Overview

There is no evidence that Twelfth Night was especially popular in Shakespeare's day, but it is now widely seen as his greatest romantic comedy. Among it's fans is the American academic Stephen Booth, who judges it to be "one of the most beautiful man-made things in the world". In this short book, the distinguished Shakespearian critic David Schalkwyk argues that in Twelfth Night Shakespeare achieved "an unmatched blend of erotic lyricism and festive laughter, edgy satire and romantic melancholy". With its main plot involving unrequited desire and loss of identity, and its parallel sub-plot of household jealousy and cruel gulling, it is, says Schalkwyk, "as multi-faceted as any well cut jewel."