Twelfth Night Summary Act I: Count Orsino of Illyria is introduced; he laments that he is lovesick, and wishes that "if

music be the food of love," he could kill his unrequited love through an overdose of music. Orsino's servant Valentine, whom Orsino sent to give his affections to Olivia, returns; Valentine was not allowed to speak directly to Olivia, but Olivia sent a message, via her handmaiden, that Olivia will continue to mourn her dead brother, and will neither allow Orsino to see her or to woo hViola lands in Illyria, after a terrible shipwreck in which she was separated from her twin brother, Sebastian. Viola hopes that her brother was saved, as she was; the Captain, who also managed to get ashore, tries to console her of the hopes of finding her brother alive. The Captain recalls seeing her brother in the water after the shipwreck, clinging onto a mast, and riding above the waves. As it happens, the Captain is from Illyria, and tells Viola of Count Orsino, and of his love for Lady Olivia; the Captain also mentions Olivia's recent loss of both her father and her brother, and Viola, having lost her brother as well, commiserates with Olivia's situation. Viola proposes that she serve Orsino, since he is a good and just man; she conspires with the Captain that she may be presented to Orsino as a eunuch, and that her true identity as a foreign woman be concealed. The Captain agrees to help her, and he leads her to Orsino. Sir Toby, Olivia's drunken uncle, is approached by Olivia's handmaiden, Maria, about his late hours and disorderly habits. Maria also objects to one of Sir Toby's drinking buddies, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a rather foolish man who Sir Toby has brought as a potential suitor to Olivia. Sir Toby has great affection for Sir Andrew, but Maria does not; she believes that Sir Andrew is a drunkard and a fool, and not to be suffered. Sir Toby attempts to introduce Sir Andrew to Maria; wordplay ensues from a series of misunderstandings, puns, and differing usages of words. Maria exits, and Sir Toby and Sir Andrew continue to quibble, with some amusing results; at last, they decide to start drinking. Viola has now disguised herself as a boy, Cesario, and has been taken into the service of Count Orsino. Valentine remarks that Orsino and Viola, as Cesario, have become close in the short time that Viola has been employed; indeed, Orsino has already told Viola of his great love for Olivia. Orsino asks Viola to go to Olivia and make Orsino's case to the lady; Viola says she will obey, although she confesses in an aside that she already feels love for Orsino, and would rather be his wife than try to woo Olivia for him. Feste first appears in the play in Act I. Olivia enters, with her attendants, and is somewhat displeased and short with Feste; Feste says she is a fool for mourning her brother, if she knows that her brother is in heaven. Viola/ Cesario arrives at Olivia's house, and is admitted after much waiting, and being examined by both Sir Toby and Malvolio. Viola is brought in to meet Olivia, who finds out Viola is a messenger on Orsino's behalf, and Olivia discourages Viola from wooing her for the Count. Viola tries to make Orsino's suit, but is unsuccessful; Olivia begins to show interest in Viola as Cesario in this scene. Viola is sent away at last, and Olivia has Malvolio go after Viola, with a ring and an invitation to come back tomorrow. Act II: Sebastian, Viola's brother, is shown alive, and in the company of Antonio, a somewhat shady sea-captain. Sebastian tells Antonio of his sister, Viola, who he fears has been drowned; he thanks Antonio for his kindness in saving him and resolves that he must be off alone. Malvolio catches up to Viola, with the ring he was instructed to give Viola by Olivia. Viola is surprised, since she left no ring with Olivia; Malvolio grows impatient with Viola, throws it down onto the ground, and storms off. Viola realizes that the ring is proof that Olivia has some affection for her as Cesario; she regrets that Olivia is in love with her disguise, as that will come to nothing, and also that she is in love with her master, but that she can do nothing in her present disguise. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are up late, drinking, and Feste joins them. They proceed to make a great deal of noise, by singing, drinking, and talking nonsense; Maria tries to get them to be quiet, but Malvolio is awakened by the noise, and comes down to berate them for disturbing the household. Once Malvolio leaves, Maria concocts a plan to make Malvolio look like a complete fool: she will write love letters to Malvolio and make it look like the letters have come from Olivia. The party decides to try this out and see if it will work; Maria leaves to go to bed, and Sir Toby and Sir Andrew decide to drink the rest of the night away. Orsino calls upon Feste to sing an old song, that pleases him very well; Orsino then begins to talk to Viola/ Cesario of love, and its imperfections. Orsino compares women to roses "whose fair flower/ being once displayed, doth fall that very hour"; Viola does not approve of Orsino's slightly cynical view of women. Viola attempts to soothe Orsino's melancholy by getting him to accept that Olivia might not love him, but that perhaps another woman does; Orsino counters this with the argument that women are very inconstant in their love, and could not have a feeling as deep as the love he has for Olivia. Viola knows that this is not true, in light of the great amount of feeling she has for Orsino; she attempts to persuade him that women are "as true of heart" as men, by telling him a story she makes up about a sister that loved only too constantly and too well. Orsino asks Viola to go again to Olivia, and make his suit; Viola obeys. Maria appears, with the love-letter she has written for the purposes of baiting Malvolio. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and their friend Fabian are present; they hide behind a tree as Malvolio approaches, and Maria places the letter somewhere where he is certain to find it. Malvolio approaches, already muttering nonsense about thinking that Olivia fancies him, and about how things would be if they were married; this angers Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who want to beat Malvolio for his pretension. Malvolio finally spots the letter, and thinks he recognizes the handwriting as Olivia's; he takes the bait completely. Act III:

Viola enters, on her way to see Olivia; she comes across Feste, who is full of wit and foolery as usual. Feste expresses his dislike for Viola, which Viola does not take personally; Viola gives him a few coins for his wordplay, and mentions the wit that it takes to act the fool as well as Feste does. Olivia then comes to meet Viola, and Viola again attempts to make Orsino's case. Olivia confesses her affection for Viola/ Cesario, and begs to know if Viola does indeed feel the same way. Viola says no, then asks again if Olivia will have anything to do with Orsino; Olivia is constant in her lack of response to Orsino, but makes one last attempt to win Cesario over. Viola warns Olivia as best she can, telling Olivia that "I am not what I am," though Olivia does not guess at the statement's real meaning (III.i.139). Viola leavesbut not without an entreaty to return. Sir Andrew finally comes to his senses, realizing that Olivia favors. His friend Fabian tries to convince him that Olivia is just trying to make him jealous; this does not soothe Sir Andrew's anger. Sir Toby then persuades Sir Andrew that he should challenge Cesario to a duel. Sir Toby tells him to write a letter of challenge, which Sir Toby will deliver; Toby actually has no intent of sponsoring a duel, but thinks the exercise might cool Sir Andrew off a little. Antonio fears some accident may happen to Sebastian since he is completely ignorant of the country. Sebastian wants to go about and see the sights, but Antonio tells him that he cannot; Antonio confesses that he was involved with some piracy against Illyria, and that he is wanted by the Count because of it. Antonio proposes that they meet up at an inn in one hour, and that Sebastian can wander about until then. Maria warns Olivia of Malvolio's very strange behavior; Malvolio is wearing yellow, cross-gartered stockings, which Olivia abhors. Malvolio continues his absurdity, making remarks of unwarranted familiarity, and completely baffling Olivia with his misguided attempts to be amorous toward her. Olivia dismisses Malvolio's odd behavior as being some kind of passing madness, and orders that Malvolio be looked after. Sir Toby, Maria, and Fabian approach Malvolio; they treat Malvolio's case as an instance of witchcraft or possession. Not satisfied with the havoc they have already caused, they decide to make Malvolio go mad, if they can. Sir Andrew returns, with his "saucy" letter for Cesario, and Viola as Cesario appears, having patched up any bad feelings with Olivia over their last, dramatic scene. Sir Toby conveys Sir Andrew's challenge to Viola, and tries to make Viola shrink from the confrontation by greatly exaggerating Sir Andrew's meanness and anger. Sir Andrew and Viola come close to some sort of reluctant confrontation, when Antonio stumbles on them; Antonio is arrested by officers of the Count, and asks Viola for his purse, mistaking Viola for her brother Sebastian. Antonio is taken aback when Viola will not give him his purse, thinking that she, as Sebastian, is ungrateful for his help; he speaks of rescuing Sebastian from drowning, which lets Viola know that her brother might be alive. Viola hopes that what Antonio said is indeed true, and that her brother might have been saved from the wreck. Act IV: Feste approaches Sebastian, thinking that Sebastian is 'Cesario'; when Sebastian tells Feste that he does not know him, nor Olivia, whom Feste tells him to meet, Feste becomes rather upset, and accuses Sebastian of "strangeness". Then Sir Andrew comes, and strikes Sebastian out of anger, as if he were Cesario; Sir Toby and Sebastian come close to getting in a duel of their own, when Olivia finds them, and charges them to stop. Olivia dismisses Sir Toby, and asks Sebastian "would thou'dst be ruled by me," thinking that he is Cesario, due to his great resemblance to his sister. Sebastian decides to go along with it, struck by Olivia's beauty, thinking it all a pleasant dream from which he hopes he will not awaken. Maria and Feste conspire to present Feste as Sir Topaz, the curate, to Malvolio, who is hidden from view. Feste tries to convince that Malvolio that he is crazy, and Malvolio continues to insist that he is not, that he has been wrongly incarcerated. Feste then confronts Malvolio as himself, and torments him some more; he fakes a conversation with himself as Feste and Sir Topaz, and Malvolio begs for paper and ink so that he can send a message to Olivia. Feste promises to fetch these things, and exits with a song. Sebastian debates with himself whether he is mad, or whether it is the Lady Olivia who is crazy, though this does not stop him. Olivia asks him to come with her to the parson and be married to her; Sebastian, though he is completely confused, goes to be married to her. Act V: Fabian asks Feste for the letter Malvolio has written; Feste refuses this request, and then Orsino, with Viola, finds them. Viola points out Antonio, who is being brought to them by officers; Orsino remembers Antonio from a sea-battle, and Viola tries to defend Antonio from charges of crime by noting his kindness to her. Antonio claims that he rescued Viola from drowning, and that they have been in each other's company ever since; Orsino says that this is nonsense, since Viola has been serving him the whole time. Then, Olivia approaches them, still denying Orsino's love, while admitting her affection for Viola. Orsino becomes angry at Viola, rather than Olivia, because of these developments; he begins to suspect Viola of double-dealings, and out of his anger, he admits his love for Viola, still disguised as a boy. Viola, for the first time, declares her love for Orsino, much to Olivia's consternation; Olivia counters this declaration by divulging that she was married, to Viola as Cesario, she thinks. A priest confirms Olivia's account, and Orsino becomes even more angry at Viola. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby enter, charging Viola with fighting them and injuring them; Viola is again shocked, and confused. Suddenly, Sebastian dashes in, apologizing for injuring Sir Toby; he expresses his happiness at seeing Antonio again, and acknowledges Olivia as his wife. Viola and Sebastian see each other again, and there is a joyful reunion. Sebastian reveals to Olivia that she married him, rather than his sister in disguise; Orsino swears that he loves Viola, and will marry her.

Then, the action turns to Malvolio's condition; his letter is read, and his condition explained. Malvolio is upset at his mistreatment, and Olivia attempts to smooth things over; Fabian explains his, Sir Toby's, and Maria's part in Malvolio's torment. Then, Feste inflames Malvolio's anger, and he leaves, in a huff. Orsino pronounces that happiness will stay with all of them, and that his marriage to Viola will soon be performed. Feste closes the play with a song about "the wind and the rain," a reminder that even great happiness is not safe from life's storms.

About Twelfth Night Twelfth Night is one of the most commonly performed Shakesperean comedies, and was also successful during Shakespeare's lifetime. The first surviving account of the play's performance comes from a diary entry written early in 1602, talking about the play and its basic plot. The play is believed to have been written in 1601, not long after Hamlet was completed. Despite the play's initial success, it was rarely performed in the late 17th century; this unpopularity continued until the mid-18th century, when in was revived and was moderately popular until the 19th century, when the play began to fare better. A successful production of the play from the early 19th century added a great number of songs and funny scenes lifted from other Shakespeare works; even the betrothal masque from The Tempest, which seems like it would be entirely out of place in a play like Twelfth Night, was included. The play was first performed in New York in 1804; and, in 1865, the first known production of the play with one actress performing the roles of Sebastian and Viola was staged. Of course, this development required some alteration of the text; but the experiment was later copied by Jean Anouilh, who adapted the play for French audiences. Until the early 20th century, the play was staged in a roundly Victorian style. Sometimes, elaborate outdoor sets were constructed for the play, with the advantage of being very pretty, but with the disadvantage of all the action having to take place in that one setting. The darker, more melancholy aspects of the play were ignored in favor of broad humor and the comic set-pieces within the work; not until the 20th century did productions emphasize the tragic and bittersweet aspects of the play, and show great progress regarding insights into the characters' minds. Although the title of the play is Twelfth Night, it is not certain that this title means that the play takes place on the "Twelfth Night" itself, or the twelfth day after Christmas. There are references within the play to Christmas, as Sir Toby drunkenly attempts something that sounds like the "Twelve Days of Christmas" song. Thematically, there are links to this period of time, which was a time of feasting and revelry; the reveling, pranks, and merriment within the play resemble activities that are characteristic of Twelfth Night, which was the culmination of the Christmas season, and a time of much festivity. Some directors of the play have taken the title quite literally, paying close attention to the Elizabethan rituals related to Twelfth Night; others have disregarded it entirely, and set the play in the sunny Mediterranean, where the historical "Illyria" is located. The journal entry that records a performance of the piece in 1602 also compares the play to The Comedy of Errors and an Italian play named Gl'Inganni. Several 16th century Italian plays with this name survive, and all of them with the same basic plot as Twelfth Night: a woman disguises herself as a page and woos a woman for her master, whom she loves, but the woman falls in love with her, and accidentally marries her twin brother. The story was also included in two English works of prose, one written by Barnaby Riche in 1581, and the other by Emanuel Forde in 1598. In one of the Italian versions of the play, the heroine assumes the name "Cesare" when she is in disguise, which might have been the origin of Viola's chosen name of Cesario. There is one crucial difference in the plots of the Italian versions; and that is that the heroine chooses to serve a lover who had rejected her, so the risk of recognition runs even greater. It is Riche's treatment of the tale, however, that comes closer than the Italian versions to what Shakespeare portrays in Twelfth Night, in terms of the specific situations and reactions of the characters as they interact throughout the story. However, Riche's version is not as innocent in the way the mix-up of the twins is dealt with; the Viola character reveals her gender by removing her clothes in front of the Olivia figure, and the Olivia of his work, rather than marrying Viola's twin, becomes pregnant by him and becomes involved in another confusing situation. However, Forde's portrayal of the relationship between Orsino (called Pollipus) and Viola (Violetta) is closest to Shakespeare's, in the tenderness and devotion that develops between the two characters before Violetta drops her disguise and is revealed as a woman. It is almost certain that Shakespeare took elements of plot and character from the Italian Gl'Inganni and from Riche's and Forde's subsequent reworking of this somewhat-known story; however, Shakespeare was able to borrow elements of his previously written comedies of mistaken identity, such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Comedy of Errors. In Two Gentlemen, Julia follows her love Proteus, disguised as his page, and when he falls in love with another woman, she does the wooing on his behalf. The woman she woos does not fall in love with her, however, as Olivia does with Viola. The Comedy of Errors is also a source for Twelfth Night because of the use of twins and mistaken identity in the plot; though the major difference is that the twins in Twelfth Night are a boy and a girl and therefore not completely identical, though their resemblance is used as a device in the plot. However, The Comedy of Errors is a more lighthearted work, that is more comedic in nature; Twelfth Night, though it is a comedy, delves more deeply into the grief of the twins, and into the emotional predicaments inherent in its plot. The text of the play first appeared in the First Folio of Shakespeare's work, published in 1623. Unlike with The Tempest, there are few apparent discrepancies from what must have been Shakespeare's original text and what is published; the text does not appear to be a transcript from a performance, as the Folio text of The Tempest most likely was. There is some evidence that the text was amended by Shakespeare himself after his first performance; Viola supposedly had a song in an early version, that was cut and replaced with her story about an imaginary sister, that has bigger emotional impact. Also, the discrepancy in Orsino's title, between Count and Duke, appears to have been amended after a first performance, and Fabian's sudden substitution for Feste appears to have been done rather crudely, sometime after 1602,

so that Feste could act more like an ironic commentator than merely a funny accomplice. The text of the play that has survived, however, appears to be very close to Shakespeare's original vision, and an accurate reflection of the original text, plus later additions and revisions. Character List Orsino, Duke or Count of Illyria Though his title in the play is disputed, Orsino is the ruler of Illyria, with some naval experience behind him. He is lovesick for the Lady Olivia, who will not return his affections; Viola is taken into his service, as the boy Cesario, and is quickly taken into his confidence and tries to woo Olivia for him. However, Orsino's affections shift by the end of the play; he drops his self-indulgent behavior, and develops affection for Viola. Curio, Valentine Two of Orsino's attendants. Valentine is sent to try and woo Olivia, though he is not quite as successful at gaining entrance to Olivia's house as "Cesario" is. Curio accompanies Orsino on his visit to Olivia's in the last act, though he says nothing; their basic purpose is to wait on Orsino as best they can, but they are not as close to him or as important in the action as Viola is. First Officer, Second Officer These two recognize Antonio as having committed crimes against Orsino, and arrest him. In the last act, they hold Antonio, as they remind Orsino of the crime that Antonio had committed. Viola A young woman who is shipwrecked, having lost her twin brother Sebastian, and lands in Illyria quite by accident; she resolves to makeA SeaCaptain He rescues Viola from drowning, and helps her transform herself into Cesario and become Orsino's page. Later, he has supposedly had some issues with Malvolio somehow, and must be found so that Viola may reclaim her female clothes and possessions. Sebastian Viola's non-identical twin brother, who nevertheless bears a great resemblance to her. Viola tries to imitate her brother in her disguise as Cesario, as the two are mistaken for each other in many scenes. Sebastian himself is saved by Antonio, and the two become fast friends. Quite by accident, Sebastian comes across Olivia, and is taken for Cesario; she proposes, and they are quickly married, despite Sebastian not knowing who she is. Antonio Another sea-captain; he saves Sebastian's life, and appears to be benevolent in his intentions toward Sebastian. However, he has a questionable past, and was involved in some doings at sea that mean he is wanted by Orsino. He stops a duel between Viola and Sir Andrew, mistaking Viola for her brother Sebastian. His relationship with Sebastian has argued to be a little more than friendlythough this can certainly be disputed. Olivia A noblewoman, Countess of Illyria. She lost her father, then her brother right before the beginning of the play; she resolves to be in mourning for her brother for seven years, thus thwarting Orsino's attempts to woo her. She becomes enamoured of Viola, who acts as a messenger for Orsino; and though Olivia tries her best to win Viola, Viola does her best to let her down easily, because Viola is not a boy like she pretends to be. Olivia rushes off and marries Sebastian, thinking that he is Viola as Cesario; but everything works out in the end. Maria Olivia's gentlewoman-maid, a witty, wily woman who has some affection for Sir Toby. It is she who resolves to get revenge on Malvolio, after he embarrasses the party; she claims to have handwriting like Olivia's, and will use that gift to trick Malvolio. She is actually a good-natured woman, though she loves a good joke, and holds her own with the "boys"Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Feste. Sir Toby Surname Belch, not very complimentarybut sadly, accurate. He is Olivia's ill-behaved uncle, and spends most of his time drinking, fooling, and carousing with Sir Andrew. He takes part in the pranks against Malvolio, and arranges the duel between Sir Andrew and Viola as well. He is hot-tempered, and usually unruly, but not a bad fellow either. Sir Andrew

Surname Aguecheek, also not complimentary, but correctly describing his thin, pale face. He is a complete, very dense fool, who can't help but misconstrue every word his friend Sir Toby says. He hopes to win Olivia's affection, though they have few interactions in the play. Jealous of the attention that Olivia pays to "Cesario," he challenges the young man to a duel, that is never quite completed. Malvolio Olivia's steward, a man who is supposedly good at his job, but is stern and hates merrymaking. He rebukes Sir Toby and company very harshly, for which they resolve to get revenge. They play on his vanity and his pride by convincing him that Olivia loves him, and getting him to act foolish in front of her. He is finally locked up in a dark place, and tormented by Feste; in the last act, he comes forward and tells of his ordeal, and swears revenge on everyone involved, having not learned any lessons. Fabian A member of Olivia's household with responsibilities that are never explained. He is a sort of mid-play replacement for Feste, taking part in the plots against Malvolio with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. He doesn't seem to have much of a personality, but is included in the play for the purpose of expositionand he is also good at stating the obvious for the audience. Feste A jester and musician who lends his services to Olivia, and to Orsino as well. Feste is quick-witted and quite skilled at wordplay; but he is also somewhat cruel, as seen in his behavior toward Malvolio. Feste may act the part of the fool, but in fact he is very wise and perceptive about people's natures; he knows the perfect song for any occasion, but resents when his services are taken for granted. A PriestAct 1 Act I Summary: Scene 1: Count Orsino of Illyria is introduced; he laments that he is lovesick, and wishes that "if music be the food of love," he could kill his unrequited love through an overdose of music. His servant, Curio, asks Orsino if he will go and hunt; Orsino answers with another lovelorn reply, about how his love for the Lady Olivia has been tearing him apart. Orsino's servant Valentine, whom Orsino sent to give his affections to Olivia, returns; Valentine was not allowed to speak directly to Olivia, but Olivia sent a message, via her handmaiden, that Olivia will continue to mourn her dead brother, and will neither allow Orsino to see her or to woo her. Orsino laments that Olivia does not hold the same deeply felt love that he professes to have.

Marries Sebastian and Olivia, and later testifies about this union to Orsino and others. the best of her situation, and be taken into Orsino's service, as a young eunuch named Cesario. Viola is quickly taken into Orsino's confidence, and he tells her all the secrets of his heart; she is entrusted with wooing Olivia, though Olivia herself falls for Viola as Cesario. Viola herself is in love with Orsino, though she cannot admit this; she does succeed in gaining Orsino's affections, however, and gets him to be a more honest, less self-centered person. Scene 2: Viola lands in Illyria, after a terrible shipwreck in which she was separated from her twin brother, Sebastian. Viola hopes that her brother was saved, as she was; the Captain, who also managed to get ashore, tries to console her of the hopes of finding her brother alive. The Captain recalls seeing her brother in the water after the shipwreck, clinging onto a mast, and riding above the waves. As it happens, the Captain is from Illyria, and tells Viola of Count Orsino, and of his love for Lady Olivia; the Captain also mentions Olivia's recent loss of both her father and her brother, and Viola, having lost her brother as well, commiserates with Olivia's situation. Viola proposes that she serve Orsino, since he is a good and just man; she conspires with the Captain that she may be presented to Orsino as a eunuch, and that her true identity as a foreign woman be concealed. The Captain agrees to help her, and he leads her to Orsino. Scene 3: Sir Toby, Olivia's drunken uncle, is approached by Olivia's handmaiden, Maria, about his late hours and disorderly habits. Maria also objects to one of Sir Toby's drinking buddies, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a rather foolish man who Sir Toby has brought as a potential suitor to Olivia. Sir Toby has great affection for Sir Andrew, but Maria does not; she believes that Sir Andrew is a drunkard and a fool, and not to be suffered. Sir Toby attempts to introduce Sir Andrew to Maria; wordplay ensues from a series of misunderstandings, puns, and differing usages of words. Maria exits, and Sir Toby and Sir Andrew continue to quibble, with some amusing results; at last, they decide to start drinking. Scene 4: Viola has now disguised herself as a boy, Cesario, and has been taken into the service of Count Orsino. Valentine remarks that Orsino and Viola, as Cesario, have become close in the short time that Viola has been employed; indeed, Orsino has already told Viola of his great love for Olivia. Orsino asks Viola to go to Olivia and make Orsino's case to the lady; he believes that Viola/ Cesario, being younger and more

eloquent than his other messengers, will succeed. Viola says she will obey, although she confesses in an aside that she already feels love for Orsino, and would rather be his wife than try to woo Olivia for him. Scene 5: Feste's first appearance in the play; unlike Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who make wordplay by mincing each other's meanings, Feste is more perceptive and quick-witted, and gets into an entertaining argument with the equally quick-witted Maria. Olivia enters, with her attendants, and is somewhat displeased and short with Feste; Feste says she is a fool for mourning her brother, if she knows that her brother is in heaven. Viola/ Cesario arrives at Olivia's house, and is admitted after much waiting, and being examined by both Sir Toby and Malvolio. Viola is brought in to meet Olivia, who finds out Viola is a messenger on Orsino's behalf, and Olivia discourages Viola from wooing her for the Count. Viola tries to make Orsino's suit, though Olivia counters this with elusive and witty remarks; Olivia begins to show interest in Viola as Cesario in this scene, and still insists that she cannot love Orsino. Viola is sent away at last, and Olivia has Malvolio go after Viola, with a ring and an invitation to come back tomorrow. Act I Analysis: The play's action occurs in the mythical land of Illyria, the name taken from an ancient area on the Adriatic coast, opposite Italy. In Roman times, Illyria was the home of a great number of pirates who would pillage Roman ships; but, in Shakespeare's time, Illyria was a group of city-states under the control of Venice. The Illyria of the play, as Shakespeare portrays it, may be geographically related to Mediterranean regions through its name; but the people of Illyria, most notably Olivia, are very English in the way their households are arranged, and in their customs and behaviors. However, understanding of the play does not depend upon its relation to a particular geographic area, and the land of Illyria is quite a mish-mash of English culture, and things both romantic and magical. The play is sometimes regarded as having an Italian or Mediterranean setting at least because of the Italianate names used for some of the characters. Orsino was the name of the prominent dukes of Bracciano, who presided over an area in Tuscany; names like Curio, Valentine, Viola, Maria, and Antonio are Italian in origin as well. Orsino opens the play with a speech, beginning, "if music be the food of love, play on"; the "if," and the particular diction of the line, makes the statement sound like an allusion to a familiar proverb, though no corresponding proverb is known (I.i.1). The first part of his speech is a metaphorical relation of music and love; Orsino relates music to food, and overindulgence in music to overeating, wishing that listening to too much music would kill his desire for love. The music that Orsino is listening to pleases him at first; he makes a simile, comparing the music to the "sweet sound" (denoting a breeze) that picks up the smell of flowers (I.i.5). Orsino then contrasts love, which steals away the value of things, and the sea, which transforms things. He continues his metaphorical relation of love with appetite; he states that love is "quick and fresh," meaning keen and hungry, and takes in more than it has capacity to swallow (I.i.9). "So full of shapes is fancy," Orsino continues, relating all the many things that love swallows up to love's power to be imaginative (l.14). Orsino repeatedly leads his conversation back to the topic of love; when his attendant, Curio, asks him if he will go hunt a hart, Orsino answers by speaking of his heart, quite a clever pun. But then, he relates the topic of hunting to his lovelorn condition; he alludes to Ovid's account of Actaeon, who was punished for seeing the goddess Diana naked by being turned into a hart, and then attacked by his own dogs. Another allusion to Ovid is made, when Orsino refers to the "rich golden shaft" of Cupid's arrow that will strike Olivia and make her lovelornfor, according to Ovid, Cupid caused love with an arrow that was keen, sharp, and made of gold (l. 34). The language that Orsino uses in this first scene may be full of artifice; but it also indicates a capacity for strong feeling and great vitality. Orsino may be pining for love, but his feelings are very urgent; the image of him being torn apart by hounds expresses the great impact his feelings have on him, and his perseverance in wooing Olivia means that he is not capricious in his fancy. Orsino is no Romeo; he is not drawn to hasty actions or rash decisions, and is not subject to the kind of instant infatuation that gripped Romeo. These qualities lead to Viola and Orsino coming together, and are shown in his proofs of love, and of friendship to Viola. Olivia's reply to Orsino's entreaty contains the only known usage of the word "cloistress," according to the Oxford English dictionary (l. 27). The word can be roughly translated as equivalent to "nun," but is more mannered because of its formal tone and its rarity. In her reply is also the comparison of tears to brine; and as brine is used to "season," or preserve foods, her tears, by the metaphorical association, will preserve her brother's memory (l. 29). Orsino recalls the moment when he fell in love with Olivia by saying that he thought she "purged the air of pestilence," making an allusion to the Elizabethan belief that illnesses were caused by bad air (l. 19). He also recalls Elizabethan folk beliefs when he speaks of Olivia's "liver, brain, and heart," which were thought to be the seats of passion, judgment, and sentiment, respectively, and the three centers of power within the body (l. 36). In scene 2, Viola continues the string of mythological allusions begun in scene 1. In her grief, she says that her brother's "in Elysium," and she is in "Illyria": the assonance of the place names helps to highlight the contrast between the two places (I.ii.. 2-3). But, Viola does her best to hope that her brother is not dead; "perchance," she says to the Captain, "he is not drowned" (l. 4). The Captain plays off her use of "perchance," which Viola uses to mean "perhaps," by using the same word to mean "by accident." To cheer Viola, the Captain conjures up an image of her brother "like Arion on the dolphin's back"; Arion is another figure from Ovid's work, a musician who was saved from drowning when a dolphin carried him to shore (l. 14).

Viola and Olivia's parallel situation, of mourning a recently deceased brother, is significant because it creates a bond of sympathy, at least from Viola's point of view. Viola expresses her wish to serve Olivia after hearing of Olivia's loss; and Viola's sympathy colors her later interactions with Olivia, with Viola being especially sensitive and caring toward Olivia. In this scene, Viola bears her optimistic and gentle nature; though she fears that she has lost her brother forever, yet she hopes that he is still alive, and tries her best not to succumb to her grief. Her tone is not as richly poetic or filled with extravagant imagery as Orsino's; her words are more plain and straightforward, denoting grief but also her sensibility. Although she does not know the Captain, she presumes that he has a "fair and outward character" from their limited interaction, and his offers to help her (l. 48); she assumes the best of him, rather than the worst, though she admits even while she makes her judgment, that appearances can be deceiving. Viola chooses to be presented to Orsino as a eunuch so that her high-pitched voice does not seem odd, and so that she will seem less threatening to Orsino. Eunuchs were men who were castrated when they were young, usually to preserve their high singing voices; eunuchs were relatively common until the 18th century, at which time the procedure fell out of favor in Europe. The procedure was mostly performed in places like Italy and Turkey, and was less common in England and Nothern Europe. Scene 3 is mostly involved with quibbles, wordplay, and literal misunderstandings. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew cannot seem to understand the real meanings of one another, or of Maria either; the confusion begins when Sir Toby attempts to introduce Sir Andrew to Maria. Sir Andrew tends to mince his words badly, as when he addresses Maria as "fair shrew," which is quite a paradox; he intends the statement to be a kindly one, but a shrew refers to an ill-tempered woman, one who would certainly not be addressed as "fair" (I.iii.43). Sir Toby tells Sir Andrew to "accost" Maria, meaning to proposition her; Sir Andrew asks what "accost" means, and Toby thinks that his friend is asking who Maria is. Sir Andrew then wrongly assumes that Maria's name is Miss Mary Accost, and then Toby is forced to explain the no-so-delicate meaning of "accost" before the party: "woo her, assail her," he explains the term to mean (I.iii.53). Although Sir Andrew is not the most perceptive of men, he does sense that Maria thinks both of them are fools: "do you think you have fools in hand," he asks her, meaning does she think she is in the company of fools (l. 61). Maria proceeds to take the question literally: she answers, "I have not you by th' hand," confessing her poor opinion of them both (l. 62). Sir Andrew takes this in a good-natured way, giving her his hand to shake. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew have a good number of such farcical exchanges; Sir Andrew does not quite get Maria's metaphor of her breasts to a butter-bar, and Maria must explain her statement as being "dry," which Sir Andrew again misunderstands. Sir Toby takes Sir Andrew's talk about "tongues" to be about "tongs," which leads to a discussion of Sir Andrew's hair. Then, their speech reflects the many meanings of "caper," being a dance, a kind of seasoning for mutton, and an adventure as well. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby are definitely the comic relief of the play, and their misadventures, which begin with this scene, prove very entertaining. If there is one attribute that Sir Toby and his niece, Olivia, have in common, it is their great pride. Sir Toby owns up to his pride in an exchange with Maria; he does not want to appear any more grand than he actually is, and is against any kind of false shows. He says that Olivia, too, has this same pride in herself; and because of it, she refuses to marry above her station, or get involved with people of great rank, like Orsino. Unlike Malvolio, who tries to present an image of greater stature, Olivia and Toby want to be seen as exactly what they are, and are fiercely proud of their station. Another uncertain issue in the play is the issue of time; at the beginning of Scene 4, Valentine states that Viola has been in the service of Orsino for only three days; yet, at the end of the play, three months are said to have transpired. The lengths of time mentioned are likely unreliable; the three days could very well be meant to emphasize the quick bond that has grown between Orsino and Viola, and the three months to highlight how things have changed in the time elapsed. Orsino himself speaks of how he and Viola have become close; "I have unclasped to thee the book even of my secret soul," he says, using the metaphor of an unclasped book that is used elsewhere in Shakespeare to represent very personal communications (I.iv.13-4). From this, and the way in which Orsino speaks to his page, drawing Viola aside to speak to her in confidence, shows how close they have become, and how much trust Orsino already has in Viola. Unwittingly, Orsino states the truth about Viola's disguise, without being aware of it. He says of Viola that "thy small pipe is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound, and all is semblative a woman's part" (I.iv.32-4); the statement is laden with dramatic irony, as Orsino has guessed the truth about Viola without knowing it, while the audience both knows about Viola's true identity, and Orsino's good guess. The language of Scene 5 is less laden with literary elements than the language of the previous scenes, because of the temperaments of Olivia and the others involved, and also because of Olivia's focus on getting the plain truth out of people. Olivia has the ability to quickly match a witty statement with an equally witty answer; she plays off of Feste's faux-logic about "a drowned man, a fool, and a madman" with ease, and offers a quick rejoinder to Viola's quip about the realness of Olivia's beauty (I.v.125). She is not quite as involved in wordplay as Feste or Maria, preferring not to quibble about less significant facts; this is perfectly displayed in her conversation with Viola, in which Olivia prefers to address the more important aspects of the situation, and diffuse Viola's argument as best she can. Feste, when he confronts Olivia, speaks in a mock-religious tone; he speaks in would-be proverbs, like "God give them wisdom that have it, and those that are fools, let them use their talents" (l. 13-4). He addresses Olivia simply as "madonna," says he will "catechize" her, and assumes a cleric-like logic in trying to prove Olivia a fool. This tendency of Feste to play a mock-priest foreshadows his later attempt to taunt Malvolio, in the guise of a cleric. Even at such an early point in the play, Malvolio's character becomes clear through Olivia's perceptiveness. "You are sick of self-love, Malvolio," she tells him, after only a brief appearance by the steward; Olivia also notes his propensity to make "birdbolts[into] cannon bullets," a charge which later proves true (l. 85-8). Although Malvolio's vanity, arrogance, and self-deceptive qualities are not on clear display in this act, Olivia pegs them down, and her judgment of him does prove correct.

Also, Olivia's favor for Viola is first shown in this scene; when questioning Viola, Olivia asks Viola/Cesario about parentage, perhaps to see if this young page is of a high enough rank to be considered for marriage. When Viola leaves, Olivia remarks on the young page's looks, and states her preference for Cesario over Orsino; yet, Olivia is not one to rush into the situation, asking herself if "even so quickly may one catch the plague" (I.v.285). For the last lines spoken in this scene, Olivia even reverts to rhyme, speaking two couplets about her new favor for Cesario. Previously in this act, rhyme and verse were primarily spoken by the lovelorn Orsino; perhaps this sudden shift from prose to rhyming verse is meant to show that poetry is born of love, and that eloquence in verse is a symptom of being in love. One major theme of the play, first developed in this act, concerns how Olivia and Orsino are changed by their relationship with Viola, and how her simplicity and directness helps them to shed their mannerisms and also their mannered language. Before meeting Viola, Orsino speaks poetically but somewhat artificially about his love for Olivia; after he meets Viola, he gets right to the point, disclosing to her the extent of his affections, and his plans to woo her. In Olivia's first encounter with Viola, her somewhat self-righteous shows of mourning are dropped, as Olivia must use her wit and plain speech in order to deal directly with Viola. Viola is not the formal, affected aristocrat that both Olivia and Orsino are; and throughout their contact with her, they become more emotionally direct and more honest with themselves and with her, leaving aside their shows of formality. Act 2 Act II Summary: Scene 1: Sebastian, Viola's brother, is shown alive, and in the company of Antonio, a somewhat shady sea-captain who is wanted by Count Orsino for questionable doings on the seas. Sebastian tells Antonio of his sister, Viola, who he fears has been drowned; he thanks Antonio for his kindness in saving him from being drowned, and resolves that he must be off alone. Antonio asks if he may go with Sebastian, but Sebastian refuses this kind request, and is gone. Scene 2: Malvolio catches up to Viola, with the ring he was instructed to give Viola by Olivia. Viola is surprised, since she left no ring with Olivia; Malvolio grows impatient with Viola's claim to know nothing of the ring, and he throws it down onto the ground, and storms off. Viola realizes that the ring is proof that Olivia has some affection for her as Cesario; she regrets that Olivia is in love with her disguise, as that will come to nothing, and also that she is in love with her master, but that she can do nothing in her present disguise. Scene 3: Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are up late, drinking; Feste joins them, and they request that he sing a song about love. They proceed to make a great deal of noise, by singing, drinking, and talking nonsense; Maria tries to get them to be quiet, but Malvolio is awakened by the noise, and comes down to berate them for disturbing the household. Once Malvolio leaves, Maria concocts a plan to make Malvolio look like a complete fool: since Maria's handwriting is similar to Olivia's, she will write love letters to Malvolio and make it look like the letters have come from Olivia. The party decides to try this out and see if it will work; Maria leaves to go to bed, and Sir Toby and Sir Andrew decide to drink the rest of the night away. Scene 4: Orsino calls upon Feste to sing an old song, that pleases him very well; Orsino then begins to talk to Viola/ Cesario of love, and its imperfections. Orsino compares women to roses "whose fair flower/ being once displayed, doth fall that very hour"; Viola does not completely approve of Orsino's slightly cynical view of women, and will seek to correct it later in the scene. Feste begins to sing his song, a sad one about love and death, and when he is done, he is dismissed, and makes a remark about Orsino's extreme changeability of mood. Viola attempts to soothe Orsino's melancholy by getting him to accept that Olivia might not love him, but that perhaps another woman does; Orsino counters this with the argument that women are very inconstant in their love, and could not have a feeling as deep as the love he has for Olivia. Viola knows that this is not true, in light of the great amount of feeling she has for Orsino; she attempts to persuade him that women are "as true of heart" as men, by telling him a story she makes up about a sister that loved only too constantly and too well. Orsino asks Viola to go again to Olivia, and make his suit; Viola obeys, and sets off to see Olivia again. Scene 5: Maria appears, with the love-letter she has written for the purposes of baiting Malvolio. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and their friend Fabian are present; they hide behind a tree as Malvolio approaches, and Maria places the letter somewhere where he is certain to find it. Malvolio approaches, already muttering nonsense about thinking that Olivia fancies him, and about how things would be if they were married; this angers Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, who want to beat Malvolio for his pretension. Malvolio finally spots the letter, and recognizes the handwriting as Olivia's; he takes the bait completely, believing it to be proof that Olivia really does love him. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew marvel at Maria's plan, and how it has worked, and cannot wait to see Malvolio make an even bigger fool of himself. Act II Analysis:

At the beginning of Act II, it is revealed that Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, is indeed alive; and he, also, presumes that his sibling has drowned in the wreck. Scene 1 is written completely in prose, though most Shakespearean scenes of this type, which are meant for narrative advancement, are written in blank verse. The language and tone of the passage are more formal and constrained than would be expected for this type of scene; Sebastian's statement that "the malignancy of my fate might perhaps distemper yours" is perhaps more stilted than would be expected of one who is in mourning, and speaking to someone with whom he is somewhat familiar (II.i.4-5). Also strangely, once Sebastian leaves, Antonio expresses himself in verse, breaking from the style of speech he had with Sebastian. One unexplained aspect of this scene is Sebastian's reluctance to divulge his identity; he makes reference to a name he used, Roderigo, when he first introduced himself to Antonio. Why Sebastian would feel the need to conceal his identity is very unclear, and not referred to again within the play. Also, after being referred to as "Duke Orsino" throughout Act I, in Act II Orsino is most often referred to as a "Count". This change in titles might denote a difference in the versions of the play compiled into modern texts, or a change made by Shakespeare mid-way through the text. Continued in this scene is the comparison of salt-water to tears, which Olivia mentioned earlier, in Act I. But while Olivia spoke of her tears as brine, Sebastian creates a metaphor between his tears and the ocean which drowned his sister, both being salt-water. Sebastian's great grief belies the constriction of his language, as he confesses that he is about to break into tears in this scene, but tries to keep up the formality of his language nevertheless. In scene 2, Viola notes the great irony inherent in her present situation. That Olivia is in love with Cesario, who the audience knows to be Viola, is an instance of dramatic irony that will cause mayhem throughout the play; but, Viola sees already how her disguise will cause problems also in her relationship with Orsino, and will hinder her from expressing her true feelings for him. She notes this bothersome contradiction, that "as I am man, my state is desperate for my master's love"; but that, "as [she is] womanwhat thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!" (II.ii.36-9). Viola also laments that Olivia could fall in love with Cesario so easily; she compares women's hearts to sealing wax in an apt metaphor, and notes how easily the "proper false" leaves a lasting impression in their hearts (II.ii.29). Viola's perceptive statements foreshadow some kind of confrontation with Orsino and Olivia about her true identity; and she does not look forward to disappointing either one. In scene 3, Sir Toby shows himself to be a more educated fool than he believes his goofy friend, Sir Andrew to be; Sir Toby alludes to a Latin proverb, "diluculo surgere," meaning "to get up at dawn," that is taught to many Elizabethan school-children. Sir Andrew proves to be an airheaded foil to Sir Toby; when he tries to make reference to things that he has learned, he speaks of "Pigrogromitusthe VapiansQueubus," figures that were probably made up by Feste and told in one of his tales (II.iii.22-3). Even Feste shows himself to be more learned than the supposedly knowledgeable Sir Andrew; Feste tosses around burlesque words, telling them he "did impeticos thy gratility," meaning pocket the money they gave him (l. 25). The songs that Feste sings in this act, and throughout the play, have not been definitively shown to be of Shakespeare's making. The song that Feste and Sir Toby begin to sing when confronted by Malvolio is from an English song-book of the period; and Feste's songs appear to have similarities to other songs of the time, though no particular matches for these songs in Shakespearean-period songs has yet been found. Sir Toby continues the comparisons to illness that appear earlier in the play; here, he compares music to illness, because of its contagious quality. Sir Toby says that Feste's song is like "a contagious breath," creating a clean metaphor between the catchy-ness of a song and the catchy-ness of a disease (l. 52). There seems to be some concern for plague and disease underlying the frequent metaphors with illness that have popped up in the play; perhaps these instances are merely echoing the worry over disease held in Elizabethan England, and are a reminder of the plague epidemic that shut down theaters less than ten years before this play was written. Throughout this scene, Sir Toby and company continue to make allusions to elements of popular British culture of the time. He calls Malvolio a "Peg-o'-Ramsey," a reference to the title of a popular song, and calls the group, "'three merry men be we,'" an allusion to a popular refrain of the time (l. 71-2).. Sir Toby also appears to know at least a little about classical mythology; he calls Maria "Penthesilea," the name of the Queen of the Amazons, which is ironic in view of her small stature. Malvolio's mock-grandiose manner becomes clear in this scene; Maria accurately notes that Malvolio "cons state without book," meaning that he uses high-flown language without necessarily knowing its proper meaning (II.iii.138). Malvolio resorts to legalistic-type language when berating the group for their merry-making; he notes their lack of "mitigation or remorse" in their "misdemeanors" (II.iii.85,92). Likely, Malvolio is not acting of Olivia's will, as he claims to be; he is such a high-strung and officious character that his chastisement of the party is not out of the range of his ordinary behavior. Malvolio is very much the "puritan," as the party well knows; he dislikes parties, drinking, merriment of all sorts, and Sir Toby, Maria, Feste, and Sir Andrew openly resent Malvolio trying to put a damper on their high spirits. Although some of the group's dislike of Malvolio stems from his kill-joy behavior, their characterization of him, as overly proud, puritan, and meddling is correct in most respects. As Orsino becomes more despondent in his love and more cynical about women, Viola tries to persuade him that his views of women are not fair. At first, Orsino states that men are more wavering in their affection than women are, with "fancies [that] are more giddy and infirm" (II.iv.32). Paradoxically, he espouses the opposite view later in the scene; he talks about how "no woman's heart[can] hold so much" as his can, and how women's love is very variable and not lasting (II.iv.94-5). Again, Orsino uses the image of the sea to describe how vast his love is; but the love Viola describes, of a fictional sister, eclipses both what Orsino professes to feel, and what he thinks women are capable of feeling. This brings up the theme of kinds of love, which recurs throughout the play. Several of the characters in the play are greatly bound up in love; Orsino is consumed by his love for Olivia, Olivia is torn by her love for her dead brother and also for Cesario, Viola is conflicted by her love for Orsino, and Malvolio is thwarted by his love for himself. This is a very simplistic way of stating the kinds of feelings these characters have,

which differ in every possible respect. But it is the difference in the quality, nobility, and constancy of the love of the characters in the play which determines their outcome at the end, and whether their love deserves to be requited or no. When Orsino asks Viola about love, Viola states that she is in love with someone of Orsino's same complexion, and age; this is indeed true, though Viola is speaking of Orsino himself. The irony of Orsino's negative statements about women's capacity for love is that Viola loves him at least as constantly as he does Olivia, and with more devotion. It is this unrequited love that Viola summons up when creating the story of Cesario's fictional sister; she is certainly the maid she describes, pining away patiently for love, and not giving into shows of melancholy like Orsino does. Viola's speech shows Orsino transitioning from his previous self-absorbed state in which only his grief mattered, into someone who is sympathetic and cares about Viola's story at least as much as his own. When Viola's story is done, it is she who has to turn the focus of their conversation back to Olivia; he is engrossed by her story, and temporarily forgets about his suit to woo Olivia. This scene shows how Orsino and Viola's relationship has matured into a very deep friendship, with a poignant emotional bond; from this point on, though his suit to Olivia continues, his emotional connection to Viola runs far deeper. Orsino touches on the image of the rose, in his comparison between the perfection of women and the fragility of the rose. Like a rose, women "die when they to perfection grow," and their beauty fades even as it becomes fully exposed (II.iv.40). The simile emphasizes that perfection is partly defined by its very vulnerability, and that this perishable quality is inherent in any instance of real beauty. This balance between beauty and frailty, the happy and the sad, is a motif that prevails throughout the play; rarely is there an instance of either complete despair or complete joy in the play, but that these emotions often serve to temper each other, and coexist within the characters. Another fitting example is Viola's speech about her sister; the tone of her statement is bittersweet, yet the themes of love and death both resound in her story. The mood of the play is frequently autumnal in this sense; though the play discusses issues of love, death is ever-present, and reminders of mortality become bound up in the experience of love. Even Feste recognizes the variability of Orsino's nature; Feste says Orsino is like an opal, a symbol of changeability because of its iridescent qualities. Orsino is not so inconstant that his affections change rapidly; yet, as is shown in this scene, his feelings are variable because of the influence of love, and he can turn from calm to despairing in little time at all. The image of "changeable taffeta" that Feste proffers is also an accurate description of Orsino's moods, with its color changing according to the angle of view and the amount of light. Scene 5 serves mostly to confirm Malvolio's character, and play out Sir Toby's and Maria's cruel little trick on him. Malvolio indeed proves that he is full of "self-love," as Olivia noted in Act I; he believes himself so charming and irresistible that a young woman like Olivia would be desperately in love with him, and older servant, despite Orsino's continuing entreaties of her love. Even before he reads the letter, he entertains a fantasy about being married to Olivia, and getting to insult Sir Toby and Sir Andrew for a change, due to his imagined rise in station. Malvolio's thinking out loud gets him in trouble with Sir Toby especially; the party decide that Malvolio is being a perfect "turkeycock," which is a good image to describe Malvolio's strutting and his ridiculous amount of pride. Act III Summary: Scene 1: Viola enters, on her way to see Olivia; she comes across Feste, who is full of wit and foolery as usual. Feste expresses his dislike for Viola, which Viola does not take personally; Viola gives him a few coins for his wordplay, and mentions the wit that it takes to act the fool as well as Feste does. Viola runs across Sir Toby and Sir Andrew on her way to visit Olivia; Olivia then comes to meet Viola, and Viola again attempts to make Orsino's suit to Viola. alize his great foolishness when the prank has run its course, and will mend some of his more obvious faults as a result. Olivia apologizes for the confusion she brought upon Viola with sending the ring; then, Olivia confesses her affection for Viola/ Cesario, and begs to know if Viola does indeed feel the same way. Viola says no, then asks again if Olivia will have anything to do with Orsino; Olivia is constant in her lack of response to Orsino, but makes one last attempt to win Cesario over. Viola warns Olivia as best she can, telling Olivia that "I am not what I am," though Olivia does not guess at the statement's real meaning (III.i.139). Of course she is unsuccessful, and Viola leavesbut not without an entreaty to return. Scene 2: Sir Andrew finally comes to his senses, realizing that Olivia favors Cesario far more than she favors him. His friend Fabian tries to convince him that Olivia is only pretending to favor Cesario, in order to make Sir Andrew jealous; his lie is well-intentioned, but does not soothe Sir Andrew's anger. Sir Toby then persuades Sir Andrew that he should challenge Cesario to a duel, and that, if Sir Andrew wins, he will surely gain Olivia's affections. Sir Toby tells him to write a letter of challenge, which Sir Toby will deliver; Toby actually has no intent of sponsoring a duel, but thinks the exercise might cool Sir Andrew off a little. Maria then enters, and begs them all to come see Malvolio, who is acting like a complete idiot in front of Olivia. Scene 3: Antonio is slow to leave Sebastian's side, as he fears some accident may happen to Sebastian since he is completely ignorant of the country. Sebastian wants to go about and see the sights, but Antonio tells him that he cannot; Antonio confesses that he was involved with some piracy

against Illyria, and that he is wanted by the Count because of it. Antonio proposes that they meet up at an inn in one hour, and that Sebastian can wander about until then; they part, hopeful of meeting up again without accident. Scene 4: Maria warns Olivia of Malvolio's very strange behavior; yet, Olivia still wishes that Malvolio be brought before her. Malvolio is wearing yellow, cross-gartered stockings, which Olivia abhors; he is careful to point out what he thinks is his fashionable taste. Malvolio continues his absurdity, making remarks of unwarranted familiarity, and completely baffling Olivia with his misguided attempts to be amorous toward her. Olivia dismisses Malvolio's odd behavior as being some kind of passing madness, and orders that Malvolio be looked after while she sees to Cesario, who has supposedly returned. Sir Toby, Maria, and Fabian approach Malvolio; they treat Malvolio's case as an instant of witchcraft or possession, and pretend they know nothing of the real cause of Malvolio's strange behavior. Then, their plan takes a more malicious turn; not satisfied with the havoc they have already caused, they decide to make Malvolio go mad, if they can. Sir Andrew returns, with his "saucy" letter for Cesario, and Viola as Cesario appears, having patched up any bad feelings over their last dramatic scene. Sir Toby conveys Sir Andrew's challenge to Viola, and tries to make Viola shrink from the confrontation by greatly exaggerating Sir Andrew's meanness and anger. Sir Andrew and Viola come close to some sort of reluctant confrontation, when Antonio stumbles on them; Antonio is arrested by officers of the Count, and asks Viola for his purse, mistaking Viola for her brother Sebastian. Antonio is taken aback when Viola will not give him his purse, thinking that she, as Sebastian, is ungrateful for his help; he speaks of rescuing Sebastian from drowning, which lets Viola know that her brother might be alive. Antonio is dragged away, and Viola hopes that what Antonio said is indeed true, and that her brother might have been saved from the wreck. Act III Analysis: Scene 1 finally brings Feste and Viola together for an interesting conversation that reveals a great deal about Feste's role in the play. Feste is not just a comic relief figure, like Sir Andrew; he is perceptive when others are not, as Viola notes after the encounter. Feste and Viola actually have a good bit in common; both are paid servants who are much more than they seem to be, and hence present some threat to each other since they search out each others' secrets. Viola knows, unlike Olivia, Orsino, and the others, that Feste is anything but a fool; he "is wise enough to play the fool, and to do that well craves a kind of wit," Viola says of him (III.i.59). Feste is a good judge of human nature, as he shows in his correct assessment of Orsino in Act II; and, he might also be the only one in the play to guess at Viola's disguise. "Now Jove in his next commodity of hair send thee a beard," Feste says to Viola (l. 44); the statement can be taken as proof that Feste knows that Viola is in disguise, and Viola's quick and somewhat agitated reaction supports this claim. That conclusion, however, is uncertain; though Viola does admit that Feste is more perceptive than most of the people she has come across, and by her estimation, should have the intelligence to be able to see through her disguise. The Viola/ Feste confrontation also brings up the theme of appearance versus reality. Neither of them are quite what they seem, though both of them are able to see through the other's disguise with little problem. Also, Viola speaks of the real divide between wisdom and knowledge; those who appear, or wish to appear as wise, like Malvolio, are often greater fools than Feste, who hides his knowledge behind his shows of foolery. Viola's speech here echoes Olivia's statements, in Act I scene 5, about the deceptive appearances of wisdom and folly. At one point, Feste openly declares his dislike of Viola; he may see Viola as a rival in the service of both Olivia and Orsino, though their jobs are very different in nature. Feste goes so far as to suggest that Viola herself is a fool; but Viola, who is contrasted with Feste in this scene, says nothing negative about her rival. Viola, however, is more generous in her behavior toward Feste; she gives him money, though they are of similar station, while Feste tries to get even more money out of her. Feste is characterized as a kind of mercenary, while Viola is shown to be even-tempered and slow to anger as well. Again, Feste continues with his mock-religious tone; he claims that he "live[s] by the church," and though it proves to be a jest, he keeps to his previous attempts to appear as a fake cleric (III.i.3). In Feste's hands, "a sentence is but a chev'rel glove to a good wit" (l. 11-2): Feste's abilities are true to the metaphor, as he is able to exploit the pliable qualities of language, and turn phrases inside out, as easily as he could with a glove made of soft cheverel leather. Several other literary devices are employed by Feste in his little joust with Viola. He makes a simile that claims "fools are as like to husbands as pilchards are to herringsthe husband's the bigger" (III.i.33-4). Feste displays a basic knowledge of Elizabethan astronomical beliefs, making mention of how the sun was still thought to orbit the earth, and only fools would think it otherwise. He also displays a knowledge of classical mythology that he is able to employ in his cleverness; he begs for a "Cressida to this Troilus" when asking for additional money from Viola (III.i.51). Shakespeare's own play Troilus and Cressida was written very soon after Twelfth Night was finished, and this allusion means that the story was probably ripening in Shakespeare's mind. Viola tries her best to cool Olivia's love, even hinting at her secret, as she did with Orsino at the end of Act II. But Olivia does not have the same keen perception that Feste boasts, and so does not pick up on Viola's desired meaning. Once she starts speaking with Viola, Olivia tries her best to steer the conversation toward personal topics; Viola, however, takes this opportunity to adopt a formal tone, to try and cool Olivia down a little. When Olivia asks what Viola's name is, Viola replies with "Cesario is your servant's name, fair princess" (III.i.95); the statement is very impersonal in the way Olivia is addressed, and Olivia's displeased reaction is at least a temporary diversion from the inevitable heartbreak. Viola does well at turning Olivia's questions back to the subject of Orsino; Viola fully adopts the words, manner, and tone of a servant addressing someone of higher rank, though Viola's impersonal replies only make Olivia more determined.

Olivia's language contrasts sharply with Viola's in this scene, further revealing the depth of Olivia's passion. While Viola's replies are clipped and plain, Olivia speaks in poetic verse. Olivia communicates the urgency of her feeling with an image of her "honour at the stake, and baited," recalling the common and cruel Elizabethan practice of bear-baiting (III.i.116-7). When Olivia becomes stirred up by Viola's anger, then she forms her speech into rhyming couplets, which are reserved in the play for statements conveying great emotion or passion. "Love's night is noon," Olivia laments with the statement of a paradox (l. 151); and Viola finally drops her impersonal and formal tone in favor of speech more closely resembling Olivia's own. Viola adopts the form of rhymed couplets as well in her reply to Olivia's entreaty, acknowledging Olivia's passion, but making a kind and plain refusal of Olivia's affections. Scene 3 shows Antonio and Sebastian becoming closer as friends. Although Sebastian continues to tell Antonio that he no longer needs his companionship, Antonio will not leave him; as Sebastian says, Antonio "makes[s his] pleasure of [his] pains," the paradox bringing attention to Antonio's allegiance to his new friend (III.iii.2). Critics have questioned the relationship between these two, as they seem to be even closer than Orsino and Viola, and with less demonstrated cause; perhaps Antonio feels beholden to Sebastian after rescuing him from the wreck, but the relationship is rather murky. Also murky is Antonio's past, and his admission of being involved in piracy; perhaps Antonio's devotion to Sebastian is designed to show how he has been redeemed, and thus how he is wronged by being imprisoned for crimes he has since repented. Malvolio, in his zest for making amorous overtures to Olivia in Scene 4, alludes to a few popular, but bawdy Elizabethan-era songs to try and get his point across to Olivia. "'Please one and please all'" he says to Olivia; he is alluding to a song that discussed the sexual desires of women, and the mention clearly upsets Olivia (III.iv.22). Then, he alludes to another rude song; "to bed, ay sweetheart, and I'll come to thee," he tells her, and Olivia truly believes at this point that Malvolio has gone mad (III.iv.28). Malvolio still thinks, at this point, that Olivia is very attracted to him, and these familiar statements are his way of acknowledging the desire he thinks that she has; but they are also the surest way of upsetting her, since Olivia has no idea what is going on. When Malvolio quotes from the letter, she is even more baffled, and worried for his sanity; but still, neither of them have been clued in on the joke yet. Malvolio's arrogance and long-windedness come in handy in this scene; he reasons aloud about how the letter directs him to act as he does, and his inability to see that he is being tricked means that the joke is played out for full effect. His character is played for the sake of exposition, and through his tendency to talk aloud to himself, he reminds the audience of the contents of the letter, his motivations, and he reveals his character more fully. Sir Toby, Maria, and company prove themselves as capital jokers, and very ably carry out their prank to its fruition. They begin the second part of their practical joke in scene 4, in trying to persuade Malvolio that he is mad. Each of them begins to toss words relating to witchcraft and devilry around, their tone marked with false concern for Malvolio's well-being. Sir Toby addresses Malvolio with uncharacteristic words of endearment; he calls Malvolio "bawcock" and "chuck," both affectionate names that appear elsewhere in Shakespeare (III.iv.108). But until this point, Malvolio's punishment has been good-humored in nature, and just deserts for his proud and officious meddling; here, the pranks against Malvolio become much more cruel in nature, and are motivated more by a sense of sadistic enjoyment of the proceedings than by a playful wish to see him embarrassed. Sir Toby and co., excepting Sir Andrew, are more honorable in their intents toward Viola; they bear Viola little ill-will, and certainly do not intend for anything like the incidents of the thwarted duel to take place. Sir Toby tries his best, through vast overstatements of Sir Andrew's prowess to Viola, and of Viola (Cesario's) prowess to Sir Andrew, to get them both to shy away from a confrontation; he adopts a threatening tone to get them the shy away from each other, though the tactic does not work. Here, Viola discloses that she has modeled Cesario after the likeness and behavior of her brother, Sebastian. Viola might have done this to compensate for the loss of her brother, as has been discussed in a scholarly essay by Joan Woodward; this is a plausible way for Viola to have chosen to deal with her grief, as well as being an excellent comic device in the plot. Act 4 Act IV Summary: Scene 1: Feste approaches Sebastian, thinking that Sebastian is 'Cesario'; when Sebastian tells Feste that he does not know him, nor Olivia, whom Feste tells him to meet, Feste becomes rather upset, and accuses Sebastian of "strangeness". Then Sir Andrew comes, and strikes Sebastian out of anger, as if he were Cesario; Sir Toby and Sebastian come close to getting in a duel of their own, when Olivia finds them, and charges them to stop. Olivia dismisses Sir Toby, and asks Sebastian "would thou'dst be ruled by me," thinking that he is Cesario, due to his great resemblance to his sister. Sebastian decides to go along with it, struck by Olivia's beauty, thinking it all a pleasant dream from which he hopes he will not awaken. Scene 2: Maria and Feste conspire to present Feste as Sir Topaz, the curate, to Malvolio, who is hidden from view. Feste tries to convince that Malvolio that he is crazy, and Malvolio continues to insist that he is not, that he has been wrongly incarcerated. Feste then confronts Malvolio as himself, and torments him some more; he fakes a conversation with himself as Feste and Sir Topaz, and Malvolio begs for paper and ink so that he can send a message to Olivia. Feste promises to fetch these things, and exits with a song. Scene 3:

Sebastian debates with himself whether he is mad, or whether it is the Lady Olivia; but, he recognizes that is cannot be her, since she is able to command a large household, and therefore would have to be sane and coherent. Olivia asks him to come with her to the parson and be married to her; Sebastian, though he does not know her and cannot figure out exactly what is going on, says he will marry her, and leaves with her. Act IV Analysis: Feste the fool confronts Sebastian, and Sebastian, completely baffled about who Feste is and why Feste is addressing him like Feste knows him, adopts an annoyed, and even more formal tone than is usual for him. "I prithee, vent thy folly somewhere else," Sebastian urges Feste (IV.i.9). Feste is displeased by Sebastian's high-flown language, taking Sebastian's normal speech as being designed to sound condescending to Feste. Feste parodies Sebastian's tone and language by asking Sebastian, "I prithee now, ungird thy strangeness," and mocking his use of the word "vent" (IV.i.14). Note the contrast between Sebastian's more stiff manner of speaking, and Viola's more plain and witty way of expressing herself; unlike Viola, Sebastian does not engage in any kind of wordplay with Feste, choosing rather to avoid any type of confrontation of wits. The theme of mistaken identity comes back into the foreground in the scenes with Sebastian in this act, with the issue waiting to be resolved in the final act. There is one basic similarity shown between Sebastian and Viola in their encounters with Feste, and that is their generosity, shown by their willingness to give Feste money for his troubles. Another common aspect of their personalities is their impulsiveness; Sebastian proves very impulsive, as he chooses to marry Olivia after knowing her for only a few minutes. These shared aspects in their temperament mean that Sebastian and Viola are more easily mistaken for each other; had they been vastly different, then perhaps the difference between the two would have been more easily discovered. Sebastian's reaction to Olivia's show of affection is parallel to a situation of yet another twin, Antipholus, in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors; Antipholus too was confronted by a woman claiming his affections, who mistook him for his identical twin. The reaction of the two twins is similar as well; Antipholus reacts by questioning his sanity and whether he is awake, just as Sebastian does in his aside. Both make the same decision in this situation as well; Sebastian himself decides to let his "sense in Lethe steep," alluding to the mythical river of oblivion to convey the capriciousness of his decision (IV.i.60). Here, again, the play depends on dramatic irony in its entertainment value to the audience, and in getting the characters to mistake each other. This situation presented in this scene is very funny because Olivia mistakes Sebastian for Viola, and Sebastian does not realize this identity mix-up he is involved in. The audience is wise to it all, and is entertained by knowing how these characters are confused, and by knowing that some kind of messy incident will be required in order to sort this situation out, and that both Olivia and Sebastian, not to mention the others, will be shocked by the truth. Feste continues his mischief in the next scene, with Malvolio; he disguises himself as a cleric named "Topaz," which is a stone that symbolized sanity, and hence was thought to be a cure for madness. Feste again speaks with a tone of fake intellectualism, poking fun of the habit of scholars to quote famous figures by concocting a reference to the fictional "old Hermit of Prague" (IV.ii.13). He corrupts the Spanish greeting "buenos dias" into something that almost sounds like Latin, "bonos dies," also to make himself sound more falsely authoritative. To convince Malvolio that he is insane, Feste tosses about a few paradoxes, and contradicts some of the things that Malvolio knows to be true. Feste begins by asking Malvolio if it is light or dark where he is imprisoned; Malvolio answers that it is indeed dark, and Feste counters him by swearing that there are "bay windows transparent as barricadoes" and "lustrous as ebony" (IV.ii.37). By barricadoes, Feste means "barricades," which are not at all transparent, and ebony is dark and black, rather than light; these statements are meant to contradict what Malvolio perceives, but also to confuse him through the paradox inherent in the statements. Feste then examines him as to his belief in Pythagoras' theory of souls, and threatens to leave Malvolio when Malvolio says he does not believe in it. It would be odd for a Christian parson to believe that souls inhabit other bodies after death, rather than believing the traditional Christian idea, that souls go to heaven; however, Malvolio does not pick up on this key fact, and does not realize that Sir Topaz is really Feste in disguise. Continuing his efforts, Feste upsets Malvolio by telling him that he is "more puzzled than Egyptians in their fog," referring to one of the plagues of Egypt in the Bible, which was a heavy fog of darkness that stayed for three days (IV.ii.45). Malvolio tries to reinforce his statement that the place where he is is dark, reasoning that "this house is as dark as ignorance, though ignorance were as dark as hell" (IV.ii.46-7). His attempt to qualify his perceptions through this simile shows how stubborn he is, and how difficult a time Feste and company will have if they want to drive Malvolio truly mad. Feste addresses Malvolio as himself as well; but to Malvolio's calls of "fool," Feste merely taunts him with a song that rubs in Malvolio's situation, of being in love with a woman who only cares for someone else. Malvolio's cries fall flat with Feste, who acts the part of a fool, but has been displayed as someone who is rather wise; it is ironic that Malvolio would call Feste a fool, since Malvolio has acted more of a fool than Feste usually does. During this scene, Malvolio is heard, but not seen, on stage. In some versions, he speaks from beneath the stage, and in a few other versions, he is behind the stage; the scene relies on Feste and his impersonation skills and, as written, does not give much sympathy to Malvolio. However, Malvolio's treatment, which was mostly comic in previous scenes, becomes rather cruel; Malvolio keeps begging to be let out, and for light and writing instruments, yet his pleas are ignored while Feste tries his best to make Malvolio seem even more foolish than he is. Feste is rather diffident to Malvolio, and his delight in tormenting Malvolio is rather sadistic as well; while before, Feste was witty, benevolent, and full of jests, here he reveals a darker side, as the play becomes a little darker as well. Act 5 Act V Summary:

Scene 1: Fabian asks Feste for the letter Malvolio has written; Feste refuses this request, and then Orsino, with Viola, finds them. Feste delays him with a bit of jesting, and gets some money out of him; Orsino asks him to find Olivia, and Feste goes to find her, with the promise of money for the task. Viola points out Antonio, who is being brought to them by officers; Orsino remembers Antonio from a sea-battle, and Viola tries to defend Antonio from charges of crime by noting his kindness to her. Antonio claims that he rescued Viola from drowning, and that they have been in each other's company ever since; Orsino says that this is nonsense, since Viola has been serving him the whole time. Then, Olivia approaches them, still denying Orsino's love, while admitting her affection for Viola. Orsino becomes angry at Viola, rather than Olivia, because of these developments; he begins to suspect Viola of double-dealings, and out of his anger, he admits his love for Viola, still disguised as a boy. Viola, for the first time, declares her love for Orsino, much to Olivia's consternation; Olivia counters this declaration by divulging that she was married, to Viola as Cesario, she thinks. A priest confirms Olivia's account, and Orsino becomes even more angry at Viola. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby enter, charging Viola with fighting them and injuring them; Viola is again shocked, and confused. Suddenly, Sebastian dashes in, apologizing for injuring Sir Toby; he expresses his happiness at seeing Antonio again, and acknowledges Olivia as his wife. Viola and Sebastian see each other again, and there is a joyful reunion. Sebastian reveals to Olivia that she married him, rather than his sister in disguise; Orsino swears that he loves Viola, and will marry her. Then, the action turns to Malvolio's condition; his letter is read, and his condition explained. Malvolio is upset at his mistreatment, and Olivia attempts to smooth things over; Fabian explains his, Sir Toby's, and Maria's part in Malvolio's torment. Then, Feste inflames Malvolio's anger, and he leaves, in a huff. Orsino pronounces that happiness will stay with all of them, and that his marriage to Viola will soon be performed. Feste closes the play with a song about "the wind and the rain," a reminder that even great happiness is not safe from life's storms. Act V Analysis: Scene 1: Feste and Fabian finally meet in Act V; before this, Fabian served as a kind of mid-action replacement for the vanished Feste, although he was less wise and witty than Feste, and of lesser entertainment value in the proceedings. Fabian's learning, unlike Feste's, is not fabricated, however; Fabian makes an allusion to a well-known anecdote about Queen Elizabeth with his "to give a dog, and in recompense desire my dog again," that proves he knows something about happenings that are contemporary to the play (V.i.5-6). The story he refers to was published shortly before the play was finished, and was about a man who gave his dog to Queen Elizabeth per her request, and then asked to have it back. Feste's behavior to Orsino at the beginning of this scene reveals that Feste has still not forgiven Orsino for dismissing him after his song to Orsino and Viola. Orsino addresses Feste and Fabian as "friends"a term that, considering Orsino's much higher station, is condescending in tone. Not even the Count is free from Feste's goading; Feste immediately sets upon him with the paradoxical premise that his well-being is "the better for [his] foes and the worse for [his] friends" (V.i.10-1). The explanation, which is somewhat facetious in its tone and intent, shows how expectations are sometimes thwarted, and how things can be the opposite of the way one expects. Feste's great cheekiness, in hustling Orsino for money just as he did to Viola at an earlier point, shows the great contrast between the lives of the two men, who are on opposite ends of the spectrum. Feste must live on these handouts that he squeezes out of people; Orsino has enough money to last his whole life, and is able to engage many people into his service. There is also a contrast between Feste's sharp and sometimes biting wit, and Orsino's more placid, plain-dealing nature, which has been further brought out by his relationship with Viola. Orsino, at last freed from the love-sickness that has weighed him down throughout the play, shows himself to be more fierce and experienced than he has previously appeared. His recollections of the sea-battle against Antonio show him as a man of action, a military leader with influence outside the narrow sphere of his household. He speaks with great force of remembering Antonio "besmeared as black as Vulcan in the smoke of war" (l. 47); the simile makes Antonio seem sinister again, and raises questions about the duality hinted at in Antonio's nature. The metaphorical relation inherent in the statement, between Antonio and Vulcan, the rough blacksmith of the gods, points toward something more brutal and warlike in Antonio as well. Orsino's angry, impassioned statement identifying Orsino also foreshadows his even more passionate, and unforeseen, rise to anger against Viola. When Olivia admits her love for Cesario, Orsino immediately suspects Cesario of betrayal, and turns ferocious on his confidante; "I'll sacrifice the lamb that I love," he says of Viola, even when she professes her love for him once again (V.i.126). What is also interesting about this situation is that Orsino finally admits that he loves his pagethough Viola is still Cesario, and has not yet been revealed as a womanand that his affections lie more with "Cesario" than with Olivia. Viola too admits her love for Orsino, which is greater "than e'er [Cesario] shall love wife" (l. 132); this introduces the issue of homosexuality, since Orsino is passionately in love with Viola, thinking she is "Cesario," a boy, and Viola is in love with Orsino, without anyone else knowing that Viola is a woman. These declarations are not treated like they are unusual however, or scandalous; perhaps the quick progression of the action prevents the characters and the audience from dwelling on the issue. This reversal of feelings on Orsino's part makes the conclusion, of Orsino's proposal to Viola after she is revealed, much more natural; Orsino has already given up on Olivia, so he has no hindrances in the end to marrying Viola. The issue of time surfaces again in this act; Antonio says that Sebastian has been in his company for three months, despite the fact that they landed in Illyria only earlier that day, which he also admits. Orsino echoes this time discrepancy, claiming that Viola has been in his service for three months previous as well. The play appears to take place over a very short span of time, with Viola landing immediately after the wreck,

and going immediately into Orsino's service; the three month span appears highly unlikely, and may have just been included to reinforce how the relationships between Sebastian and Antonio and between Orsino and Viola have become close in a very short period of time. The great amount of dramatic irony in this scene is used skillfully to add tension to Olivia's revelation about her marriage, and of the reunion of the twins as well. The audience is aware that Olivia has indeed married Sebastian, and that both twins are alive and well; yet, there is a sense of suspense with the audience as people wait for the characters to find out the truth and resolve these issues. In addition, Shakespeare uses the dramatic irony of this scene to provide some humor for the audience, while concurrently wringing some deep emotion out of the characters. Viola's casting off of Olivia, leading to Olivia's claim that she married Viola, is a scene that is humorous because of the oddity of the situation, and the fact that the audience has already figured out what has happened. But this foreknowledge of the resolution of this issue distracts from how greatly upset Olivia is by being brushed off by Viola, Viola's genuine confusion at Olivia's insistence, and Orsino's anger at the suggestion that Viola would do something like that behind his back. The actions being presented are very dramatic as far as the characters are concerned, but comedic for the audience; Shakespeare's doubling of these elements is sound, and is testament to his great skill in blending the elements of tragedy and comedy. The reunion of the twins is the inevitable climax of the play; before this moment, Sebastian has had no idea that Viola could still be alive, so the disbelief at seeing her again, and dressed to look like him, is acute. Viola is more calm, since her encounter with Antonio led her to believe that Sebastian was still alive and well; yet, there is great emotion on both sides at this lucky reuniting. At last, the theme of mistaken or hidden identity is resolved, with everyone having been revealed as their true selves. This part of the scene also marks the first time that the name "Viola" is used in the play; to a reader of the text, the character is indeed Viola, but to someone watching the play, she is Cesario, but nameless as a woman up until this point. It is fitting, however, that she only regains her name as she sheds her disguise; she finally is able to exchange one name for another, and to act on her love for Orsino. Antonio, baffled at seeing Sebastian and his duplicate, uses the symbol of "an apple cleft in two" to represent their resemblance, and how they are both a part of each other (l. 217). Malvolio is finally re-introduced into the play, as Viola reveals that Malvolio has imprisoned the sea captain that saved her, and who has possession of her things. This is indeed odd, since no mention has been made of this before, and since Malvolio is only a household steward, with no real authority to make such an arrest. This statement might only have been included so that Malvolio could be reintroduced into the scene, with a smooth transition from one item of business to the next; or, to reduce the amount of sympathy due to Malvolio, since he has still not learned his lessons. When Malvolio appears again, he speaks with composure, and in verse, for the first time in the play. He is not bewildered, as he had been throughout Act IV, but rather he seeks vengeance for the wrongs that he believes Olivia has done to him. Olivia, however, has done nothing to her steward; she defuses the situation very carefully, promising him justice, and speaking very politely, so as not to inflame him any further. But it is Feste who explains the situation, and stirs up Malvolio's anger once again. Just as it appears that Malvolio is satisfied with Olivia's pronouncement, Feste mocks what Malvolio had said to "Sir Topaz," and Malvolio's disdainful comments to him after he catches Feste and Sir Toby making a stir at night. Feste airs his resentment of Malvolio before the whole party, and turns it into pointed criticism of Malvolio; Malvolio, in return, is greatly angered, and swears that he will get revenge on Feste and his cohorts for what has been done to him. There is no real closure in Malvolio's situation; he ends the play just as high-strung as he had begun it, and rather than gathering any truths about himself from Feste's statements, places the blame on them and feels pumped up by self-righteousness once again. At the end of the play, Malvolio still has no knowledge of his failings; although the pranks played on him were meant to punish him for his pride and vanity, he has still not seen the error of his ways, or tried to change himself. Feste's statement about how his enemies "tell me plainly I am an ass, so that by my foes, sir, I profit in the knowledge of myself," could be taken as a justification for the whole attempt to bring Malvolio to penance (l. 16). If this declaration was indeed Feste's motivation in tormenting Malvolio, then in retrospect, his actions in Act IV were not as cruel as they seemed to be. Antonio, also, gains no closure in his situation. It may be that he will be forgiven of his past crimes because of his kindness to Viola and for rescuing Sebastian; but Orsino's last remarks to him denote a lingering anger and a sense of outrage for the sea-battle in which Antonio took place. His relationship with Sebastian is also left unresolved; his case is forgotten in light of the more dramatic events that take place after he is unmasked, with his friendship with Sebastian left hanging. The text is not very specific about whether Antonio is isolated from the group at the endthough Feste, through his own actions, certainly is. The relationship between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew is also unresolved at the end of the play; their last appearance has Sir Toby swearing at Sir Andrew, and apparently quitting Sir Andrew's company. Whether they are finally reconciled, or whether this rift remains in place, is not certain at the play's end; and Fabian himself stays on after Sir Toby and Sir Andrew exit, and does some rather cut-and-dry explanation of what they did to Malvolio. Fabian is the only supporting character without a fully developed personality; he seems to only exist in order to make explanations and drive the action along, with his personal characteristics remaining rather nebulous and unarticulated. Viola and Sebastian's remarks surrounding their reconciliation can be construed as almost comical, and certainly they are perfunctory and formal for two people in such an emotionally charged situation; though some productions take the opportunity to use this exchange as an poignant resolution of Sebastian's disbelief. This conversation, as contrived as it may be in its purpose and its language, gives the pair time to accept their reunion, and work through their undoubtedly passionate feelings. Sebastian's renewed pledge to Olivia, and Orsino's reconciliation with Viola, are expected developments in this kind of romantic comedy. Sebastian and Olivia are already married, and both express their continuing happiness at this development, despite being near-strangers to each other. But although Orsino pledges his love to Viola, and they agree to be married, the union is left postponed at the end of the play. Viola

must find the sea captain that has her clothes, and absolve him of whatever charges habe been brought against him, before the wedding takes placeor, at least according to her stated plan. As in other Shakespeare comedies, like Much Ado About Nothing or Love's Labours Lost, the ending is not simply cut and dry, and wholly happy. Although Orsino closes the action of the play with an optimistic statement about the "golden time" they are all about to enjoy, the play ends with a prologue song by Feste that mars the possibility of a completely happy end (V.i.372). The song's refrain is "for the rain it raineth every day," a final image that casts a pall over Orsino and the others' sunny expectations. Though this play is a comedy, with a good deal of light-hearted wordplay and amusing situations, yet the audience must remember that the play, like life itself, is bittersweet; some people come to happy endings, other people do not, and there is always the possibility that a storm will drive good, innocent people onto a foreign shore, and into different lives.