Synopsis:
Viola (as Cesario), on her way to see Olivia, encounters first the Fool and then Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. Olivia, meeting Cesario, sends the others away and declares her love.
Twelfth NightTwelfth Night
Contents
Characters in the Play
Entire Play
Twelfth Night—an allusion to the night of festivity preceding the Christian celebration of the Epiphany—combines love, confusion, mistaken identities, and…
Act 1, scene 1
At his court, Orsino, sick with love for the Lady Olivia, learns from his messenger that she is grieving for…
Act 1, scene 2
On the Adriatic seacoast, Viola, who has been saved from a shipwreck in which her brother may have drowned, hears…
Act 1, scene 3
At the estate of Lady Olivia, Sir Toby Belch, Olivia’s kinsman, has brought in Sir Andrew Aguecheek to be her…
Act 1, scene 4
At Orsino’s court, Viola, disguised as a page and calling herself Cesario, has gained the trust of Orsino, who decides…
Act 1, scene 5
Viola, in her disguise as Cesario, appears at Olivia’s estate. Olivia allows Cesario to speak with her privately about Orsino’s…
Act 2, scene 1
A young gentleman named Sebastian, who has recently been saved from a shipwreck in which his sister has been lost,…
Act 2, scene 2
Malvolio finds the disguised Viola and “returns” the ring. Viola, alone, realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario…
Act 2, scene 3
At Olivia’s estate, Toby, Andrew, and the Fool hold a late night party. Maria comes in to quiet them, followed…
Act 2, scene 4
Orsino asks for a song to relieve his love-longing. In conversation about the capacities for love in men and in…
Act 2, scene 5
Maria lays her trap for Malvolio by placing her forged letter in his path. From their hiding place, Toby, Andrew,…
Act 3, scene 1
Viola (as Cesario), on her way to see Olivia, encounters first the Fool and then Sir Toby and Sir Andrew….
Act 3, scene 2
Sir Andrew, convinced that Olivia will never love him, threatens to leave. Sir Toby persuades him that he can win…
Act 3, scene 3
Antonio, having followed Sebastian, explains the incident in his past that keeps him from safely venturing into the streets of…
Act 3, scene 4
Malvolio, dressed ridiculously and smiling grotesquely, appears before an astonished Olivia. Thinking him insane, she puts him in the care…
Act 4, scene 1
The Fool encounters Sebastian, whom he mistakes for Cesario. When Sir Andrew and Sir Toby attack Sebastian, the Fool fetches…
Act 4, scene 2
Under directions from Sir Toby, the Fool disguises himself as a parish priest and visits the imprisoned Malvolio. In his…
Act 4, scene 3
While Sebastian is sure that neither he nor Olivia is insane, he is amazed by the wonder of his new…
Act 5, scene 1
Orsino, at Olivia’s estate, sends the Fool to bring Olivia to him. Antonio is brought in by officers and he…
Scene 1
Enter Viola and ⌜Feste, the Fool, playing a tabor.⌝VIOLA Save thee, friend, and thy music. Dost thou live
by thy tabor?
FOOL No, sir, I live by the church.
VIOLA Art thou a churchman?
FOOL 5No such matter, sir. I do live by the church, for I
do live at my house, and my house doth stand by the
church.
VIOLA So thou mayst say the ⌜king⌝ lies by a beggar if a
beggar dwell near him, or the church stands by thy
10 tabor if thy tabor stand by the church.
FOOL You have said, sir. To see this age! A sentence is
but a chev’ril glove to a good wit. How quickly the
wrong side may be turned outward!
VIOLA Nay, that’s certain. They that dally nicely with
15 words may quickly make them wanton.
FOOL I would therefore my sister had had no name,
sir.
VIOLA Why, man?
FOOL Why, sir, her name’s a word, and to dally with
20 that word might make my sister wanton. But,
indeed, words are very rascals since bonds disgraced
them.
VIOLA Thy reason, man?
93
Twelfth Night
ACT 3. SC. 1
25 and words are grown so false I am loath to prove
reason with them.
VIOLA I warrant thou art a merry fellow and car’st for
nothing.
FOOL Not so, sir. I do care for something. But in my
30 conscience, sir, I do not care for you. If that be to
care for nothing, sir, I would it would make you
invisible.
VIOLA Art not thou the Lady Olivia’s Fool?
FOOL No, indeed, sir. The Lady Olivia has no folly. She
35 will keep no Fool, sir, till she be married, and Fools
are as like husbands as pilchers are to herrings: the
husband’s the bigger. I am indeed not her Fool but
her corrupter of words.
VIOLA I saw thee late at the Count Orsino’s.
FOOL 40Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the
sun; it shines everywhere. I would be sorry, sir, but
the Fool should be as oft with your master as with
my mistress. I think I saw your Wisdom there.
VIOLA Nay, an thou pass upon me, I’ll no more with
45 thee. Hold, there’s expenses for thee. ⌜Giving a
coin.⌝
FOOL Now Jove, in his next commodity of hair, send
thee a beard!
VIOLA By my troth I’ll tell thee, I am almost sick for
one, ⌜aside⌝ though I would not have it grow on my
50 chin.—Is thy lady within?
FOOL Would not a pair of these have bred, sir?
VIOLA Yes, being kept together and put to use.
FOOL I would play Lord Pandarus of Phrygia, sir, to
bring a Cressida to this Troilus.
VIOLA 55I understand you, sir. ’Tis well begged. ⌜Giving
another coin.⌝
FOOL The matter I hope is not great, sir, begging but a
beggar: Cressida was a beggar. My lady is within, sir.
95
Twelfth Night
ACT 3. SC. 1
are and what you would are out of my welkin—I
60 might say “element,” but the word is overworn.
He exits.
VIOLA
This fellow is wise enough to play the Fool,
And to do that well craves a kind of wit.
He must observe their mood on whom he jests,
The quality of persons, and the time,
65 And, like the haggard, check at every feather
That comes before his eye. This is a practice
As full of labor as a wise man’s art:
For folly that he wisely shows is fit;
But ⌜wise men,⌝ folly-fall’n, quite taint their wit.
Enter Sir Toby and Andrew.
TOBY 70Save you, gentleman.
VIOLA And you, sir.
ANDREW Dieu vous garde, monsieur.
VIOLA Et vous aussi. Votre serviteur!
ANDREW I hope, sir, you are, and I am yours.
TOBY 75Will you encounter the house? My niece is
desirous you should enter, if your trade be to her.
VIOLA I am bound to your niece, sir; I mean, she is the
list of my voyage.
TOBY Taste your legs, sir; put them to motion.
VIOLA 80My legs do better understand me, sir, than I
understand what you mean by bidding me taste my
legs.
TOBY I mean, to go, sir, to enter.
VIOLA I will answer you with gait and entrance—but
85 we are prevented.
Enter Olivia, and ⌜Maria, her⌝ Gentlewoman.
Most excellent accomplished lady, the heavens rain
odors on you!
97
Twelfth Night
ACT 3. SC. 1
odors,” well.
VIOLA 90My matter hath no voice, lady, but to your own
most pregnant and vouchsafed ear.
ANDREW, ⌜aside⌝ “Odors,” “pregnant,” and “vouchsafed.”
I’ll get ’em all three all ready.
OLIVIA Let the garden door be shut, and leave me to
95 my hearing.⌜Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria exit.⌝
Give me your hand, sir.
VIOLA
My duty, madam, and most humble service.
OLIVIA What is your name?
VIOLA
Cesario is your servant’s name, fair princess.
OLIVIA
100 My servant, sir? ’Twas never merry world
Since lowly feigning was called compliment.
You’re servant to the Count Orsino, youth.
VIOLA
And he is yours, and his must needs be yours.
Your servant’s servant is your servant, madam.
OLIVIA
105 For him, I think not on him. For his thoughts,
Would they were blanks rather than filled with me.
VIOLA
Madam, I come to whet your gentle thoughts
On his behalf.
OLIVIA O, by your leave, I pray you.
110 I bade you never speak again of him.
But would you undertake another suit,
I had rather hear you to solicit that
Than music from the spheres.
VIOLA Dear lady—
OLIVIA
115 Give me leave, beseech you. I did send,
After the last enchantment you did here,
99
Twelfth Night
ACT 3. SC. 1
Myself, my servant, and, I fear me, you.
Under your hard construction must I sit,
120 To force that on you in a shameful cunning
Which you knew none of yours. What might you
think?
Have you not set mine honor at the stake
And baited it with all th’ unmuzzled thoughts
125 That tyrannous heart can think? To one of your
receiving
Enough is shown. A cypress, not a bosom,
Hides my heart. So, let me hear you speak.
VIOLA
I pity you.
OLIVIA 130 That’s a degree to love.
VIOLA
No, not a grize, for ’tis a vulgar proof
That very oft we pity enemies.
OLIVIA
Why then methinks ’tis time to smile again.
O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!
135 If one should be a prey, how much the better
To fall before the lion than the wolf.Clock strikes.
The clock upbraids me with the waste of time.
Be not afraid, good youth, I will not have you.
And yet when wit and youth is come to harvest,
140 Your wife is like to reap a proper man.
There lies your way, due west.
VIOLA Then westward ho!
Grace and good disposition attend your Ladyship.
You’ll nothing, madam, to my lord by me?
OLIVIA
145 Stay. I prithee, tell me what thou think’st of me.
VIOLA
That you do think you are not what you are.
101
Twelfth Night
ACT 3. SC. 1
If I think so, I think the same of you.
VIOLA
Then think you right. I am not what I am.
OLIVIA
I would you were as I would have you be.
VIOLA
150 Would it be better, madam, than I am?
I wish it might, for now I am your fool.
OLIVIA, ⌜aside⌝
O, what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip!
A murd’rous guilt shows not itself more soon
155 Than love that would seem hid. Love’s night is
noon.—
Cesario, by the roses of the spring,
By maidhood, honor, truth, and everything,
I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride,
160 Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause,
For that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause;
But rather reason thus with reason fetter:
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.
VIOLA
165 By innocence I swear, and by my youth,
I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth,
And that no woman has, nor never none
Shall mistress be of it, save I alone.
And so adieu, good madam. Nevermore
170 Will I my master’s tears to you deplore.
OLIVIA
Yet come again, for thou perhaps mayst move
That heart, which now abhors, to like his love.
They exit ⌜in different directions.⌝
