Twelfth Night - Couverture souple

[Dramatis Personae

Orsino, Duke (sometimes called Count) of Illyria

Valentine, gentleman attending on Orsino

Curio, gentleman attending on Orsino

Viola, a shipwrecked lady, later disguised as Cesario

Sebastian, twin brother of Viola

Antonio, a sea captain, friend to Sebastian

captain of the shipwrecked vessel

Olivia, a rich countess of Illyria

Maria, gentlewoman in Olivia's household

sir Toby belch, Olivia's uncle

sir Andrew Aguecheek, a companion of Sir Toby

Malvolio, steward of Olivia's household

Fabian, a member of Olivia's household

Feste, a clown, also called fool, Olivia's jester

a priest

first officer

second officer

Lords, Sailors, Musicians, and other Attendants

scene: Illyria]

1.1 Location: Orsino's court.

0.1 Illyria Nominally on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea, but with a suggestion also of "illusion" and "delirium."

4 fall cadence

9 quick and fresh keen and hungry

12 validity value.   pitch superiority. (Literally the highest point of a falcon's flight.)

13 abatement depreciation. (The lover's brain entertains innumerable fantasies but soon tires of them all.)

14 shapes imagined forms.   fancy love

15 it . . . fantastical it surpasses everything else in imaginative power.

17 the noblest . . . have i.e., my noblest part, my heart. (Punning on hart.)

21 fell fierce

22 pursue me (Alludes to the story in Ovid of Actaeon, who, having seen Diana bathing, was transformed into a stag and killed by his own hounds.)

1.1  A  Enter Orsino Duke of Illyria, Curio, and other

lords [with musicians].

Orsino

If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken and so die.

That strain again! It had a dying fall; 4

Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more.

'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, 9

That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, naught enters there,

Of what validity and pitch Soe'er, 12

But falls into abatement and low price 13

Even in a minute! So full of shapes is fancy 14

That it alone is high fantastical. 15

curio

Will you go hunt, my lord?

Orsino What, Curio?

curio The hart.

Orsino

Why, so I do, the noblest that I have. 17

Oh, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought she purged the air of pestilence.

That instant was I turned into a hart,

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, 21

E'er since pursue me.

Enter Valentine.

 How now, what news from her? 22

25 element sky.   seven years' heat seven summers

27 Cloistress nun secluded in a religious community

29 season keep fresh. (Playing on the idea of the salt in her tears.)

30 A brother's dead love her love for her dead brother and the memory of his love for her

32 frame construction

34 golden shaft Cupid's golden-tipped arrow, causing love. (His lead-tipped arrow causes aversion.)

35 affections else other feelings

36-8 when . . . king i.e., when passion, thought, and feeling all sit in majesty in their proper thrones (liver, brain, and heart), and her sweet perfections are brought to completion by her union with a single lord and husband.

1.2 Location: The seacoast.

4 Elysium classical abode of the blessed dead.

5-6 Perchance . . . perchance Perhaps . . . by mere chance

valentine

So please my lord, I might not be admitted,

But from her handmaid do return this answer:

The element itself, till seven years' heat, 25

Shall not behold her face at ample view;

But like a cloistress she will veiled walk, 27

And water once a day her chamber round

With eye-offending brine--all this to season 29

A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh 30

And lasting in her sad remembrance.

Orsino

Oh, she that hath a heart of that fine frame 32

To pay this debt of love but to a brother,

How will she love, when the rich golden shaft 34

Hath killed the flock of all affections else 35

That live in her; when liver, brain, and heart, 36

These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and filled 37

Her sweet perfections, with one self king! 38

Away before me to sweet beds of flowers.

Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

Exeunt.

1.2  A  Enter Viola, a Captain, and sailors.

Viola  What country, friends, is this?

captain  This is Illyria, lady.

Viola

And what should I do in Illyria?

My brother he is in Elysium. 4

Perchance he is not drowned. What think you, sailors? 5

captain

It is perchance that you yourself were saved. 6

Viola

Oh, my poor brother! And so perchance may he be.

8 chance i.e., what one may hope that chance will bring about

11 driving drifting, driven by the seas

14 lived i.e., kept afloat

15 Arion a Greek poet who so charmed the dolphins with his lyre that they saved him when he leaped into the sea to escape murderous sailors

19-21 unfoldeth . . . him offers a hopeful example that he may have escaped similarily, to which hope your speech provides support.

30 late lately

32 murmur rumor

33 less social inferiors

captain

True, madam, and to comfort you with chance, 8

Assure yourself, after our ship did split,

When you and those poor number saved with you

Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother, 11

Most provident in peril, bind himself,

Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,

To a strong mast that lived upon the sea; 14

Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back, 15

I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

So long as I could see.

viola  For saying so, there's gold. [She gives money.]

Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope, 19

Whereto thy speech serves for authority, 20

The like of him. Know'st thou this country? 21

captain

Ay, madam, well, for I was bred and born

Not three hours' travel from this very place.

viola  Who governs here?

captain  A noble duke, in nature as in name.

viola  What is his name?

captain  Orsino.

viola

Orsino! I have heard my father name him.

He was a bachelor then.

captain

And so is now, or was so very late; 30

For but a month ago I went from hence,

And then 'twas fresh in murmur--as, you know, 32

What great ones do the less will prattle of-- 33

That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

viola  What's she?

captain

A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count

42 delivered revealed, made known. (With suggestion of "born.")

43 Till . . . mellow until the time is ripe for my purpose

44 estate social rank.   compass encompass, bring about

46 not not even

48 though that though

51 character face or features as indicating moral qualities.

54-5 as haply . . . intent as may suit the nature of my purpose.

56 eunuch castrato, high-voiced singer

59 allow prove

61 wit plan, invention.

62 mute silent attendant. (Sometimes used of nonspeaking actors.)

That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her

In the protection of his son, her brother,

Who shortly also died; for whose dear love,

They say, she hath abjured the sight

And company of men.

viola Oh, that I served that lady,

And might not be delivered to the world 42

Till I had made mine own occasion mellow, 43

What my estate is!

captain That were hard to compass, 44

Because she will admit no kind of suit,

No, not the Duke's. 46

viola

There is a fair behavior in thee, Captain,

And though that nature with a beauteous wall 48

Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee

I will believe thou hast a mind that suits

With this thy fair and outward character. 51

I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,

Conceal me what I am, and be my aid

For such disguise as haply shall become 54

The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke. 55

Thou shalt present me as an eunuch to him. 56

It may be worth thy pains, for I can sing

And speak to him in many sorts of music

That will allow me very worth his service. 59

What else may hap, to time I will commit;

Only shape thou thy silence to my wit. 61

captain

Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be; 62

When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.

viola  I thank thee. Lead me on. Exeunt.

1.3 Location: Olivia's house.

5 cousin kinswoman

7 let . . . excepted i.e., let her take exception to my conduct all she wants; I don't care. (Plays on the legal phrase exceptis excipiendis, "with the exceptions before named.")

9 modest moderate

10 I'll . . . finer (1) I'll constrain myself no more rigorously (2) I'll dress myself no more finely

12 An If

20 tall brave. (But Maria pretends to take the word in the common sense.)

22 ducats coins worth about four or five shillings

23 he'll . . . ducats he'll spend all his money within a year.

25-6 viol-de-gamboys viola da gamba, leg-viol, bass viol

27 without book by heart

29 natural (With a play on the sense "born idiot.")

31 gift natural ability. (But shifted to mean "present" in line 33.)   allay the gust moderate the taste

1.3  A  Enter Sir Toby [Belch] and Maria.

sir Toby  What a plague means my niece to take the

death of her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy

to life.

Maria  By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier

o'nights. Your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions  5

to your ill hours.

sir Toby  Why, let her except before excepted. 7

Maria  Ay, but you must confine yourself within the

modest limits of order. 9

sir Toby  Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am.  10

These clothes are good enough to drink in, and so be

these boots too. An they be not, let them hang them-  12

selves in their own straps.

Maria  That quaffing and drinking will undo you. I

heard my lady talk of it yesterday, and of a foolish

knight that you brought in one night here to be her

wooer.

sir Toby  Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?

Maria  Ay, he.

sir Toby  He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria. 20

Maria  What's that to the purpose?

sir Toby  Why, he has three thousand ducats a year. 22

Maria  Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats.  23

He's a very fool and a prodigal.

sir Toby  Fie, that you'll say so! He plays o'th' viol-de-  25

gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word  26

for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of  27

nature.

Maria  He hath indeed, almost natural, for, besides that  29

he's a fool, he's a great quarreler, and but that he hath

the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quar-  31

34-5 substractors detractors

40 coistrel horsegroom, base fellow

42 parish top a large top provided by the parish to be spun by whipping, apparently for exercise.   Castiliano vulgo! (Of uncertain meaning. Possibly Sir Toby is saying "Speak of the devil!" Castiliano is the name adopted by a devil in Haughton's Grim the Collier of Croydon.)

43 Agueface (Like Aguecheek, this name betokens the thin, pale countenance of one suffering from an ague or fever.)

46 shrew i.e., diminutive creature. (But with probably unintended suggestion of shrewishness.)

48 Accost Go alongside (a nautical term), i.e., greet her, address her

50 chambermaid lady-in-waiting (a gentlewoman, not one who would do menial tasks).

55 front confront, come alongside

56 board greet, approach (as though preparing to board in a naval encounter)

57 undertake have to do with. (Here with unintended sexual suggestion, to which Maria mirthfully replies with her jokes about dry jests, barren, and buttery-bar.)

60 An . . . part If you let her leave

reling, 'tis thought among the prudent he would

quickly have the gift of a grave.

sir Toby  By this hand, they are scoundrels and sub-  34

stractors that say so of him. Who are they? 35

Maria  They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in

your company.

sir Toby  With drinking healths to my niece. I'll drink

to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and

drink in Illyria. He's a coward and a coistrel that will  40

not drink to my niece till his brains turn o'th' toe like

a parish top. What, wench? Castiliano vulgo! For here  42

comes Sir Andrew Agueface. 43

Enter Sir Andrew [Aguecheek].

sir Andrew  Sir Toby Belch! How now, Sir Toby Belch?

sir Toby  Sweet Sir Andrew!

sir Andrew [to Maria]  Bless you, fair shrew. 46

Maria  And you too, sir.

sir Toby  Accost, Sir Andrew, accost. 48

sir Andrew  What's that?

sir Toby  My niece's chambermaid. 50

sir Andrew  Good Mistress Accost, I desire better

acquaintance.

Maria  My name is Mary, sir.

sir Andrew  Good Mistress Mary Accost--

sir Toby  You mistake, knight. "Accost" is front her,  55

board her, woo her, assail her. 56

sir Andrew  By my troth, I would not undertake her in  57

this company. Is that the meaning of "accost"?

Maria  Fare you well, gentlemen. [Going.]

sir Toby  An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou  60

mightst never draw sword again.

sir Andrew  An you part so, mistress, I would I might

64 have . . . hand i.e., have to deal with fools. (But Maria puns on the literal sense.)

66 Marry i.e., Indeed. (Originally, "By the Virgin Mary.")

68 thought is free i.e., I may think what I like. (Proverbial; replying to do you think . . . in hand, above.)

69 buttery-bar ledge on top of the half-door to the buttery or the wine cellar. (Maria's language is sexually suggestive, though Sir Andrew seems oblivious to that.)

72 dry thirsty; also dried up, a sign of age and sexual debility

75 dry (1) ironic (2) dull, barren. (Referring to Sir Andrew.)

77 at my fingers' ends (1) at the ready (2) by the hand.

78 barren i.e., empty of jests and of Sir Andrew's hand.

79 thou . . . canary i.e., you look as if you need a drink. (Canary is a sweet wine from the Canary Islands.)

82 put me down (1) baffle my wits (2) lay me out flat.

89 Pourquoi Wh...