Twinship and Occult References in Twelfth Night

Abstract

We think of Renaissance dramatic comedies as ending when facts and reason dispel misconceptions, such that a rational and coherent picture of the narrative whole emerges.  Yet in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night certain elements in the denouement—involving nature, androgyny, and spiritual genius and related to magic and occultism—emphasize a multiplicity or surplus of meaning that resists rationalization and closure.  With such devices, Shakespeare imbues comedy with intellectual depth, memorability, and affective power, even joy.