Comedies • c. 1601
Twelfth Night: Modern English Translation & Study Guide
Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a boy named Cesario, causing a tangled web of romantic desire in Illyria.
Read Twelfth Night Side by Side
Every scene pairs the public-domain original with a line-matched, original modern-English paraphrase. Choose a scene below to begin reading.
- Act 1, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. DUKE ORSINO's palace.
- Act 1, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. The sea-coast.
- Act 1, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. OLIVIA'S house.
- Act 1, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. DUKE ORSINO's palace.
- Act 2, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. The sea-coast.
- Act 2, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. A street.
- Act 2, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. OLIVIA's house.
- Act 2, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. DUKE ORSINO's palace.
- Act 3, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. OLIVIA's garden.
- Act 3, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. OLIVIA's house.
- Act 3, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. A street.
- Act 3, Scene 4 line-by-line translation — SCENE IV. OLIVIA's garden.
- Act 4, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Before OLIVIA's house.
- Act 4, Scene 2 line-by-line translation — SCENE II. OLIVIA's house.
- Act 4, Scene 3 line-by-line translation — SCENE III. OLIVIA's garden.
- Act 5, Scene 1 line-by-line translation — SCENE I. Before OLIVIA's house.
Twelfth Night study pathways
Original text source: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, MIT HTML edition. MIT states that its HTML versions of the plays are placed in the public domain.