Twelfth Night is a comedic play written by William Shakespeare during the years 1601 to 1602. The first recorded performance of the play was on 2 February 1602 at the formal end of Christmastide in the year’s calendar (Candlemas). The play was not published however until it was included in the 1623 First Folio. The play has a jovial feel of festivities comprising of dance, drink and general self-indulgence, appropriate for the time of year it was written for.

The real Elizabethan festival of Twelfth Night celebrated licensed disorder. A Lord of Misrule would demand entertainment, mummery and songs; the play has been perceived as preserving this festive atmosphere of the inversion of order. Gender roles are most noticeably inverted in Twelfth Night. An adversary of festive enjoyment and community can be found in the embittered and isolated Malvolio. Perhaps he needs to indulge in some flower delivery birmingham.

Memorable quotes from Twelfth night include; “If music be the food of life play on” (the opening line of the play), “She sat like Patience on a monument smiling at grief” (Viola speaking of the constancy of women in love), “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em” (Malvolio reads this in a letter written by Maria).