino opens the play, showing his suffering because of his unrequited love for Olivia. He encourages musicians to play, suggesting that an abundance of music can fill his hunger for love and unquenchable passion ( , n.d.). The excerpt provides an example of the application of metaphor. In particular, Orsino compares music to the food of love. Apart from it, these lines demonstrate the literary technique of a soliloquy, in which the character expresses his opinion, sharing his thoughts about love with the reader. |
| Literary Techniques | Metaphor and soliloquy |
| We men may say more, swear more, but indeed Our shows are more than will, for still we prove Much in our vows, but little in our love (Shakespeare, 2019) | |
| Analysis | These lines are spoken by the main character of the play, Viola, disguised as Cesario while talking with Duke Orsino. Viola refutes his prejudices about woman love, stating that although men express their love through more powerful ways, it can only remain in words. She knows from her experience of love for Duke Orsino that female love is sensitive and faithful ( , n.d.). Shakespeare uses a variation of enjambment, the contre-rejet, in which the beginning of a sentence captures the end of the previous verse. It creates a feeling of metric speed in conveying Viola’s thoughts about love. In addition, the lines demonstrate the repetition, which involves the use of the word “more” multiple times to create an effect of clarity and memorability. |
| Literary Techniques | enjambment, contre-rejet, and repetition |
| Body Paragraph 2- | |
| Theme/Idea | Disguise and deception often lead to undesirable consequences, as shown in the play by Viola’s example. It can happen even if it occurs for a useful purpose: to protect against attack or violence and to create more security due to disguise as a man ( , n.d.). However, it can be misleading, thus becoming the main cause of the unintended damage. |
| Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, Wherein the pregnant enemy does much (Shakespeare, 2019) | |
| Analysis | The lines recount how Viola learns of an unexpected turn in Lady Olivia’s affection for Cesario and realizes her disguise’s unintended consequences. Thus, Viola understands what her deception is worth to her, as her actions and intentions are constantly misinterpreted ( , n.d.). This quote is essential because Viola openly reproaches deception and disguises as an evil force capable of causing unintentional damage and deceiving. Shakespeare again uses the soliloquy to express this sense of the play. Viola shows a revelation to the audience by expressing her attitude towards disguise. Apart from it, the lines show an example of the use of personification by Viola’s address to the inanimate notion of disguise as to a person. It creates expressiveness and imagery to better convey the thought of the harmful effects of deception. |
| Literary Techniques | Soliloquy |
| Cesario, come, For so you shall be, while you are a man, But when in other habits you are seen, Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen (Shakespeare, 2019). | |
| Analysis | In these lines, Orsino appeals to Viola when she has already revealed her true identity. He says that once Viola removes her disguise, she will become his fancy’s queen. This phrase is essential because Orsino’s referring to Viola as Cesario hints that he loved Viola more in her disguise than in her real life. It represents another example of the pernicious outcome of deception. Shakespeare uses antonomasia’s literary technique, replacing Viola’s name with phrases such as “Orsino’s mistress” and “his fancy’s queen.” This change to a characteristic helps emphasize the charm of Orsino by Viola’s disguise |
| Literary Techniques | Antonomasia |
| Body Paragraph 3 | |
| Theme/Idea | Gender is one of the most discussed and prominent topics in the play. Its confusion has become one of the consequences of Viola’s masculine disguise and deception to all her surroundings. As a result, Olivia falls in love with Viola in a man’s guise of Cesario. While Viola herself has feelings for Duke Orsino but cannot tell him about it for a reason of her disguise |
| I left no ring with her. What means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her! She made good view of me (Shakespeare, 2019). | |
| Analysis | The quotation describes the case when Olivia sends Malvolio to Viola with a request to return the ring, which, however, she never left. Viola realizes that it means that her masculine appearance has led to gender confusion and has caused Olivia to fall in love with her. These lines demonstrate the use of the literary technique of the rhetorical question. Asking what Olivia means, Viola already knows the answer ahead of time. The interrogative form is used to more vividly express Viola’s feelings that gender confusion was the reason Olivia fell in love with her |
| Literary Techniques | Rhetorical question |
| My father had a daughter loved a man As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your Lordship (Shakespeare, 2019) | |
| Analysis | The resulting gender confusion is the consequence of Orsino not knowing that he is talking to a woman about the different attitudes towards the love between a man and a woman. He asks Viola how she knows about a woman’s heart ( , n.d.). Viola, disguised as Cesario, tells Orsino a fictional story of a sister in love to demonstrate the fallacy of Orsino’s prejudices about female and male love and implicitly express her feelings for him. Shakespeare uses the literary technique of paradox in these lines. The assertion that if Viola were a woman seems silly and contradictory to Orsino; however, it contains a hidden truth. It helps the author to describe the gender confusion, which has formed in the plot. |
| Literary Techniques | Gender confusion |
| Conclusion | To summarize, the play William Shakespeare focuses on several central themes, including love, disguise and deception, and gender confusion. Love is presented as a mighty force with a will of its own. Apart from it, the author pays attention to the fact that female and male love is different in nature. The play teaches that disguise and deception can cause unintended damage and deception. In particular, it leads to gender confusion among the characters in the play. All of it helps explain by multiple literary devices such as monologue, metaphor, enjambment, and others. |
Reference List
Shakespeare, W. (2019) Twelfth Night . Edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Twelfth Night (n.d.). Web.
Twelfth Night quotes (n.d.). Web.
Twelfth night, William Shakespeare (n.d.). Web.
- Jeffrey R. Wilson: Macbeth and Criminology
- Political Uses of Literature in “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka
- Contemporary Scenarios of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”
- Conundrum and Twelfth Night comparison
- Role of Women in Twelfth Night and Hamlet by Shakespeare
- Anti-Racism in Shakespeare’s Othello
- Richard III: Creating Meaning Through Language
- "A Doll’s House" by H. Ibsen: Do Desires Have a Gender?
- The Role of Marriage on the Example of Two Plays
- The Subject of Hypocrisy in Molière's "Tarfutte"
- Chicago (A-D)
- Chicago (N-B)
IvyPanda. (2022, February 26). "The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-the-play-analysis/
""The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis." IvyPanda , 26 Feb. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/the-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-the-play-analysis/.
IvyPanda . (2022) '"The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis'. 26 February.
IvyPanda . 2022. ""The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-the-play-analysis/.
1. IvyPanda . ""The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-the-play-analysis/.
Bibliography
IvyPanda . ""The Twelfth Night" by William Shakespeare: The Play Analysis." February 26, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-twelfth-night-by-william-shakespeare-the-play-analysis/.
- Science & Math
- Sociology & Philosophy
- Law & Politics
Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: Theme of Love
- Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: Theme of…
In the play “Twelfth Night,” Shakespeare explores and illustrates the emotion of love with precise detail. According to “Webster’s New World Dictionary,” love is defined as “a strong affection or liking for someone.” Throughout the play, Shakespeare examines three different types of love: true love, self-love and friendship.
“Twelfth Night” consists of many love triangles, however many of the characters who are tangled up in the web of love are blind to see that their emotions and feelings toward other characters are untrue. They are being deceived by themselves and/or the others around them.
There are certain instances in the play where the emotion of love is true, and the two people involved feel very strongly toward one another. Viola’s love for Orsino is a great example of true love. Although she is pretending to be a man and is virtually unknown in Illyria, she hopes to win the Duke’s heart. In act 1, scene 4, Viola lets out her true feelings for Cesario, “yet a barful strife! Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife (1).”
That statement becomes true when Viola reveals her true identity. Viola and Orsino had a very good friendship, and making the switch to husband and wife was easy. Viola was caught up in another true love scenario, only this time she was on the receiving end, and things didn’t work out so smoothly. During her attempts to court Olivia for Orsino, Olivia grew to love Cesario. Viola was now caught in a terrible situation and there was only one way out, but that would jeopardize her chances with Orsino.
It’s amazing that Olivia could fall for a woman dressed as a man, but because Viola knew what women like to hear, her words won Olivia’s heart. The next case of true love is on a less intimate and romantic scale, and more family-oriented. Viola and Sebastian’s love for one another is a bond felt by all siblings. Through their times of sorrow and mourning for each of their apparent deaths they still loved each other. They believed deep down that maybe in some way or by some miracle that each of them was still alive and well.
Many people, even in today’s society, love themselves more than anything else. “Twelfth Night” addresses the issue of self-love and how it affects peoples’ lives. Malvolio is the easiest to identify with the problem of self-love. He sees himself as a handsome and nobleman.
Malvolio believes many women would love to be with him. He likes to see things one way only, and he deceives himself just to suit his outlook on the situation. For example, in the play, he twists Olivia’s words around to make it sound like she admires his yellow cross-gartered stockings when she really despises them. Both Sir Toby and Olivia show signs of self-love but it is not as big an issue. Sir Toby only cares about himself and no one else, not even his friends.
He ignores Maria’s warnings about drinking into the night, and he continues to push Sir Andrew to court Olivia. Although he believes Sir Andrew doesn’t have a chance. Olivia cares about the people around her, but she also believes that no man is worthy of her beauty. She thinks she is “all that,” and that no one can match her.
Friendship is the third type of love expressed in “Twelfth Night.” The biggest and closest friendship would have to be between Orsino and Cesario. They barely knew each other at first, and before long Orsino was telling Cesario his inner love for Olivia. He even had Cesario running his love messages to Olivia.
The second friendship between Viola and the Sea Captain was not mentioned a lot, but they had a very deep bond between one them. They survived the shipwreck together and the Sea Captain promised to keep Viola’s idea about pretending to be a man a secret. If he had opened his mouth the entire play would have changed.
The third friendship, and definitely the strangest, is between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. They are close friends but sometimes Sir Toby doesn’t show it. He sets Sir Andrew up and likes to get him into trouble. An example is persuading Sir Andrew to challenge Cesario to a dual, even though he is not a great swordsman and is unaware of Cesario’s ability. On the other hand, Sir Andrew appreciates Sir Toby’s company because he always lifts his spirits and makes him feel like a true knight.
Love plays a major role in “Twelfth Night,” and Shakespeare addresses true love, self-love, and friendship in a very compelling and interesting way. Love is great to read about because everyone deserves a little love. “Twelfth Night” is the true definition of love, and Shakespeare does a great job of explaining a somewhat difficult topic.
Related Posts
- Hermann Hesse Narcissus and Goldmund: "Love" Theme
- Twelfth Night: Malvolio Character Analysis
- Merchant of Venice Act II: Theme of Love
- Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: Act I-V Summaries
- Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: Deception & Disguises
How does Shakespeare explore the theme of Love in Twelfth Night?
thank you, this was really helpful
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Post comment
- Essay Database
- world trade center
- Greek Food and Culture
- The Future Portrayed I…
- Intercultural Communications
- In Heart of Darkness, …
- Things Fall Apart by C…
- In J.M. Coetzee's Wait…
- The Criminals Of Profe…
- Socialization of Children
- The Poet of Nature, Wi…
- Leonhard Euler
- Articles of Confederat…
- About all Sharks
- Vietnam Poetry
Twelfth Night - Analysis of Fools.
What is paper-research.
- Custom Writing Service
- Terms of Service
- Privacy Policy
- Biographies
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
1. The Duke has seen Olivia and desires union with her. 2. He initially expresses the depth of his feeling in poetic lines. B. Cesario acts as a go-between for the Duke. 1. Cesario forms a ...
Essays and criticism on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night - Suggested Essay Ideas. ... Defend this thesis statement referring to specific examples from the dialogue. 2. Analyze the dance imagery ...
Twelfth Night recombines many elements and devices from earlier plays—particularly The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1594-1595) and The Comedy of Errors (pr. c. 1592-1594, pb. 1623)—into a new ...
Twelfth Night. Because disguise and mistaken identity is such a central theme in many of Shakespeare's comedies, so too then is gender ambiguity, with many female characters disguising themselves as men. The fact that young male actors played these characters,... Twelfth Night literature essays are academic essays for citation.
This document discusses writing a thesis statement for analyzing Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night". Crafting an effective thesis is challenging due to the complex themes, characters, and devices in the play. HelpWriting.net offers assistance from experienced writers to help students develop insightful, original, and rigorous thesis statements tailored to their needs. Their experts can help ...
William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is the play that concentrates on such important issues as love, friendship, and the distribution of gender roles in the society. However, in his play, Shakespeare presents the unique vision of the nature of personal relations and gender, and modern researchers agree that these issues are closely connected in the play with the concepts of sexuality ...
The document discusses developing a thesis statement for an essay about Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night." It notes that crafting a thesis for this complex comedy can be challenging due to its many themes of mistaken identity, gender roles, and love. An effective thesis must strike a balance between being specific enough to provide a clear essay direction while allowing for analysis, and it ...
Twelfth Night presents the significance of love as a mighty force with its own will, which constitutes one of the main themes of the poem. Apart from it, the love of a man and a woman is different, as shown in the example of Orsino and Viola's unrequited feelings. If the former appears to be more passionate and determined, the latter pretends ...
To decide on a thesis statement, what you will first need to do is understand exactly how Shakespeare has characterized Viola. We gain an understanding of her characterization by analyzing the ...
In the play "Twelfth Night," Shakespeare explores and illustrates the emotion of love with precise detail. According to "Webster's New World Dictionary," love is defined as "a strong affection or liking for someone." Throughout the play, Shakespeare examines three different types of love: true love, self-love and friendship. "Twelfth Night" consists of many love triangles,
ABSTRACT. "ALL IS SEMBLATIVE A WOMAN'S PART": AN ANALYSIS OF THE UNMARRIED WOMEN IN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S TWELFTH NIGHT. By. Alicia M. Aldridge. May 2017. This thesis will examine the ways in which playwright William Shakespeare represents his. unmarried female characters of the play Twelfth Night.
This document provides guidance on writing a thesis statement for an essay about William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night. It discusses some of the challenges involved in analyzing Shakespeare's complex characters, themes, and language. The document then offers assistance from a writing service that can help craft a compelling thesis statement that meets academic requirements and ensures ...
About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright ...
Twelfth Night Thesis. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, love is found in many miraculous ways; friendship, pranks, dismissal. Although love does have many different forms, the underlying theme of love in this particular piece would be, that love can appear unexpectedly, and with no warning in advance. Love can be found in even the most grim ...
The document provides guidance on writing a thesis statement for an essay analyzing Shakespeare's play "Twelfth Night." It discusses how formulating a clear and compelling thesis is essential for literary analysis essays. The document recommends seeking help from HelpWriting.net, where experienced writers can craft a custom thesis statement tailored to the specific needs of the student ...
The thesis statement could be: Night details the terrible and seemingly inhuman behavior of one group of people, the Nazis, to others. Conversely, you could take this essay in an entirely ...
Twelfth Night. in which I played Viola. This thesis is an exploration of my process as a scholar, actor, and activist in the context of that production. It follows the journey from page to praxis, as I attempt to apply academic theories to live theatre. It is my intent that this will serve as a possible roadmap for
Length: 5 pages (1308 words) Twelfth Night - Analysis of Fools A fool can be defined in many meanings according to the Oxford English Dictionary On Historical Principles. The word could mean "a silly person", or "one who professionally counterfeits folly for the entertainment of others, a jester, clown" or "one who has little or no reason or ...