Twelfth Night

Influence

The play consistently ranks among the greatest plays ever written[55][56] and has been dubbed as "The Perfect Comedy".[57][58] The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard opens his 1844 book Philosophical Fragments with the quote "Better well hanged than ill wed" which is a paraphrase of Feste's comment to Maria in Act 1, Scene 5: "Many a good hanging prevents a bad marriage". Nietzsche also refers passingly to Twelfth Night (specifically, to Sir Andrew Aguecheek's suspicion, expressed in Act 1, Scene 3, that his excessive intake of beef is having an inverse effect on his wit) in the third essay of his Genealogy of Morality.

Agatha Christie's 1940 mystery novel Sad Cypress draws its title from a song in Act II, Scene IV of Twelfth Night.

The protagonists of Vita Sackville-West's 1930 novel The Edwardians are named Sebastian and Viola, and are brother and sister. Victoria Glendinning comments, in her introduction to the novel: "Sebastian is the boy-heir that Vita would like to have been... Viola is very like the girl that Vita actually was."[59]

American playwright Ken Ludwig wrote a play inspired by the details of Twelfth Night, called Leading Ladies.

Cassandra Clare's 2009 novel City of Glass contains chapter names inspired by quotations of Antonio and Sebastian.

Two of the dogs in the film Hotel for Dogs are twins called Sebastian and Viola.

Clive Barker's short story "Sex, Death and Starshine" revolves around a doomed production of Twelfth Night.

The Baker Street Irregulars believe Sherlock Holmes's birthday to be 6 January due to the fact that Holmes quotes twice from Twelfth Night whereas he quotes only once from other Shakespeare plays.

The Kiddy Grade characters Viola and Cesario are named for Viola and her alter ego Cesario.

Elizabeth Hand's novella Illyria features a high school production of Twelfth Night, containing many references to the play, especially Feste's song.

The 2006 romantic comedy She's the Man is loosely based on Twelfth Night.

One of Club Penguin's plays, Twelfth Fish, is a spoof of Shakespeare's works. It is a story about a countess, a jester, and a bard who catch a fish that talks. As the play ends, they begin eating the fish. Many of the lines are parodies of Shakespeare.

Sara Farizan's 2014 young adult novel "Tell Me Again How A Crush Should Feel" features a high school production of the play, where the "new girl" Saskia plays Viola/Cesario and catches the attention of the main character, Leila.

Vidyadhar Gokhale's play Madanachi Manjiri (मदनाची मंजिरी) is an adaptation of Twelfth Night.[60]


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