I saw a comment on Instagram the other day claiming that homosexuality was a recent invention, and that if we just stopped accepting it it would go away. As confused as this comment is in general, I started thinking... if homosexuality is a recent invention, why would it need to be warned against in The Bible? (The comment was from a religious account). But after that, I mostly started thinking about Twelfth Night. A play which literally couldn't exist if homosexuality was a recent invention, in which the main plot of the story hinges on the fact that homosexuality does in fact exist, and is well known about enough that the audience can understand and find humour in the story.

Twelfth Night is a highly entertaining play and the first Shakespeare I have read. (I'm ignoring Romeo and Juliet which I was supposed to read for my GCSE's and which was the catalyst for me dropping out of school for the second time... not my proudest moment, now I'm excited to read Romeo and Juliet for fun). I was reading this while listening to the BBC radio play recording with David Tenant (as per my university's instructions) which made for a really immersive experience, and I will likely read along with more radio plays in the future, it made it fairly easy to follow the story. I know many people's favourite aspect of the story is the subplot with Malvolio, but for me, it's all about the Olivia-Viola-Orsino love triangle (though the romantic relationship between Antonio and Sebastian is also very compelling). Olivia is just the most entertaining character for me and regardless of whether I'm reading the source material or watching She's the Man I will always be upset that she settles for a Sebastian that she doesn't know, and who likely has none of the characteristics she fell for in Viola, but whatever. I can at least be happy for Viola and Orsino, because the 'kill what I love' confession scene is just... so good.

This review is a little all over the place because I'm just finishing up an assignment on this play so my ability to coherently write about this has mostly left me, but I wanted to write a little about the overt themes of homosexuality in this play after seeing such an uninformed take the other day. Homosexuality is not an invention of the last century, go read some Shakespeare.