The characters of Twelfth Night are both memorableand engaging and it is through their funny, and attimes bitter, interplay that we experience thepeculiar world of Shakespeare's Illyria. This studybegins with a introduction to the concept of"characters" on the early-modern stage beforeproceeding to a textual analysis of each of themain characters in the play, looking at how whatthey say and do, and what is said about them,creates the illusion of "character". Each chapteralso contains a brief account of key performancesby actors on stage and in film.