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[Dramatis Personae
Orsino, Duke (sometimes called Count) of Illyria
Valentine, gentleman attending on Orsino
Curio, gentleman attending on Orsino
Viola, a shipwrecked lady, later disguised as Cesario
Sebastian, twin brother of Viola
Antonio, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian
captain of the shipwrecked vessel
Olivia, a rich countess of Illyria
Maria, gentlewoman in Olivia's household
sir Toby belch, Olivia's uncle
sir Andrew Aguecheek, a companion of Sir Toby
Malvolio, steward of Olivia's household
Fabian, a member of Olivia's household
Feste, a clown, also called fool, Olivia's jester
a priest
first officer
second officer
Lords, Sailors, Musicians, and other Attendants
scene: Illyria]
1.1 Location: Orsino's court.
0.1 Illyria Nominally on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, but with a suggestion also of "illusion" and "delirium."
4 fall cadence
9 quick and fresh keen and hungry
12 validity value. pitch superiority. (Literally the highest point of a falcon's flight.)
13 abatement depreciation. (The lover's brain entertains innumerable fantasies but soon tires of them all.)
14 shapes imagined forms. fancy love
15 it . . . fantastical it surpasses everything else in imaginative power.
17 the noblest . . . have i.e., my noblest part, my heart. (Punning on hart.)
21 fell fierce
22 pursue me (Alludes to the story in Ovid of Actaeon, who, having seen Diana bathing, was transformed into a stag and killed by his own hounds.)
1.1 A Enter Orsino Duke of Illyria, Curio, and other
lords [with musicians].
Orsino
If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, that surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken and so die.
That strain again! It had a dying fall; 4
Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound
That breathes upon a bank of violets,
Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more.
'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.
O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, 9
That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, naught enters there,
Of what validity and pitch Soe'er, 12
But falls into abatement and low price 13
Even in a minute! So full of shapes is fancy 14
That it alone is high fantastical. 15
curio
Will you go hunt, my lord?
Orsino What, Curio?
curio The hart.
Orsino
Why, so I do, the noblest that I have. 17
Oh, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence.
That instant was I turned into a hart,
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, 21
E'er since pursue me.
Enter Valentine.
How now, what news from her? 22
25 element sky. seven years' heat seven summers
27 Cloistress nun secluded in a religious community
29 season keep fresh. (Playing on the idea of the salt in her tears.)
30 A brother's dead love her love for her dead brother and the memory of his love for her
32 frame construction
34 golden shaft Cupid's golden-tipped arrow, causing love. (His lead-tipped arrow causes aversion.)
35 affections else other feelings
36-8 when . . . king i.e., when passion, thought, and feeling all sit in majesty in their proper thrones (liver, brain, and heart), and her sweet perfections are brought to completion by her union with a single lord and husband.
1.2 Location: The seacoast.
4 Elysium classical abode of the blessed dead.
5-6 Perchance . . . perchance Perhaps . . . by mere chance
valentine
So please my lord, I might not be admitted,
But from her handmaid do return this answer:
The element itself, till seven years' heat, 25
Shall not behold her face at ample view;
But like a cloistress she will veiled walk, 27
And water once a day her chamber round
With eye-offending brine--all this to season 29
A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh 30
And lasting in her sad remembrance.
Orsino
Oh, she that hath a heart of that fine frame 32
To pay this debt of love but to a brother,
How will she love, when the rich golden shaft 34
Hath killed the flock of all affections else 35
That live in her; when liver, brain, and heart, 36
These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and filled 37
Her sweet perfections, with one self king! 38
Away before me to sweet beds of flowers.
Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.
Exeunt.
1.2 A Enter Viola, a Captain, and sailors.
Viola What country, friends, is this?
captain This is Illyria, lady.
Viola
And what should I do in Illyria?
My brother he is in Elysium. 4
Perchance he is not drowned. What think you, sailors? 5
captain
It is perchance that you yourself were saved. 6
Viola
Oh, my poor brother! And so perchance may he be.
8 chance i.e., what one may hope that chance will bring about
11 driving drifting, driven by the seas
14 lived i.e., kept afloat
15 Arion a Greek poet who so charmed the dolphins with his lyre that they saved him when he leaped into the sea to escape murderous sailors
19-21 unfoldeth . . . him offers a hopeful example that he may have escaped similarily, to which hope your speech provides support.
30 late lately
32 murmur rumor
33 less social inferiors
captain
True, madam, and to comfort you with chance, 8
Assure yourself, after our ship did split,
When you and those poor number saved with you
Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, 11
Most provident in peril, bind himself,
Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,
To a strong mast that lived upon the sea; 14
Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, 15
I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves
So long as I could see.
viola For saying so, there's gold. [She gives money.]
Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope, 19
Whereto thy speech serves for authority, 20
The like of him. Know'st thou this country? 21
captain
Ay, madam, well, for I was bred and born
Not three hours' travel from this very place.
viola Who governs here?
captain A noble duke, in nature as in name.
viola What is his name?
captain Orsino.
viola
Orsino! I have heard my father name him.
He was a bachelor then.
captain
And so is now, or was so very late; 30
For but a month ago I went from hence,
And then 'twas fresh in murmur--as, you know, 32
What great ones do the less will prattle of-- 33
That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.
viola What's she?
captain
A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count
42 delivered revealed, made known. (With suggestion of "born.")
43 Till . . . mellow until the time is ripe for my purpose
44 estate social rank. compass encompass, bring about
46 not not even
48 though that though
51 character face or features as indicating moral qualities.
54-5 as haply . . . intent as may suit the nature of my purpose.
56 eunuch castrato, high-voiced singer
59 allow prove
61 wit plan, invention.
62 mute silent attendant. (Sometimes used of nonspeaking actors.)
That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her
In the protection of his son, her brother,
Who shortly also died; for whose dear love,
They say, she hath abjured the sight
And company of men.
viola Oh, that I served that lady,
And might not be delivered to the world 42
Till I had made mine own occasion mellow, 43
What my estate is!
captain That were hard to compass, 44
Because she will admit no kind of suit,
No, not the Duke's. 46
viola
There is a fair behavior in thee, Captain,
And though that nature with a beauteous wall 48
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee
I will believe thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character. 51
I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,
Conceal me what I am, and be my aid
For such disguise as haply shall become 54
The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke. 55
Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him. 56
It may be worth thy pains, for I can sing
And speak to him in many sorts of music
That will allow me very worth his service. 59
What else may hap, to time I will commit;
Only shape thou thy silence to my wit. 61
captain
Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be; 62
When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.
viola I thank thee. Lead me on. Exeunt.
1.3 Location: Olivia's house.
5 cousin kinswoman
7 let . . . excepted i.e., let her take exception to my conduct all she wants; I don't care. (Plays on the legal phrase exceptis excipiendis, "with the exceptions before named.")
9 modest moderate
10 I'll . . . finer (1) I'll constrain myself no more rigorously (2) I'll dress myself no more finely
12 An If
20 tall brave. (But Maria pretends to take the word in the common sense.)
22 ducats coins worth about four or five shillings
23 he'll . . . ducats he'll spend all his money within a year.
25-6 viol-de-gamboys viola da gamba, leg-viol, bass viol
27 without book by heart
29 natural (With a play on the sense "born idiot.")
31 gift natural ability. (But shifted to mean "present" in line 33.) allay the gust moderate the taste
1.3 A Enter Sir Toby [Belch] and Maria.
sir Toby What a plague means my niece to take the
death of her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy
to life.
Maria By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier
o'nights. Your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions 5
to your ill hours.
sir Toby Why, let her except before excepted. 7
Maria Ay, but you must confine yourself within the
modest limits of order. 9
sir Toby Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am. 10
These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be
these boots too. An they be not, let them hang them- 12
selves in their own straps.
Maria That quaffing and drinking will undo you. I
heard my lady talk of it yesterday, and of a foolish
knight that you brought in one night here to be her
wooer.
sir Toby Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?
Maria Ay, he.
sir Toby He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria. 20
Maria What's that to the purpose?
sir Toby Why, he has three thousand ducats a year. 22
Maria Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats. 23
He's a very fool and a prodigal.
sir Toby Fie, that you'll say so! He plays o'th' viol-de- 25
gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word 26
for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of 27
nature.
Maria He hath indeed, almost natural, for, besides that 29
he's a fool, he's a great quarreler, and but that he hath
the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quar- 31
34-5 substractors detractors
40 coistrel horsegroom, base fellow
42 parish top a large top provided by the parish to be spun by whipping, apparently for exercise. Castiliano vulgo! (Of uncertain meaning. Possibly Sir Toby is saying "Speak of the devil!" Castiliano is the name adopted by a devil in Haughton's Grim the Collier of Croydon.)
43 Agueface (Like Aguecheek, this name betokens the thin, pale countenance of one suffering from an ague or fever.)
46 shrew i.e., diminutive creature. (But with probably unintended suggestion of shrewishness.)
48 Accost Go alongside (a nautical term), i.e., greet her, address her
50 chambermaid lady-in-waiting (a gentlewoman, not one who would do menial tasks).
55 front confront, come alongside
56 board greet, approach (as though preparing to board in a naval encounter)
57 undertake have to do with. (Here with unintended sexual suggestion, to which Maria mirthfully replies with her jokes about dry jests, barren, and buttery-bar.)
60 An . . . part If you let her leave
reling, 'tis thought among the prudent he would
quickly have the gift of a grave.
sir Toby By this hand, they are scoundrels and sub- 34
stractors that say so of him. Who are they? 35
Maria They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in
your company.
sir Toby With drinking healths to my niece. I'll drink
to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and
drink in Illyria. He's a coward and a coistrel that will 40
not drink to my niece till his brains turn o'th' toe like
a parish top. What, wench? Castiliano vulgo! For here 42
comes Sir Andrew Agueface. 43
Enter Sir Andrew [Aguecheek].
sir Andrew Sir Toby Belch! How now, Sir Toby Belch?
sir Toby Sweet Sir Andrew!
sir Andrew [to Maria] Bless you, fair shrew. 46
Maria And you too, sir.
sir Toby Accost, Sir Andrew, accost. 48
sir Andrew What's that?
sir Toby My niece's chambermaid. 50
sir Andrew Good Mistress Accost, I desire better
acquaintance.
Maria My name is Mary, sir.
sir Andrew Good Mistress Mary Accost--
sir Toby You mistake, knight. "Accost" is front her, 55
board her, woo her, assail her. 56
sir Andrew By my troth, I would not undertake her in 57
this company. Is that the meaning of "accost"?
Maria Fare you well, gentlemen. [Going.]
sir Toby An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou 60
mightst never draw sword again.
sir Andrew An you part so, mistress, I would I might
64 have . . . hand i.e., have to deal with fools. (But Maria puns on the literal sense.)
66 Marry i.e., Indeed. (Originally, "By the Virgin Mary.")
68 thought is free i.e., I may think what I like. (Proverbial; replying to do you think . . . in hand, above.)
69 buttery-bar ledge on top of the half-door to the buttery or the wine cellar. (Maria's language is sexually suggestive, though Sir Andrew seems oblivious to that.)
72 dry thirsty; also dried up, a sign of age and sexual debility
75 dry (1) ironic (2) dull, barren. (Referring to Sir Andrew.)
77 at my fingers' ends (1) at the ready (2) by the hand.
78 barren i.e., empty of jests and of Sir Andrew's hand.
79 thou . . . canary i.e., you look as if you need a drink. (Canary is a sweet wine from the Canary Islands.)
82 put me down (1) baffle my wits (2) lay me out flat.
89 Pourquoi Why
91 tongues languages. (Sir Toby then puns on "tongs," curling irons.)
92 bearbaiting the sport of setting dogs on a chained bear.
93 the arts the liberal arts, learning. (But Sir Toby plays on the phrase as meaning "artifice," the antithesis of nature.)
never draw sword again. Fair lady, do you think you
have fools in hand? 64
Maria Sir, I have not you by the hand.
sir Andrew Marry, but you shall have, and here's my 66
hand. [He gives her his hand.]
Maria Now, sir, thought is free. I pray you, bring your 68
hand to th' buttery-bar, and let it drink. 69
sir Andrew Wherefore, sweetheart? What's your
metaphor?
Maria It's dry, sir. 72
sir Andrew Why, I think so. I am not such an ass but
I can keep my hand dry. But what's your jest?
Maria A dry jest, sir. 75
sir Andrew Are you full of them?
Maria Ay, sir, I have them at my fingers' ends. Marry, 77
now I let go your hand, I am barren. 78
[She lets go his hand.] Exit Maria.
sir Toby Oh, knight, thou lack'st a cup of canary! When 79
did I see thee so put down?
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Twelfth Night"
by .
Copyright © 1988 William Shakespeare.
Excerpted by permission of Random House Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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