Queer Readings of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night: A Teaching Resource for Heritage One

Abstract

To understand the issues surrounding sexuality in Twelfth Night, one has to consider not only Shakespeare's words, but what they imply to modern readers. It is not as important that one character believes another is a he or a she. The audience is privy to all of the deceit that is occurring onstage, and this is an important concept to consider when discussing gender roles and sexuality in Twelfth Night. To the audience, the lines between "just friends" and "lovers" seem to be repeatedly crossed. What are those boundaries and how have we developed ideas of where they lie? Is this important to our individual ideas of identity?