Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare
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Quote Bank: Rules and order
|
Quote |
Character |
Act/Scene |
|
“My lady takes great exception to your ill hours... you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.” |
Maria |
Act 1 Scene 3 |
|
“My lady will hang thee for thy absence.” |
Maria |
Act 1 Scene 5 |
|
“What think you of this fool, Malvolio? Doth he not mend?” |
Olivia |
Act 1 Scene 5 |
|
“I marvel your lady takes delight in such a barren rascal.” |
Malvolio |
Act 1 Scene 5 |
|
“There is no slander in an allowed fool though he do nothing but rail; nor no railing in a known discreet man though he do nothing but reprove.” |
Olivia |
Act 1 Scene 5 |
|
“And the fool shall look to the madman” |
Feste |
Act 1 Scene 5 |
|
“O time, thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a knot for me t’untie.” |
Viola |
Act 2 Scene 2 |
|
“To be up after midnight and go to bed then is early; so that to go to bed after midnight is to go to bed betimes.” |
Sir Toby |
Act 2 Scene 2 |
|
“My masters, are you mad?... Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you?” |
Malvolio |
Act 2 Scene 3 |
|
“Dost thou think that because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?” |
Sir Toby |
Act 2 Scene 3 |
|
“Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady’s favour at anything more than contempt, you would not give means for this uncivil rule” |
Malvolio |
Act 2 Scene 3 |
|
“The devil a puritan that [Malvolio] is... a time-pleaser, an affectioned ass, that cons state without book... [and thinks] that all that look on him love him.” |
Maria |
Act 2 Scene 3 |
|
“Pleasure will be paid, one time or another.” |
Feste |
Act 2 Scene 4 |
|
“Be opposite with a kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang arguments of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity” |
Malvolio |
Act 2 Scene 5 |
|
“Words are grown so false, I am loath to prove reason with them.” |
Feste |
Act 3 Scene 1 |
|
“Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines every where.” |
Feste |
Act 3 Scene 1 |
|
“This fellow is wise enough to play the fool” |
Viola |
Act 3 Scene 1 |
|
“Why, this is very midsummer madness.” |
Olivia |
Act 3 Scene 4 |
|
“If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction.” |
Fabian |
Act 3 Scene 4 |
|
“Why, we shall make him mad indeed.” |
Fabian |
Act 3 Scene 4 |
|
“There’s something in me that reproves my fault; But such a headstrong potent fault it is, That it but mocks reproof.” |
Olivia |
Act 3 Scene 4 |
|
“Are all the people mad?” |
Sebastian |
Act 4 Scene 1 |
|
“Never was man thus wronged: good Sir Topas, do not think I am mad: they have laid me here in hideous darkness.” |
Malvolio |
Act 4 Scene 2 |
|
“Now go with me and with this holy man... And underneath that consecrated roof, / Plight me the full assurance of your faith” |
Olivia |
Act 4 Scene 3 |
|
“A contract of eternal bond of love” |
Priest |
Act 5 Scene 1 |
|
“I hate a drunken rogue... an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave, a thin-faced knave, a gull” |
Sir Toby |
Act 5 Scene 1 |
|
“So it comes, lady, you have been mistook. But nature to her bias drew in that. You would have been contracted to a maid” |
Sebastian |
Act 5 Scene 1 |
|
“Your master quits you; and for your service done him, / So much against the mettle of your sex, / So far below your soft and tender breeding... you shall from this time be / Your mater’s mistress.” |
Orsino |
Act 5 Scene 1 |
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Twelfth Night
Sample Essay
Count Orsino is infatuated with the Countess Olivia, who refuses his suit.
Viola is washed ashore after a shipwreck, her twin brother presumed drowned. She disguises herself as a man in order to serve in Orsino’s court. As ‘Cesario’, Viola quickly gains favour and is sent by Orsino to woo Olivia on his behalf. Viola does so reluctantly, having fallen in love with Orsino herself.
Olivia then falls in love with ‘Cesario’, forming a classic love triangle. Viola’s twin brother, Sebastian, is alive! A Captain called Antonio rescued him from the shipwreck. Sebastion looks exactly like his sister, who he assumes has drowned. Antonio cannot walk openly as he is a wanted man, so they arrange to meet up later.
Olivia’s uncle Sir Toby Belch and the incompetent knight Sir Andrew Ague, a suitor to Olivia, spend their days in drunken rowdiness at her court, sometimes joined by Olivia’s gentlewoman Maria, to the disdain of the steward Malvolio. He rebukes all three for some late-night revelry. In revenge, Maria forges a letter which convinces Malvolio that Olivia loves him, and that he should carry out various ridiculous actions if he loves her in return.
Viola/Cesario is sent again to Olivia, where the Countess confesses her love. Upset that Olivia shows more favour to Cesario than to himself, Sir Andrew challenges Viola/Cesario to a duel. Antonio, mistaking Viola for her brother, steps in to fight on ‘Sebastian’s’ behalf. As he is dragged away by police, Antonio is upset that Viola does not recognise him. Viola begins to suspect that her brother is alive and leaves. Spurred on by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew follows to continue the fight.
Malvolio approaches Olivia, enacting the absurd instructions of Maria’s forged love-letter. Olivia assumes he has gone mad and leaves him with Maria and Sir Toby, who delight in pretending he is possessed by Satan, and lock him up.
Sir Andrew fights Sebastian, believing him to be Cesario, and Olivia rushes to intervene. She begs forgiveness from Sebastian, also taking him for Cesario, who is at once confused and delighted by her tenderness, and agrees to marry her.
Finally, Orsino decides to visit Olivia himself, with Cesario/Viola tagging along. When Olivia rejects him again Orsino threatens to kill Cesario, despite his own strong affections for the page, suspecting her to be in love with ‘him’. Dismayed at Viola/Cesario’s willingness to die for the Count, Olivia reveals that they are married, to Viola’s bafflement.
Sebastian enters. Everyone is amazed to see the identical Viola and Sebastion together, and they are overjoyed to have found one another. Orsino realises that Viola loves him, and agrees to marry her.
Malvolio arrives with the letter, which Olivia reveals was written by Maria (now married to Sir Toby), and he vows to be revenged.
The play is riddled with appearances from the fool Feste, who ends the play with a song about growing through life’s stages, the chaos of human experience, and the hope that the audience enjoyed the play.
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