Twelfth Night: Tragicomedy Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts of Twelfth Night as a tragicomedy: disguise, love, satire, critical perspectives, and key motifs.

Tragicomedy

A form blending comedy and tragedy; in Twelfth Night it weds laughter with pathos to reveal truths about love and human nature.

Metaphor (If music be the food of love)

A figure of speech equating love to food; Orsino's line uses this metaphor to suggest he loves the idea of being in love more than Olivia.

Hyperbole

Exaggeration used for emphasis or effect; contributes to the comedic excess surrounding Orsino's mood.

Spectacle of love

Love as performance or social display rather than a purely private feeling; highlights love as a public, theatrical act.

Disguise

An Elizabethan device where characters adopt disguises to navigate patriarchy; used for survival, humor, and emotional tension.

Concealment motif

Recurring idea of hiding one’s true self; notably Viola’s disguise as Cesario and the imperative line “Conceal me what I am.”

Dramatic irony

A situation where the audience knows more than the characters; enhances tension, e.g., Viola’s hidden identity.

Paradox: I am not what I am

A statement that seems contradictory yet reveals truth; used to heighten dramatic irony in the disguise plot.

Doubleness of perception

Neely’s idea that disguise creates both comic and tragic readings, producing two levels of audience perception.

Yellow stockings and cross-garters

Malvolio’s costume symbolizing vanity; used for visual humor and later as a clue to his humiliation.

Malvolio as tragic scapegoat

Bloom’s view that Malvolio becomes the target of collective mockery, whose humiliation breaks the boundary between comedy and cruelty.

Satire

Use of irony and mockery to critique social behavior; Feste’s lines exemplify social commentary within the comic frame.

Release of desire from social restraint

Frye’s idea that comedy allows desires to escape strict social norms, creating a tension-relieving effect.

Identity fragility

The instability of self-hood revealed through disguise; identity is shown as precarious and costly to hide.

Love as absurd yet sincere

Love is portrayed as both silly/absurd and deeply genuine, reflecting the play’s mixture of joy and pathos.

Humanity: ridiculous yet sympathetic

The overarching message that people are at once ridiculous and capable of deep empathy and feeling, a core of tragicomedy.