Twelfth Night

Sebastian, Viola’s brother, has washed ashore with the sailor Antonio, who saved him in the shipwreck. Sebastian tells Antonio to leave him so that he can “bear my evils alone” (II.1.6). For unknown reasons, he had told Antonio that his name was Roderigo; he now confesses his real name and his noble parentage. Sebastian tells Antonio that he believes Viola, his sister, has drowned in the shipwreck, and describes her as being said to “much / resemble me” (II.1.24-25).

Antonio begs Sebastian to let him stay on and be Sebastian’s servant; Sebastian agrees and tells Antonio he is going to Count Orsino’s court. After Sebastian leaves, Antonio confesses that he has “many enemies in Count Orsino’s court” (II.1.44), but that he adores Sebastian so much that he will brave the danger and follow him anyway.

At Olivia’s estate, Malvolio gives Olivia’s ring to Cesario, and Viola realizes that Olivia is in love with her—as Cesario. She laments the love triangle she now finds herself in and asks what will happen: “O Time, thou must untangle this, not I./ It is too hard a knot for me t’ untie” (II.2.40-41).

Elsewhere in Olivia’s estate, Sir Toby, Andrew, and Feste the Fool are reveling and having a party, filled with music sung by the Fool. Maria enters and says they should quiet down before Olivia sends Malvolio to yell at them. Sure enough, Malvolio soon arrives and sternly chastises the revelers, telling them, “Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you?” (92-93). Malvolio tells Sir Toby that Olivia will throw him out if he continues in this way, and he also warns Maria he will tell Olivia that she’s fraternizing with the partiers.

Toby vows to get back at Malvolio, and Maria says to it to her, calling Malvolio a “time-pleaser” and “affectioned ass” (II.3.146). Maria says that she will write a letter to Malvolio in Olivia’s hand, convincing Malvolio Olivia is secretly in love with him. She will also make sure that Toby, Andrew, and the Fool are there when Malvolio discovers it.

Back at Orsino’s court, Orsino wants to hear music, and tells a servant to fetch Feste to sing a song for him. He talks to Cesario, who confesses that he loves a woman who is of Orsino’s complexion and about his age. Orsino protests and tells Cesario to find someone younger when the Fool enters and sings a song. After he sings, everyone but Orsino and Cesario leave, and Orsino once again asks Cesario to tell Olivia he loves her. Cesario asks what will happen if Olivia cannot love him, and suggests that “some lady, as perhaps there is, / Hath for your love as great a pang of heart / As you have for Olivia” (II.4.99-101). Orsino says that this is preposterous, as women cannot love as much as he loves Olivia, and Cesario pushes back, saying that his “father had a daughter loved a man / As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, / I should your lordship” (118-120). This woman, Cesario says, referring to Viola, concealed her love and “pined in thought” and “sat like Patience on a monument, / Smiling at grief” (II.5.124-127). Orsino tells Cesario to go to Olivia and bring her a jewel, and they exit.

At Olivia’s estate, Toby, Andrew, and fellow reveler Fabian meet Maria, who says she’s planted her trap for Malvolio. Malvolio enters, fantasizing about Olivia falling in love with him and becoming the head of the house, which would give him license to yell at Toby. He finds Maria’s letter and believes Olivia has written it to him. The letter tells Malvolio to behave as he would if he were of a higher class, including being “surly with servants” and adopting peculiar habits like wearing cross-gartered yellow stockings (II.5.154-158). “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them,” the letter tells Malvolio (II.5.149-150), adding in a postscript that he should make his love for Olivia known by smiling at her.

Malvolio vows to do what the letter says and be “strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered” (II.5.174-175). Sir Toby and his men celebrate the letter and Maria for writing it, and she tells them to watch Malvolio as he appears around Olivia, who hates the color yellow and cross-gartered stockings. Malvolio’s smiles, Maria predicts, “will now be so unsuitable to her disposition […] that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt” (II.5.205-208). They exit, following Maria to witness Malvolio’s impending embarrassment.