Hello. I'm Professor Melissa Aaron. Welcome to the second lecture on Twelfth Night.
When we last left off, we left off in Act Two, scene five, with the plot to ensnare Malvolio. We will get to see how this works out, and also the workings out of
time and chance as the Olivia, Orsino, and Viola situation works
that self out as well. In Act 3, scene 1, it seems Viola runs into Feste.
And it seems as though Feste is the first person to possibly recognize that
this young man is not what he appears to be. it's not un-Shakespearean for the fool to be
the smartest character in the play. That's certainly true here.
And they joke back and forth, and then Viola gives Feste some money, and as
Feste reaches for the money for the tip, he says, "now, Jove in his next commodity
of hair send thee a beard. "By my troth, I'll tell thee, I am almost sick for one
though I would not have it grow on my chin. Is thy lady within?" Now what he seems
to be asking is, "hmm. How come you don't have a beard. Yeah, even a 5 o'clock
shadow or anything. What is this, son?" And Viola admits that she's almost sick for
a beard, but of course the beard that she would like to have is Orsino's beard.
She's not interested in having a beard of her own at all. And Viola and Feste
almost keep each other's secrets. Feste does not say anything. He says "I'm not
going to; I'll just pass on your message that you want to talk to Olivia." And
Viola recognizes how intelligent he is. "This fellow is wise enough to play the
fool,/ And to do that well craves a kind of wit./ He must observe their mood on
whom he jests,/ the quality of persons a nd the time,/ And like the haggard, check at
every feather /that comes before his eye.This is a practice/Full of labor as a
wise man's art." And so she recognizes that Festa has to have, above
all, flexibility: the ability to gauge the person that he's talking to, in the
situation that he's in, Feste and Viola being equally flexible characters. Olivia
wants to know what is going on with Cesario, and whether or not this is
going to be helpful: whether it's going to work out.
Viola is trying to press for Orsino, and that doesn't seem to be working.
Olivia, in fact, dismisses any talk of Orsino again. "Oh, by your leave, I pray you,/
I bad you never speak again of him./ But would you undertake another suit,/ I had
rather hear you to solicit that,/ Than music from the spheres."/ "Dear lady, give me
leave beseech you."/ I did send after the last enchantment that you did here,/ A
ring in chase of you; so did I abuse myself, my servant, and I fear me, you./
Under your hard construction must I sit/ To force that on you in a shameful
cunning/ Which you knew none of yours." And so first she tries to say, "well, I would
love to hear you say something." And then she hints, and of course what happens is
that Viola is not going to say what Olivia wants to hear. "So, let me hear you
speak." "I pity you,"/ "That's a degree to love." And just like Orsino, she's hearing what
she wants to hear. "No not a grieze, for't is a vulgar proof ,/that very oft we pity
enemies."/ "Why then, me thinks tis time to smile again./ O world, how apt the poor are
to be proud! if one should be a prey, how much the better/ That one should fall
before the lion than the wolf./ The clock upbraids me with a waste of time. Be not
afraid, good youth, I will not have you./ And yet, when wit and youth has come to
harvest,/ Your wife is like to reap a proper man./ There lies your way, due west./
"then Westward ho! /You'll nothing, madam, to my lord by me?"/ Stay! I prithee tell me
what thou think'st of me." "That you do think you are not what you
are."/ "If I think so, I think the same of you." /"Then think you right. I am not what I
am."/ "I would you have what I would have you
be."And that's the cry of distress of lovers everywhere. I wish you were what I wish
you were, not what you are." And so this is still somewhat immature love: the
inability to love somebody as they are. And of course in this particular case, if
Olivia knew all the facts about Viola, she wouldn't be in love with her at all--
or at least possibly not. She's tried everything, and now, at this point, she
just simply tosses her dignity to the winds. "Cesario, by the roses of the spring,/
By maidhood, honor, truth, and everything,/ I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride,/ Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide./ Do not extort thy reasons from this
clause, /For that I woo, for therefore hast no cause; /but rather reason thus with reason's
fetter,/ love sought is good, but given unsought is better." And so now she just
straight out says, "I love you, and I want you to love me back." And Viola still
will not respond the way that Olivia wants her to. "By innocence, I swear,
and by my youth,/ I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth,/ And that no woman
has nor never none/ Shall mistress be of it, save I alone./ and so, adieu, good
madam./ Nevermore will I my Master's love to you deplore." So she's in essence
saying, "I'm the only woman who's in control of my own heart," and of course
she really is a woman. Again, it's almost like a hint. And Olivia is desperate and
says, "well, fine. Okay. Just come back to talk to me about Orsino. As long
as you come back. it doesn't make much difference ." Now, Maria hints that
Malvolio is quite a sight to see, and we get a little bit of a pause in there. She
says that he looks hysterical, that he's got the yellow
stockings, and this is again heightening the suspense. Sebastian
and Antonio are talking, and Antonio says that he is willing to follow Sebastian to
Illyria, despite the fact that it's a dangerous place for him to go." And
one of the questions is, why is Antonio so super eager to help Sebastian? Could
it in fact be that he is in love with him? In fact, he's so eager to help that
he gives him his entire wallet, and even Sebastian thinks that's a little bit
much. He says, "why do you want me to carry your purse? Then the answer is, "well, you
might like to buy something. I'll meet you at The Elephant." Now, I don't know if
there were a lot of inns in Illyria called The Elephant, but there's a famous
pub called the Elephant and Castle in London, and that is almost an inn, and
there's a reference to "in the south suburbs that The Elephant is best to
lodge." So this is really London when you get right down to it, and Shakespeare is
making a reference to an inn that everyone would have known.
Olivia sends for Malvolio because she thinks that he's going to be sober and
sad and she's in a bit of a bad mood, and instead Malvolio comes in in his yellow
stockings. At this point it seems as though everyone has gone stark staring
mad. "I am as mad as he/ if sad and merry madness equal be. How now Malvolio?" "Sweet
lady, ho, ho!" "Smilest thou? I sent for thee upon a sad occasion." "Sad, lady? I could be
sad. This does make some obstruction in the blood, this cross-gartering, but
what of that? If it please the eye of one, it is with me as the very true sonnet is:
please one, and please all." "How dost though, man? What is the matter with thee?"
"Not black in my mind, though yellow in my legs. It did come to his hands and
commands shall be executed. I think we do know the sweet Roman hand." Now, he's
making all these references to the letter, figuring that she'll understand
what he's talking about, but of course she's never seen this letter. She has no
idea, and it just comes across that he is crazy. And he also makes a reference to
there being "some obstruction in the blood , this cross-gartering." He's
a little bit older than he used to be, and wearing cross garters has cut off
his circulation. It kind of makes his legs go to sleep. "Wilt thou go to bed
Malvolio?" Now, she thinks, you know, he must be running a fever. Wow! To bed
already! "To bed? Aye, sweetheart, and I'll come to thee." "God
comfort thee! Why does thou smile so, and kiss thy hand so oft?" So of course,
Olivia thinks he's completely crazy and he ought to be locked up somewhere safe.
She suggests that what should probably be done with him (she doesn't, she
mustn't be thinking very carefully), because she says Sir Toby should look to
him. Now, she isn't thinking of the fact that Sir Toby hates Malvolio, and
Sir Toby thinks this is a great opportunity. We can pretend that
we think he is crazy, and we can lock him up in a dark room, and in fact treat him
the way "madmen" were treated. "Madmen" were treated extremely badly at this time. In
fact, just like fools, they were considered to be a form of entertainment.
You may have heard the term that something is like Bedlam or that Bedlam has broken loose. That's that's a reference to the hospital of
Bethlehem Hospital, which was pronounced "Bedlam," and people went to Bedlam
Hospital to watch the "mad people" as though they were going to the zoo today.
It's one of the facts about Shakespeare's culture which is not very
pleasant. and So sir Toby thinks that he can play on Malvolio like this for a
pastime. In addition Malvolio is not crazy yet, but being treated like a crazy
person, and being locked up like a crazy person, and put into a dark room, is the
kind of thing that's been known to make people crazy, so this is not particularly
a nice thing to happen to him. Now there's another "joke" that Sir Toby
decides to play, and the joke is that he wants to have Sir Andrew challenge Viola
to a duel. He thinks that's going to be very funny, because Viola and of course
Sir Andrew are terrible cowards; Viola because she's naturally a coward, because
of course women are, and Sir Andrew just because he is is, so he figures nobody's
going to get hurt. Instead, what happens is that Antonio breaks up the duel, he
gets arrested, he asks Viola for his purse back, thinking that viola is
Sebastian, and then starts to scream at her, saying: you are an ungrateful
person. I've given you my purse. I can't believe that you would repay me
in this particular way. Instead of being merely distressed that this apparent
stranger is screaming at her, Viola is very relieved to hear her brother's name.
"Prove true, imagination, oh prove true/ that I, dear brother, be now ta'en for you!/
He named Sebastian. I my brother know yet living in my glass. Even such and so in
favor was my brother, and he went still in this fashion, color, ornament, for him i
imitate. Oh if it prove, tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love!" So
the sea takes away. Maybe the sea is going to give back. And also we hear for
the first time that Viola has really made herself into her brother, that she
imitates her brother, and that that is why Antonio has decided that this is in
fact Sebastian. We've heard Sebastian's name. We have not still yet heard Viola's. I
told you to keep an ear out for that. Still keep your ear out for it, because
we haven't heard it yet. Know, as I said, at this point, everything seems
to have gone completely haywire. Everybody seems to be behaving
in a completely crazy manner. And the question is that when Sebastian
shows up, do things immediately resolve themselves? His appearance, in
fact, first makes things worse. He successfully does all the things that
Viola can't do, because Viola is a woman. At first, when Feste runs into him, he
cannot believe that Sebastian doesn't recognize him. "Will you make me believe
that I am NOT sent for you?" "Go to, go to. Thou art a foolish fellow. Let me be
clear of thee." "Well held out of faith! No I do not know you, nor I am not sent to
you by my lady to bid you come speak with her, nor your name is not Master
Cesario, nor this is not my nose neither. Nothing that is so, is so." "I prithee, vent
thy folly somewhere else. Thou know'st not me."
So Sebastian just gives him money and tells him to go away.
Feste is always happy to get money. And then in comes Sir Andrew and Sir Toby.
They figure this is Viola, and that they can start up this fight again, and Sir
Andrew slaps him in the face. And that is a mistake,
because instead Sebastian hits him right back. "Now, sir, have I met you again? There's for you!"
"Why, there is for thee, and there, and there! Are all the people mad? Hold, sir, I'll
throw your dagger o'er the house." "This will I tell my lady straight. I would not be
in some of your coats for tuppence." Sir Andrew is sitting there going, "he hit me!" Now, of
course, he hit him first, but it's still not something he was expecting. It's very
distressing. And in the process of this fight, Sir Toby starts to fight with
Sebastian, and Olivia comes in and stops the fight. "Will it be ever thus?
Ungracious wretch! fit for the mountains and the barbarous caves where manners ne'er
were preached! out of my sight!--Be not offended, dear Cesario.-- Rudesby, be gone! I
prithee, gentle friend, let thy fair wisdom and unjust extent
against thy peace. Go with me to my house, and hear there how many fruitless pranks
this ruffian hath botched up that thou thereby may smile at this.
Thou shalt not choose but go. Do not deny. Beshrew his soul for me! He started one
poor heart of mine in thee." So from Sebastian's point of view, some
stranger walks up to him and says "Oh, my lady wants to see you!" Another total
stranger comes up and hits him in the face. Another total stranger
starts a figh,t and a fourth total stranger who is Olivia, a beautiful
woman comes out and stops the fight, says that she knows him and that she's in love
with him, and will you come to my house?"
Hmmm. Now, Sebastian, despite the fact that he reacts very differently in the sense
that he is a man and not a woman, and does all the things that Viola cannot do,
is very similar to his sister, and that he is flexible and he's willing to go
with whatever seems to be the appropriate thing. "What relish is in this?
How runs the stream? Or I am mad, or else this is a dream. What fancy still my
sense in Lethe steep if it be us to dream, still let me sleep." "Nay come, I
prithee. Will'st thou be ruled by me?" "Madam, I will."
"Oh say so, and so be!" So that's a bit of a surprise for Olivia. Will you come with me?" Sure! Sounds good!" because from Sebastian's point of view
This is an attractive and apparently wealthy young woman who him
to just come back with her for unspecified purposes. This sounds good to
him. The madman scene is not some which I'm
going to go into in great detail, except that it does talk it does show you a
little bit of the Renaissance treatment of the "mad." Also, you'll notice that
Malvolio is extremely insistent that he is not, in fact, crazy. While that is
true, on the other hand one of the the things that crazy people
tend to do is never to question their own sanity, and it's an interesting contrast
to Sebastian's that responds a little bit later.
Malvolio insists that that he is not crazy, and he's complaining about
being locked in the dark, and finally convinces Feste to give him a piece of
paper and a pen so that he can write a letter to Olivia. Sebastian is now also
forced to deal with this. Is this is this a dream, or
is he in fact crazy? And instead of insisting I know I'm sane," he starts to
do some reality checking. Is this real? Is this real? Is this real? "This is the air,
that is the glorious Sun, This pearl she gave me, I do feel it and see it; and
though 'tis wonder that enwraps me thus, yet 'tis not madness. Where's Antonio?
I could not find him at the Elephant. Yet there he was, and there I found this
credit, that he did range the town to seek me out. And so we see that in fact
it Sebastian has been concerned about Antonio. He hasn't just left him up to
his own devices, and he also thinks that he would like to have Antonio's advice
in this particular situation. "For though my soul disputes
well with my sense ,that this may be some error, but no madness, yet does this
accident and flood of fortune so far exceed all instance, all discourse, that I
am ready to distrust mine eyes and wrangle with my reason that persuades me
to any other trust that I am mad. Or else the lady's mad, yet if it were so she
could not sway her house, command her followers, take and give back affairs and
their dispatch with such a smooth, discreet, and stable bearing as I perceive
she does." "Well, either I'm crazy, or she's crazy, but
I don't think I'm crazy, and obviously she's not crazy or she wouldn't be able
to have such good control of her household." That's kind of ironic,
considering the sort of infighting that's been going on in her household
and all the drunken brawling, but nevertheless, Sebastian is right. Except
for being a little bit love crazy, there's nothing wrong with Olivia.
Olivia's decided not to waste any time. She's brought back a priest and she says let's get married right away. I don't want you to change your mind.
She thinks "my too jealous soul" is a little bit
concerned. And so Sebastian has to make an instant decision. What do you
say? Sebastian says, "Sure!" Now I must caution you not to try this at
home, But this is a Shakespeare play and so it's going to come out well. There's a
sense in which this is almost predestined, and Sebastian recognizes
that that is what he is supposed to do. He doesn't try to control matters. He
simply accepts his fortune, and his fortune is to marry Olivia. Now, in Act 5,
this is the first time that Orsino has actually left his house. It's also the
first time that they've actually met face-to-face, Orsino and Olivia, that
the two households actually face each other. First
Antonio comes out, and says this is the man that I rescued. He's been unfair to
me. He's been unjust. and the Duke thinks this is very strange because Antonio
claims "this boy has been with me for the last three months," and the Duke says,
"that's impossible. He's been spending the last three months with me."
Olivia comes in, and of course
Olivia is not interested
any more than she was. In fact, now she's married, so she's about as uninterested
in any kind of love suit as a person can possibly be. And she keeps appealing to
Viola to speak and to claim her. "What do you say, Cesario? good my lord." "My
lord would speak; my duty hushes me." "If it be aught to the old tune, my lord, it
is as fat and fulsome to mine ear as howling after music." "Still so cruel?" "Still
so constant, Lord." "What, to perverseness? You uncivil lady, to whose ingrate and
inauspicious altars my soul the faithfulest offerings have breathed out
that e're devotion tendered, what shall I do?" You know, "how can you be so ungrateful.
I've loved you for a long time." Well, that may be true, but of course, Olivia never
promised him anything. "Even what it please my lord that shall become him." "Why
should I not, had I the heart to do it, like to the Egyptian thief at point of
death kill what I love?-- (A savage jealousy that sometimes savors
nobly). But hear me this: since you to nonregardence cast my faith, and that I
partly know the instrument that screws me from my true place in your favor, live
you the marble breasted tyrant still. But this, your minion," (referring to Viola),
"whom I know you love, and whom by heaven I swear I tender dearly, him will I tear
out of that cruel eye where he sits crowned in his master's spite. Come, boy,
with me. My thoughts are ripe in mischief. I'll sacrifice the lamb that I
do love to spite a raven's heart within a dove." So he says, "I'm not going to kill
you but, I'm going to kill this boy that you love and whom by heaven I swear I
tender dearly," and in fact refers to Viola as a lamb. "I'll sacrifice the lamb
that I do love." This is something that teeters on the edge of tragedy. Viola
expresses her willingness to go with Orsino, who is willing to kill her right
offstage. The question is, what is making Orsino so upset? Is he angry because
Olivia has rejected him, or is he angry because he feels betrayed by Viola? who
do he really love here? Where's his real interest?
And the question is also, does he really realize that? Viola expresses her
willingness to go with him, and Olivia is horrified. "Where goes Cesario? "After him I
love; more than I love these eyes, more than my life, more by all mores than e'er
I shall love wife. If I do fain, you witnesses above, punish my life for
tainting of my love!" "Ay, me detested!how am i beguiled?" This is not the kind of
thing a wife wants to hear on her honeymoon: "I love him and I'll follow him to the ends of the earth;" it's not
promising coming from a young husband. And then she uses the magic word
Cesario, husband, stay?" "Husband?" "Aye, husband. Can he that deny?" and Viola is
left saying "I don't remember this at all." The priest who witnessed the
marriage comes in and says yes I married these two, and in fact insists on the
sacramental honesty of the act that he performed. He's not the kind of
person who is likely to engage in a practical joke.
Sir Andrew comes in. He's complaining because he's been hurt. And Sir Toby
comes in: he's complaining because he's been hurt by, of course, Sebastian and he
Viola is accused of having done all these things. All of these actions
are things that supposedly Viola did, but has no recollection of. In fact,
it's because they were done by her twin. When Sebastian comes in, he is at
first the only one who does not see his double standing on the other side of the
stage. "I am sorry, madam, I have hurt might your kinsman, but had it been the brother
of my blood I must have done no less with wit and safety.
You throw a strange regard upon me, and by that I do perceive it has offended
you. Pardon me, sweet one, even for the vows we
made each other but so late ago." "You're looking at me funny. I guess it
must mean you're upset with me." Well, of course, the reason that she and everybody
else is looking at him funny is because in fact there's two of him. "One
face, one voice, one habit and two persons: a natural perspective that is and is not."
And then Sebastien immediately recognizes Antonio and says "I'm so sorry."
We have to see that Sebastien is, in fact, concerned about
Antonio: that he is not the user that Antonio has accused him of being. And
Antonio says, "how have you made division of yourself?" and Sebastian then sees
another him. "Do I stand there? I never had a brother, nor can there be that deity in
my nature of here and everywhere. I had a sister whom the blind waves and surges
have devoured. Of charity, what kin are you to me? what countryman, what name, what
parentage?" "Of Messina, Sebastian was my father; such a Sebastian was my brother
too, so went he suited to his watery tomb. If spirits can assume both form and suit
you come to fright us. And he says, yes I am a spirit, but I'm a spirit in clothes,
in a body. I'm a living person. "Were you a woman, as the rest goes even, I should my
tears let fall upon your cheek and cry 'thrice welcome, drowned Viola.'" That's the
first time wel hear her name. She's been given her name back ,and with her
name, she's been given the right to be herself, something that she has not been
able to be for almost the whole play, she says the only thing that is between
me and being Viola is the fact that I am in "masculine usurped attire:" I'm dressed
as a man. "Ddo not embrace me till each circumstance of place, time, fortune do
cohere and jump that I am Viola." Now we can't really quite resolve it as neatly
as that, because the sea captain has her girl's clothes, and the sea captain's
been locked up by Malvolio, because he owes Malvolio money, and
Malvolio has just been locked up and they're gonna have to get him out.
Malvolio is very very cranky, like many people who have had something terrible
happened to them: a practical joke. Malvolio wants to know only one thing,
which is, "Why? Why did this happen to me? Why?" and he accuses Olivia of having hurt
his feelings and having set him up. "Why have you suffered me to be
imprisoned, kept in a dark house, visited by the priest, and made the most
notorious geck and gull that err invention played on? Tell me, why?" "Alas, Malvolio,
this is not my writing." Wel,l that's how it happened, because it was a practical
joke. "although I confess much like the character, but out of question, 'tis
Maria's hand. And now I do bethink me, it was she first told me that thou was mad."
Come to think of it, Maria was the one who set this up. She tells Malvolio that
he can be judge, jury, and executioner of the people who played the practical
joke on him, but instead Fabian steps forward and says, "you know. there's been a
lot of hard feeling on everybody's side. Sir Toby was so impressed with this
practical joke that he did, in fact, marry Maria, so we have three happy couples
not just one or two, and we also have the the idea that this practical
joke should just be seen as a joke, that everyone has, that this should "pluck
on laughter" rather than revenge. And Malvolio has the chance to laugh
this off too, to participate in this comic ending; but he doesn't do that.
Feste points out to him that now he's gotten some of his own back. " 'By the Lord,
fool, I am not mad.' But do you remember? "Madam, why laugh you at such a barren
rascal? An you smile not, he's gagged.' And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges." Don't be so mean to people next time. You
never know what's gonna happen. Chance for Malvolio to redeem himself?
Nuh-uh. "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you!" The question is, how much are we
supposed to be upset at the fact that Malvolio is not interested in this comic
ending? Some people think that the fact that Malvolio is not happy at the end of
this play should color the rest of the comic ending, and the fact that, of
course, Viola has not yet changed back into her woman's garments, and then
there's a little something unresolved. Shakespeare often leaves a little tiny
loose thread at the end of his comedies, and I think that's because it's a little
more satisfying than nailing everything down hard. Everybody else seems to be
happy. Viola has been given her true place, not only as Sebastian's sister but
also as Orsino's wife, because he points out, he asks, "Boy, thou hast said to me a
thousand times thou never shouldst love woman like to me." And that's Viola's
chance. Is she going to deny it? "And all those sayings will I overswear, and all
those swearings keep as true in soul, as doth that orbed continent the
fire that severs day from night." And so Orsino says because you served your
master for so long; because you called me master for so long; it's because of your
good service. "Dear as my hand, you shall from this time be your master's
mistress. And Olivia, "A sister, you are she." So she's Sebastian's sister,
she is Orsino's future wife, and she is Olivia's sister-in-law.
Everyone has readjusted their relationships to each other and
everything is as it should be, if you like to see it that way.
So we're left with the idea that this double wedding will occur, but not on
stage, and it ends with Feste talking about the wind and the rain-- "the rain it
raineth every day, but that's all one, our play is done and we'll strive to please
you every day." A lot of Shakespeare plays end with that plea to the audience to
enjoy it: to applaud. Now one of the things I'd like to briefly mention is
that there's a movement to try different original staging techniques: rehearsal
techniques, actual theatres that are built something the way Shakespeare's
theater may have been built. We don't know for certain, I should hasten to add.
And there was a recent [2002] production of Twelfth Night at Middle Temple Hall,
where we know there was a production in 1602, and a production at the Globe. It
used an all-male cast, it used original instruments; it was in many ways as
accurate as they could possibly get, we think, to a Shakespearean production and
there's something very helpful about that. Those two twins looked
extraordinarily alike, and also what it does to actually see men wearing women's
costuming. On the website this week I actually have some material on original
staging and costuming, including some things from those productions and I hope
you will take a chance to look at them.
[Note: the next part is on assignment details that no longer apply. The material continues at 35:10.
If you have any
questions about ...that sequence of events please email me. And also I'd like
to tell you that for the next lecture, we're going to start Hamlet,
so be prepared we're going to go through at least the first two or three acts so
read the first two acts of Hamlet.
I'll see you with The Melancholy Dane. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment