Twelfth Night (Folger Shakespeare Library)

William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the incredible comedy about unrequited love, both hilarious and heartbreaking, now presented by the Folger Shakespeare Library with valuable new tools for educators and dynamic new covers.

The authoritative Folger Shakespeare Library edition of Twelfth Night, the hilarious and heartbreaking comedy of unrequited love, featuring Shakespeare’s complete original text, expert annotations, scene-by-scene summaries, and trusted scholarship to help students, teachers, and general readers read Shakespeare with confidence.

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works and an internationally recognized center for Shakespeare scholarship, performance, and education. Drawing on generations of scholarly expertise, the Folger Shakespeare Library editions combine the complete original texts of Shakespeare’s plays with accessible explanatory notes, historical context, and expert commentary, making them trusted resources for classroom study, theatrical performance, and personal reading.

Read Shakespeare’s original words with the guidance to understand them. Unlike simplified retellings or modern-English translations, the Folger edition preserves Shakespeare’s language while providing the tools readers need to navigate unfamiliar vocabulary, appreciate his wit and wordplay, follow complex relationships, and explore the deeper meanings of each play. With explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text, scene-by-scene plot summaries, and insightful scholarship, this annotated edition is an excellent choice for high school and college students, AP English Literature courses, teachers, actors, book clubs, and anyone discovering Shakespeare for the first time.

One of Shakespeare’s most beloved romantic comedies, Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a delightful exploration of love, mistaken identity, disguise, and desire. After a shipwreck separates twins Viola and Sebastian, Viola disguises herself as a young man named Cesario and enters the service of Duke Orsino. When Orsino sends Cesario to court the beautiful Olivia, Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, who has secretly fallen for Orsino herself. Meanwhile, the self-important Malvolio becomes the victim of an elaborate practical joke, adding another layer of mischief to a world where appearances are deceiving and love rarely follows a predictable path.

Blending romance, comedy, music, and moments of unexpected melancholy, Twelfth Night explores timeless questions of identity, gender, friendship, longing, and the unpredictable nature of love. From its celebrated opening line, “If music be the food of love, play on,” to its unforgettable characters and clever reversals, the play remains a favorite of readers, teachers, and theater audiences.

This Folger Shakespeare Library edition includes:

-Shakespeare’s complete original text, carefully edited from the best early printed version of the play
-Facing-page explanatory notes that clarify difficult words, historical references, expressions, and Shakespearean wordplay
-Scene-by-scene plot summaries to help readers follow the action, understand character relationships, and review important events
-An introduction to Shakespeare’s language that makes the original text more accessible to students and first-time readers
-A guide to famous lines and phrases, illuminating the play’s most memorable quotations
-An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar offering a modern perspective on the play and its enduring significance
-Images from the Folger Shakespeare Library's extraordinary collections of rare books and historical materials
-An annotated guide to further reading for students, teachers, and readers seeking deeper understanding

Edited by distinguished Shakespeare scholars Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, this edition brings together authoritative textual scholarship and practical reading support in a single accessible volume.

Whether you’re studying Twelfth Night for an English class, teaching Shakespeare, preparing for a theatrical production, or reading one of the world’s great comedies for pleasure, the Folger Shakespeare Library edition offers an ideal combination of original text, expert guidance, and literary discovery.

Experience Shakespeare as he wrote it and understand why his words continue to captivate readers and audiences more than four centuries later.

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England’s Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children—an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare’s only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare’s working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.