What happens in Twelfth Night

Viola washes ashore in Illyria after a shipwreck that she fears has drowned her twin brother, Sebastian. Stranded and alone, she dresses as a young man named Cesario and takes service with Duke Orsino. Orsino is sick with love for the Countess Olivia, who has shut herself away for seven years to mourn her own dead brother and refuses to see him. The duke sends his promising new page to plead his case. There is a catch he cannot see: Viola has fallen for Orsino herself. When she carries his love to Olivia, the countess ignores the message and falls for the messenger, sending a ring after Cesario to lure him back. Three people now want what they cannot have.

Olivia’s household runs on noise and mischief. Her drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch, sponges off a foolish rich knight, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, by promising him a chance at Olivia’s hand. Her steward, Malvolio, a humorless killjoy, scolds their late-night revels. So the waiting-woman Maria forges a love letter in Olivia’s hand and drops it where Malvolio will find it. He reads exactly what his vanity wants: that his lady adores him and longs to see him smiling, in yellow stockings and cross-garters. Toby, Andrew, and Fabian watch from a hiding place, helpless with laughter, as the steward swallows the bait whole.

Out in the streets, Sebastian has in fact survived, pulled from the sea by a sea-captain named Antonio who loves him and follows him into a city where he has dangerous enemies. The twins, identical and unaware of each other, are now loose in the same town. The mistakes multiply at speed. Sir Andrew, jealous of Cesario, is goaded into challenging the terrified page to a duel. When swords come out, Antonio bursts in, takes Cesario for his beloved Sebastian, and defends him, only to be arrested and to feel betrayed when this stranger does not know him.

Malvolio, meanwhile, struts up to a baffled Olivia in his yellow stockings, grinning and quoting the letter. She decides he has lost his mind and has him shut in a dark room as a madman. The clown Feste, disguised as a priest, visits to torment him further, insisting the dark room is bright and that he is simply ignorant.

The knots tighten until the real Sebastian appears. Olivia, still thinking he is Cesario, sweeps him off to a chapel and marries him on the spot; the bewildered young man, charmed by this beautiful woman who seems to know him, agrees. When everyone finally gathers before Orsino, both twins stand in the same place at the same time, and the truth comes apart and back together. Sebastian recognizes his sister. Viola admits she is a woman. Olivia finds she has married the brother and is content. Orsino, who has loved Cesario’s company all along, turns to Viola and asks for her hand.

Only Malvolio leaves unhappy. Released at last, he learns of Maria’s trick, hears that Toby has married her as a reward, and storms out swearing revenge on the whole pack of them. Antonio is freed, Sir Andrew nurses a broken head, and the lovers pair off two by two. Feste lingers behind to close the play with a wry song about the wind and the rain, and how every wild night gives way to morning.