These reaction reports require you to express your opinion on various situations. There are no right or wrong answers, just opinions which need to be substantiated. Each paper should be approximately 250 words in length. Be sure to refer to the text in each response, to prove your understanding of the play. You may choose to do any of the seven separate topics.
Act I
1. What are some examples of the weakness and foolishness that plague humanity? How might they be avoided?
Act II
2. Twelfth Night includes many lines and images that stimulate thought. Use one of the quotations listed below as a springboard for creative writing.
• If music be the food of love, play on.
• Care’s an enemy to life!
• Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness, thrust upon ‘em.
• Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
• Thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
• Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
• ‘Tis but fortune, all is fortune.
• Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?
Act III
3. Twelfth Night is filled with music and song. Research the following:
• What instruments did court musicians play in Shakespeare’s time?
• What instruments were played by ordinary people?
• What instruments were used to accompany singing?
• What was the characteristic style of singing?
• What instrument would you play and why?
Act IV
4. People are not always what they appear to be on the outside. Explain how this is true in the play, and then recount a situation (perhaps a personal one) for which this has held true. Who was wrongly judged, and what happened as a result?
Act V
5. Twelfth Night ends with the marriage of three couples. Draw some conclusions about good and bad reasons for getting married. Use these to compile a checklist for the use of prospective husbands or wives. In the play which marriages do you think will last, support your answer.
6. The language of Twelfth Nightincludes a great deal of colloquialism and slang, particular in the scenes with Sir Toby and his friends. Compile a glossary of Elizabethan expressions used in the play. Translate each expression into modern language. Use your new dictionary to write a short script.