ABSTRACT
This chapter brings together the points made in previous chapters and uses them to re-examine Twelfth Night (c. 1600). This famous work is reconsidered in the light of the dramatic tradition that Shakespeare knew and operated in, and the case made that the comedy can be best understood as an evolved rendition of a morality play. In order to make this argument, the cast is divided up into the standard triad of psychomachian figures and compared to similar stock characters who appear in more traditional plays of the morality genre. New and compelling textual evidence demonstrates that Shakespeare utilised both archaic versions of the standard characters, as well as the more modern, evolved versions, and that he left breadcrumb clues that were intended to highlight their allegorical identities. This new interpretation allows Twelfth Night to become a far more enjoyable, seamless, and coherent play than the standard literal reading allows.
