{"id":295,"date":"2024-04-14T06:16:38","date_gmt":"2024-04-14T13:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/?page_id=295"},"modified":"2025-10-10T12:29:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:29:44","slug":"twelfth-night-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ajdrake.com\/shakespeare\/twelfth-night-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelfth Night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Questions on
Shakespeare’s Comedies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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HOME<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
OLLI<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
QUESTIONS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
COMMENTARIES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
AUDIO<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
GUIDES<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
LINKS<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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ACT 1<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 2<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 3<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 4<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
ACT 5<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, or What You Will.<\/em> (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies,<\/em> 3rd ed. 743-97.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1. Romantic-era critic William Hazlitt\u2019s 1817 essay on Twelfth Night<\/em> suggests that in Shakespeare\u2019s approach to comedy, \u201cthe foibles and follies of individuals are of nature\u2019s planting, not the growth of art or study.\u201d In Act 1, Scene 1, how might Hazlitt\u2019s general statement be a key to understanding Duke Orsino? To what excess or \u201cfoible\u201d is he prone? Is he in love with Olivia, or with something else? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. In Act 1, Scene 2, what is the situation on the Illyrian coast? That is, what has happened to Viola and her brother? What plan does Viola announce to the Captain when he mentions first Countess Olivia, and then Duke Orsino? How does this scene establish Viola as the play\u2019s central character?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. In Act 1, Scene 3, what is Sir Toby Belch\u2019s attitude towards his niece Countess Olivia\u2019s insistence on mourning for her departed brother? What is his philosophy of life generally? What accounts for his interest in Sir Andrew Aguecheek, and what advice does Sir Toby offer Sir Andrew in his courtship of Olivia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. In Act 1, Scene 4, what is the basis of the intimacy that quickly forms between Duke Orsino and Viola (disguised as \u201cCesario\u201d)? Why does the Duke think his suit to Olivia will succeed if he employs \u201cCesario\u201d as his intermediary\u2014what is the problem with his logic in this regard? What issue has Viola, in her own person, already run into by being chosen as the Duke\u2019s messenger in his suit to Olivia?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. In Act 1, Scene 5, we meet Olivia\u2019s Clown, Feste. Consider the bantering between this character and Maria, and then with Olivia herself. How does Feste describe his profession to Maria, and afterwards, what argument does he advance to \u201cprove\u201d Olivia a fool? Why would he want to prove such a thing? More broadly, how do you understand his remark, \u201cAny thing that\u2019s mended is but \/ patched\u201d (1.5.41)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. In Act 1, Scene 5, what disagreement does Olivia have with her steward, Malvolio, over Feste\u2019s merit? What is the basis of Malvolio\u2019s dislike of Feste, and how does the Countess defend Feste in spite of her present misgivings about him\u2014why doesn\u2019t she credit anything her steward says about him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. In Act 1, Scene 5, Olivia decides to grant a hearing to the Duke\u2019s current attempt to woo her in the person of \u201dCesario.\u201d What qualities make the messenger so attractive to Olivia that she overlooks her disdain for the Duke? What effect does \u201cCesario\u2019s\u201d presence have on Countess Olivia\u2019s resolution to observe strict mourning protocol?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. In Act 1, Scene 5, how does \u201cCesario\u201d manage the task of wooing by proxy for Duke Orsino, and how does she\/he respond to Countess Olivia\u2019s defensive witticisms, such as describing her face as a \u201cpicture\u201d (1.5.215ff) and promising to hand out \u201cdivers[e] schedules\u201d of her beauty? In sum, how does Viola characterize and actually play the part of a male suitor?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. In Act 1, Scene 5, by the scene\u2019s end, Olivia has fallen madly in love with the visitor she believes is the male youth \u201cCesario.\u201d When she is finally alone with her thoughts, how does the Countess explain predicament to herself? What plot does she whip up to get her new one-way love interest \u201cCesario\u201d to return?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 2<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

10. In Act 2, Scene 1, Antonio and Sebastian converse after the latter has been rescued from the shipwreck that he believes drowned his sister Viola. What account does Sebastian give of himself, including his sister\u2019s and his own appearance? How might we characterize the affinity that seems to arise suddenly between Antonio and Sebastian? What other Shakespeare plays emphasize male friendship in this manner?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. In Act 2, Scene 2, Malvolio presents himself to \u201cCesario\u201d and insists on giving him a ring back that he never left with Olivia in the first place. How does Viola process the complication that has arisen since her proxy wooing (as \u201cCesario\u201d) of Olivia in the service of Duke Orsino? Is Viola also offering us her reflections on gender, on the different sensibilities of men and women? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. In Act 2, Scene 2, Viola concludes her thoughts by addressing time: \u201cO time, thou must untangle this, not I. \/ It is too hard a knot for me t\u2019untie\u201d (2.3.39-40).  This may seem a rather passive approach to her predicament. Yet that probably doesn\u2019t seem to us weak or wrong. How is it that she can speak this way, and yet remain the play\u2019s most favored character, or \u201cheroine\u201d? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13. In Act 2, Scene 3, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew banter with Feste the Clown. How does Feste manage to impress Sir Andrew? When Andrew and Toby ask Feste to sing them a song, what kind of song does he sing? How does this song somewhat counteract the implications of Countess Olivia\u2019s jests to \u201cCesario\u201d about her own beauty in Act 1, Scene 5?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14. In Act 2, Scene 3, Maria enters while Toby, Andrew, and Feste are singing a comic popular song or \u201ccatch,\u201d and warns them that Olivia may already have called on Malvolio to toss them out for making a racket. When Malvolio arrives, how does he handle the situation\u2014what criticism, and then what threat, does he aim at the revelers, and how does Toby answer it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15. In Act 2, Scene 3, with Sir Toby\u2019s encouragement, Maria works up a plot against Malvolio to pay him back for being a scold. What does Maria apparently think of Malvolio\u2019s character, and what payback does she plan? What makes the plan so appropriate to Malvolio\u2019s character, and what\u2019s the connection between this trickery-plot and the larger action of the play (i.e., the one that centers on the love-pursuits of Viola, Olivia, and Orsino)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16. In Act 2, Scene 4, Viola is by now in as strong a state of passion for the Duke as the Duke supposedly is for Olivia, which makes for an interesting discussion about the relative strength of men\u2019s love and women\u2019s love. How does each character argue the case? How, in particular, does Viola, as \u201cCesario,\u201d defend the quality of women\u2019s love? Does her gender-disguise afford her any advantages or insights? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17. In Act 2, Scene 5, to the delight of Sir Toby and Maria, Malvolio falls head-first into the trap that Maria has set for him. How does he interpret the alleged signs of Olivia\u2019s affection, and in the process of doing that, how does he size up his own worth and his prospects going forward as well as reveal himself to be a hypocrite? How does he fancy that he would treat others if he wereCountess Olivia\u2019s exalted husband?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 3<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

18. In Act 3, Scene 1, Feste the Clown greets \u201cCesario,\u201d who is on the way to speak to Olivia again. How does Feste sum up for Viola\/Cesario his own role as a fool? How does he fold in some reflection on the uses and abuses of language? What is Viola\/Cesario\u2019s estimation of Feste\u2019s qualities as an observer and as a speaker?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19. In Act 3, Scene 1, describe the impasse between Viola\/Cesario and Countess Olivia with regard to the latter\u2019s passion for this servant of Duke Orsino. How might Olivia\u2019s passion for \u201cCesario\u201d be differentiated from the passion that Orsino professes for Olivia? What injury does Olivia accuse \u201cCesario\u201d of doing to her? How does Viola\/Cesario respond to this charge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20. In Act 3, Scene 2, what advice do Fabian and then Toby give Andrew about his role as a suitor seeking the affections of Countess Olivia? What kind of letter does Toby encourage Andrew to write\u2014what should characterize its style and what objective will it try to accomplish? When Toby and Fabian are alone, what does Toby admit to Fabian about his true opinion of Andrew, and intentions toward him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21. In Act 3, Scene 3, what does Antonio confess to Sebastian about the reason he has followed him to town and the peril he, Antonio, is in just by being in Illyria? What is Antonio\u2019s brief but significant \u201cback story\u201d? Why does he give Sebastian his purse just as the two men are taking leave of each other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22. In Act 3, Scene 4, how does Maria and Toby\u2019s joke on Malvolio play out in front of Olivia? What does he do that, at least to the unapprised Olivia, marks him as a madman? How does the Countess react to this strange attempt to court her? What instructions does she give to ensure Malvolio\u2019s safety, and how do those instructions immediately backfire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

23. In Act 3, Scene 4, Malvolio, having made an ass of himself with his bizarre courtship of Olivia, is questioned by Sir Toby, and then carted off to a dark cell as a madman. How does Toby describe the course that he wants this jest or \u201cdevice\u201d to follow, now that he and his confederates have Malvolio in their power? What limit does Toby set to how far the jest will go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24. In Act 3, Scene 4, Olivia briefly entertains \u201cCesario\u201d again. How does this round of conversation go? What is Olivia\u2019s concern at this point\u2014what has she become anxious about in light of \u201cCesario\u2019s\u201d failure to respond to her passionate entreaties? How does \u201cCesario\u201d respond to the distressed Countess?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25. In Act 3, Scene 4, Sir Andrew brings Sir Toby his letter challenging \u201cCesario\u201d to a duel over the love of Countess Olivia. How does Toby manage the setting-up of the duel between \u201cCesario\u201d and Sir Andrew? How does Fabian insert himself into the proceedings since he stays behind with \u201cCesario\u201d while Toby goes to fetch Andrew? As for Sir Toby, while advising Andrew, what evaluation does he offer regarding male rhetoric about honor and violence?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26. In Act 3, Scene 4, as the duel shapes up, what does Viola, trapped in her disguise as \u201cCesario,\u201d admit to herself as well as to others about the way she regards this supposed opportunity to prove herself a man of valor? What happens when Antonio\u2014an actualman of valor\u2014shows up in the midst of this ridiculous spectacle? What happens, in turn, to Antonio, and why is he enraged with \u201cCesario\u201d?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 4<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

27. In Act 4, Scenes 1 and 3, Sebastian (once he escapes the crazy \u201cfight club\u201d situation that Andrew and Toby push him into) is at first surprised to find Olivia enamored of him (she thinks he is \u201cCesario,\u201d of course) and then, in Scene 3, agrees to her sudden proposal of marriage. He knows Olivia is mistaken, but still agrees. What explanation does Sebastian give for this decision? What connection does he make between love and madness\u2014one that is of course relevant to the play\u2019s action as a whole?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

28. In Act 4, Scene 1, first Sir Andrew strikes Sebastian with his sword, and then Sir Toby arrives and gets into the action with the newcomer, who is suitably astonished at this turn of events. What comment does this scene, by its mere enactment, make in connection to Twelfth Night\u2019s <\/em>larger exploration of \u201cmistaken identities\u201d\u2014a theme that we often see embedded in comic plays going all the way back to ancient Greece?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

29. In Act 4, Scene 2, Sir Toby and Feste the Clown have still more fun at the expense of the imprisoned Malvolio. What reservations is Sir Toby starting to have about the plot against Malvolio, and why? What observations does Feste (first as Sir Topas and then in his own person) make about insanity in the course of his chat with Malvolio? In particular, what is the significance of Topas\u2019s reference to Pythagoras and the doctrine of reincarnation or the transmigration of souls?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACT 5<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

30. At the outset of Act 5, Scene 1, Feste the Clown encounters Duke Orsino and is successful at getting him to tip liberally twice for his witticisms and wordplay. How does Orsino\u2019s refusal to tip Feste a third time set at least a temporary limit to the spirit of generosity by which truly comic endings are achieved? How does this moment help to set up the rest of the fifth act?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

31. In Act 5, Scene 1, Antonio is brought into Orsino\u2019s presence, and things look very bad for him when the Duke recognizes him as an enemy fighter. Then he mentions Viola\/Cesario. How, from Antonio\u2019s perspective, is \u201cCesario\u201d responsible for his current predicament? How does the Duke\u2019s observation about \u201cCesario\u2019s\u201d time of service to him make matters even worse for Antonio?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

32. In Act 5, Scene 1, Orsino becomes furious with Olivia when she again rejects his passionate suit, and he even threatens to sacrifice Cesario to spite her. When we witness how Orsino\u2019s anger flares in the play\u2019s concluding act, how might we understand his presence as involving not simply the perspective of an individual suitor but also a structural principle or device in the comic genre? What principle vital to the comic love pursuit does Orsino\u2019s angry and vengeful behavior drive home?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

33. Next up in the series of \u201cknots\u201d to be cinched still tighter for a time in Act 5, Scene 1 is Olivia\u2019s confusion when \u201cCesario\u201d can\u2019t acknowledge having already married the Countess\u2014a \u201cfailure\u201d that not only distresses Olivia but also deepens the Duke\u2019s anger and disappointment. To what extent, though, is Orsino\u2019s despair most likely about something in addition to his exasperation over Olivia\u2019s repeated refusals? Might \u201cCesario\u201d have more to do with Orsino\u2019s frustration than is at first apparent? Explain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

34. In Act 5, Scene 1, how (by what device) does Shakespeare untie the comic knots of mistaken identity in the first four acts and persisting into the fifth act\u2014 namely the confusion, frustration, and trouble caused in part by Viola\u2019s gender disguise as \u201cCesario\u201d? How does the tumbling entrance of the injured Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste, and, most importantly, Sebastian make the untying possible? How do Viola and Sebastian complete this process face-to-face, and mutually prove their kinship?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

35. In Act 5, Scene 1, there remains one last \u201cknot\u201d to untie: Malvolio is furious over the harsh treatment visited on him by Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian, and Feste. First he sends a letter demanding that Countess Olivia explain what he supposes to be her part in abusing him, and then he shows up in person. How does Fabian unspool the conspiracy and assess the harm it has done? What does Feste\u2019s confessional observation about \u201cthe whirligig of time\u201d add to the explanation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

36. In Act 5, Scene 1, with regard to Malvolio\u2019s promise to exact revenge and his abrupt exit at the play\u2019s end, some critics have taken the priggish Steward\u2019s claims to victim-status seriously. Malvolio\u2019s parting threat certainly injects a sour note into a symphony of happy marriages. But how much weight should we accord his suffering as a drag on an otherwise fully comic play? Should we think of his punishment as just? If so, why? Or does Malvolio\u2019s suffering somewhat violate the comic spirit that otherwise reigns?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

37. Feste the Clown is one of Shakespeare\u2019s most interesting fools, and he\u2019s a musician, too, with songs gracing Acts 2.3, 2.4, 4.2, and the very end of 5.1. What significance do these songs hold in relation to the play\u2019s broad concerns, such as the power of love in and over people\u2019s lives, personal autonomy or the lack thereof, the balance of freedom and responsibility, the inevitability of change and death, or other relevant issues? (Address the final song, \u201cWhen that I was \u2026\u201d and at least one other.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edition.<\/strong>\u00a0Greenblatt, Stephen et al., editors.\u00a0The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies + Digital Edition. <\/em>3rd ed. W. W. Norton, 2016. ISBN-13:\u00a0978-0-393-93861-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2012, revised 2025 Alfred J. Drake<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document Timestamp: 3\/5\/2025 6:41 AM<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night, or What You Will. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 743-97.) 1. 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Twelfth Night, or What You Will. (The Norton Shakespeare: Comedies, 3rd ed. 743-97.) 1. 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