julie burden brustman

Twelfth Night Continues, or, Malvolio's Revenge, is a sequel to William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or, What you Will. This novel, written as a play, in a Shakespearean comedy style—but not in Iambic Pentameter (but with a few rhyming songs scattered throughout)—picks up directly after the last scene of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It weaves together several romantic story lines, more than a few settling of scores, a good deal of running through the woods, a number of disguises, and a boat in a tree. All these stories become intertwined and entangled together into a giant knot undone in the last Act with the help of “Malvolio’s Revenge.”

At the end of the original Twelfth Night, Lady Olivia has married Sebastian (a man who pretended to be someone she knew so he could marry her), Duke Orsino (who moments before was distracted with love for Lady Olivia) has promised to marry Viola (who was secretly in love with Orsino while she was disguised as a man), Sir Toby has married Maria (after the two of them plotted to undermine Malvolio’s sanity), and Antonio (who rescued Sebastian from a shipwreck) has been captured as he is a wanted man in Illyria (for crimes which are described as not of a “bloody nature,” but which did involve the duke’s fleet).

Twelfth Night Continues explores both the intended and unintended consequences of these final actions and events from Twelfth Night while also introducing a briefly mentioned character from the original play: Duke Orsino’s nephew, Titus. Titus is said to have lost his leg in a sea fight with Antonio (part of the reason Antonio is a wanted man in Illyria), and now that Antonio is finally captured in Illyria, Titus is looking for revenge. Antonio’s past entanglements with Illyria are a complicated story, however (and involve Lady Olivia and her family), and as the truth of his past is revealed, everyone (whether they wanted to or not) becomes involved in the battle between these two men.

To add to these entanglements, are the romantic complications of Viola, Duke Orsino, Sebastian, Lady Olivia, and Antonio. These characters are striving for redemption in the midst of multiple plots of revenge instigated by Malvolio and Titus (who has also questioned Duke Orsino’s ability to competently rule Illyria). Balancing out the story is a large comic ensemble led by Feste, Fabian, Sir Toby, Maria, and Sir Andrew who contribute their silly humor in discovering what happens to the characters of Twelfth Night after Malvolio yells "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you!"