Twelfth Night is a typical Elizabethan style of romantic comedy that Shakespeare has developed with great success. Disguised characters and remote settings are typical features of plays such as these. This is an exploration into the presentation of disguise and mistaken identity, ultimately leading to the contribution of the success of Twelfth Night.

`Twelfth Night' was the name given to the last day of the Elizabethan Christmas celebrations, and in the Christian calendar is also known as the Feast of Epiphany. To Elizabethans, however, it was more commonly known as The Feast of Misrule or The Feast of Fools, called so from medieval times. The characters can be divided into those who have a commitment to pleasure and the `good life' and those who lead a more puritan life. This is a play that celebrates love and pleasure in the present. This is perhaps the reasoning behind the...