204 TWELFTH NIGHT
entirely alone in the world. Her
reaction is not to go into mourning
like Olivia, but to take action.
Viola’s choice to dress up to look
like her brother is a strange one,
but it leads to comic and romantic
possibilities. It allows Viola close
to her beloved Orsino, yet prevents
her from revealing her love. It also
opens the way for the chaos caused
by mistaken identities as her
brother Sebastian turns up.
In a comic subplot, which ultimately
turns a little dark, Shakespeare
adds two foolish suitors: the roguish
Sir Toby Belch and the rather
silly Sir Andrew Aguecheek,
who, along with the feisty Maria,
plot to humiliate Malvolio.A woman’s part
From the start, Orsino is strangely
drawn to his young serving boy.
He puts it down to Cesario’s youth:
“they shall yet belie thy happy
years / That say thou art a man.
Diana’s lip / Is not more smooth and
rubious; thy small pipe / Is as the
maiden’s organ, shrill and sound, /
And all is semblative a woman’s
part” (1.4.30–34). To Orsino, locked
in his self-love, Cesario simply looks
and sounds like a woman—but the
lingering over physical details and
the innuendo suggest there is a
more ambiguous attraction. And of
course the gender boundaries are
blurred even more as Viola was
originally played by a boy actor.
Viola’s situation becomes evenmore tricky when she visits Olivia
as Cesario. Olivia soon lowers her
veil for the young “boy.” After just
one meeting, she is so eager for
him to return that she sends
Malvolio after him with a ring that
she pretends Cesario has dropped.
On the face of it, she thinks
Cesario’s effeminate looks must
be because he is a gentleman. But
like Orsino, she lingers just a little
too long on Cesario’s attractions:
“Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs,
actions, and spirit / Do give thee
five-fold blazon” (1.5.282–284). Her
desperation comes across as comic
after her mourning reticence, but
it seems more like lust than love.Untying the knot
Meanwhile, Viola has fallen in love
with Orsino, and the situation has
become impossible. She describes
herself as a “monster,” neither man
nor woman: “As I am man, / My
state is desperate for my master’s
love. / As I am woman, now, alas
the day, / What thriftless sighs shall
poor Olivia breathe” (2.2.36–39).Comic actor Stephen Fry (left) took
on the role of Malvolio in the Globe’s
2012 production in London. Mark
Rylance played Olivia in the play,
which had an all-male cast.She sat like patience
on a monument,
Smiling at grief.
Viola
Act 2, Scene 1Then come kiss me,
sweet and twenty.
Youth’s a stuff will not endure.
Feste
Act 2, Scene 3