Thematic Focus: Disguise - Key Quotes & Talking Points

Group A

“The element itself till seven years’ heat

Shall not behold her face at ample view

But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk…”

(I.i.26-28)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking and/or who are they speaking about?

- Why does this character choose to use a disguise?

- How does this quote relate to the wider theme of disguise and mistaken identity in Twelfth Night?

Group B

“And though that nature with a beauteous wall

Doth oft close in pollution”

(I.ii.48-49)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking?

- Paraphrase this quote into your own words. What proverb or popular saying does this relate to? (HINT: Don’t judge a book…)

- Describe how this quote foreshadows mistaken identity and disguises used in Twelfth Night.

Foreshadowing can be described as references, hints, indications or suggestions in a text to future events or developments in a plot.

Group C

“Conceal me what I am, and be my aid

For such disguise as haply shall become

The form of my intent.”

(I.ii.53-54)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking?

- What is the speaker asking?

- How does this character’s disguise relate cause identities to be mistaken in the play?

Group D

“And yet, by the very fangs of malice, I am not that I play”

(I.v.181-82)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking? Who is the character speaking to?

- What does the character mean when s/he says this?

- Why might this be an example of dramatic irony?

Dramatic irony occurs when the plot development of the plot allows the audience to know more about a character’s situation that the characters themselves do.

Group E

“Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,”

(II.ii.27)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking?

- The character is speaking alone on stage. Identify and discuss this dramatic convention.

- What is the character’s opinion of disguise? Why might she feel this way?

Group F

“She did commend my yellow stockings of late; she did praise my leg being cross-gartered.”

(II.v.163-5)

TALKING POINTS

- Who is speaking? What character is the speaker referring to?

- Why is this character motivated to ‘dress up’?

- Why do you think the audience would have found this character, when “dressed up” in this costume, so comical?