--What is Twelfth Night?

“Now, now the mirth comes with the cake full of plums, where bean's the king of the sport here; beside we must know, the pea also must revel, as queen, in the court here. Begin then to choose, this night as ye use, who shall for the present delight here, be a king by the lot, and who shall not be twelfth-day queen for the night here.”
-Robert Herrick (1591-1674): “Twelfth Night: Or King and Queen”

"Twelfth Night" by David Teniers the Younger (1634-40)

Some might find it confusing that the title of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is not mentioned anywhere within the text, nor does it seem to have any direct reference to the events of the play itself.  It has been suggested that the play was given the title based on having been performed on the twelfth and final night of the traditional Christmas celebration, on the eve of the Epiphany.  After four weeks of fasting throughout the Advent, a series of three Christmas Day mass ceremonies would commence a twelve-day festival of feasting and merriment, during which all manual labor other than the necessary care of livestock would cease.  During the Twelfth Night festivities, a cake with a dried bean hidden inside would be served. The reveler who found the bean in his slice of cake became the King for the evening and would either choose his consort or have a Queen chosen by means of a separate cake hiding a dried pea.  This practice of role-play which rearranged the normal social order was a common theme in Tudor-era Christmas traditions as well as in the festivals upon which they were based.

            Midnight of Twelfth Night also marked the end of the reign of the Lord of Misrule, who was a commoner appointed to direct the Christmastide revelries.  For these twelve days he would foster general disorder and mockery of authority—masters waiting on servants, cross dressing, and other forms of role reversal—as well as excessive drinking and the singing of bawdy songs.  The custom was so prevalent that many of the Tudor monarchs appointed a Lord of Misrule within their own courts.  Queen Elizabeth’s concerns over such public chaos and increasing condemnation from the Protestant Reformation ultimately discouraged the excessive mayhem of the celebration. Although secular in nature, the designation of a Lord of Misrule to preside over social disorder had evolved from the Feast of Fools, a medieval tradition in which young clergy inverted traditional liturgical elements such as vestments, sacraments, and sermons. This in turn is believed to have derived from the traditions of ancient Roman festivals. Saturnalia, a celebration in recognition of the harvest god Saturn, overturned the traditional relationships between master and slave while encouraging licentious behavior. 

These periods of role-playing and reversal are believed to have strengthened existing social hierarchies, as the temporary suspension of societal norms allowed for the expulsion of pent-up resentments with the understanding that such freedoms were short-lived.  The many inversions of power, dignity, and social role that Shakespeare includes in Twelfth Night certainly evoke the licensed disorder of its namesake celebration.  Both offer a fleeting social revolution in which things are temporarily turned topsy-turvy, roles are reversed, and pranks are played, but in the end all of the confusion and chaos ultimately reverts to a world of order.

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