Twelfth Night

Year 8
Revision Guide

Name:
Class Teacher:
Below is a copy of the mark scheme which will be used to assess your work. You should familiarise
yourself with that is needed to achieve each band.

Grade This student should….

Platinum • Include thoughtful ideas that respond to the question in a nuanced way. These ideas are
+ driven by bigger ideas from outside of the text. This will be expressed with articulacy and
flair and develop into an overarching argument.
• Include a range of well-chosen and well-integrated quotations.
• Explore words/phrases in a multi-layered fashion throughout and make perceptive comments
on language/structure/ relevant methods that skilfully contribute to the overall argument.
• Thoughtfully select contextual ideas that drive the overall argument forward.

Platinum • Include thoughtful ideas that provide a rigorous answer to the question and include bigger
ideas from outside of the text. This will be expressed through a range of sophisticated
vocabulary.
• Include a range of well-chosen and well-integrated quotations.
• Explore individual words/phrases in a multi-layered fashion throughout and makes clear with
some perceptive comments on language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Use a range of contextual details to complement the overall argument being put forward.

Gold+ • Include ideas that show a detailed understanding of the writer’s intentions and develop
broader ideas in relation to the question (i.e. more than one interpretation).
• Include a range of well-chosen quotations.
• Consistently unpicks and carefully analyses individual word/ phrase choices and makes clear
comments on language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Use well-selected contextual details that support overarching ideas.

Gold • Include ideas that show a clear understanding of the writer’s intentions and answer the
question thoroughly.
• Includes well-chosen quotations that clearly support the overall idea of the paragraph.
• Explore more than one association of well-chosen individual words/ phrases and make
relevant comments on language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Include a range of relevant contextual details.

Silver+ • Include ideas that show an awareness of the writer’s decisions and they mostly answer the
question.
• Include quotations that support the overall idea in each paragraph.
• They will begin to explore more than one association of mostly well-chosen individual words
and make mostly relevant comments on language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Include relevant contextual details.

Silver • Include ideas that are focused on the questions

• Include quotations that support the overall idea in each paragraph.
• They will begin to unpick the associations of some well-chosen individual words and attempt
to make comments on language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Include accurate contextual details.

Bronze+ • Include ideas that show an understanding of mostly relevant aspects of the text.
• Include quotations that mostly link to the key ideas in the question.
• Attempt to make simple comment on the effects language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Include historical events that link to some of the ideas in the question.

Bronze • Include ideas that show an understanding of key parts of the text.
• References key parts of the text.
• Has simple awareness of language/structure/ relevant methods.
• Include some knowledge of historical events.
The exam

1. You will have 1 hour to complete your task. You should spend 15 minutes reading
and annotating the extract and planning; 40 minutes writing your essay; and 5
minutes checking over your writing.

2. You will be given an extract from the play (a scene you have studied in class but
without the modern translation) and will need to analyse the specified scene and
make links to other parts of the play.

3. You will need to learn key quotations for the exam. You will need to use quotations
in your essay from both the extract and the ones that you have learnt from memory
(see quotation banks).

4. You should practise planning and writing an essay using the practise exam question
in this booklet.

Revision Techniques
If we look back to the origins of the word, revision means to see again and, if done well, it
can help us feel more confident and well prepared. Below are some suggestions to help you:

• Mindmaps of the play including: characters, themes, context

• Quizzes from the knowledge organisers- ask other students questions, get them to
ask you and ask and parents/ carers to quiz you!
• Post it notes with key points from the Knowledge Organiser such as characters,
themes and context
• Read, cover, remember, retell quotations for each character
• Summary notes and essay plans for each theme- select ones you feel least confident
with first!
• Key words that can act as triggers for other key areas- look at any overlaps and cross
references. This will ensure you develop your ideas confidently.
• Use your exercise books and teacher feedback
• Make some revision cards for themes and characters. TIF: Colour code themes and
characters so you can easily identify any overlaps.
• Look through the booklet and annotations of model answers and, most importantly,
HOW they have answered the questions using the assessment objectives.
Vocabulary
Remind yourselves of the key words from your vocabulary booklets:

angry ambitious arrogant austere bitter cantankerous

desperate devious egotistical flirtatious foolish gullible
hopeful hypocritical judgemental proud resentful splenetic
supercilious superior vain virtuous vindictive dissemble
conflicted ambiguity foreshadowing proxy sceptical obligation
resentment melancholy resilience prevaricate unrequited bewilderment
Conceited Deluded Haughty Honourable Strict Sullen
Hierarchy Valour Conventions Innovative Deceit Conniving

Themes, Motifs & Symbols

Love as a Cause of Suffering

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the
fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and
achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters
seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and
disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from
the pangs of unrequited love. Love is also exclusionary: some people achieve romantic
happiness, while others do not.

The Uncertainty of Gender

Gender is one of the most obvious and much-discussed topics in the play. Twelfth Night is
one of Shakespeare’s comedies in which a female character—in this case, Viola—disguises
herself as a man. This situation creates a mess: Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell
him, because he thinks she is a man, while Olivia, the object of Orsino’s affection, falls for
Viola in her guise as Cesario.

Olivia is in love with a woman, even if she thinks he is a man, and Orsino often remarks on
Cesario’s beauty, suggesting that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is
removed. Yet, even at the play’s close, Shakespeare leaves things somewhat murky,
especially in the Orsino-Viola relationship.

Ambition

The problem of social ambition works itself out largely through the character of Malvolio,
the steward, who seems to be a competent servant, if prudish and determined, but proves
to be, in fact, a supreme egotist, with tremendous ambitions to rise out of his social class.
Maria plays on these ambitions when she forges a letter from Olivia that makes Malvolio
believe that Olivia is in love with him and wishes to marry him. Sir Toby and the others find
this fantasy hysterically funny, of course—not only because of Malvolio’s unattractive
personality but also because Malvolio is not of noble blood. In the class system of
Shakespeare’s time, a noblewoman would generally not sully her reputation by marrying a
man of lower social status.

The feast of Twelfth Night, from which the play takes its name, was a time when social
hierarchies were turned upside down. That same spirit is alive in Illyria: indeed, Malvolio’s
antagonist, Maria, is able to increase her social standing by marrying Sir Toby. Furthermore,
the character of Malvolio bwants to blur class lines for himself alone.

Motifs

Letters, Messages, and Tokens

Twelfth Night features a great variety of messages sent from one character to another—
sometimes as letters and other times in the form of tokens. Such messages are used both
for purposes of communication and miscommunication—sometimes deliberate and
sometimes accidental. But letters are not the only kind of messages that characters employ
to communicate with one another. Individuals can be employed in the place of written
communication—Orsino repeatedly sends Cesario, for instance, to deliver messages to
Olivia. Objects can function as messages between people as well: Olivia sends Malvolio after
Cesario with a ring, to tell the page that she loves him, and follows the ring up with further
gifts, which symbolise her romantic attachment. Messages can convey important
information, but they also create the potential for miscommunication and confusion—
especially with characters like Maria and Sir Toby manipulating the information.

Madness

No one is truly insane in Twelfth Night, yet a number of characters are accused of being
mad, and a current of insanity runs through the action of the play. After Sir Toby and Maria
dupe Malvolio into believing that Olivia loves him, Malvolio behaves so bizarrely that he is
assumed to be mad and is locked away in a dark room. Malvolio himself knows that he is
sane, and he accuses everyone around him of being mad. Meanwhile, when Antonio
encounters Viola (disguised as Cesario), he mistakes her for Sebastian, and his angry
insistence that she recognise him leads people to assume that he is mad. All of these
incidents feed into the general atmosphere of the play, in which normal life is thrown topsy-
turvy, and everyone must confront a reality that is somehow fractured.

Disguises

Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola, who puts on male
attire and makes everyone else believe that she is a man. By dressing his protagonist in male
garments, Shakespeare creates endless confusion with the Olivia-Viola--Orsino love triangle.
Other characters in disguise include Malvolio, who puts on crossed garters and yellow
stockings in the hope of winning Olivia, and Feste, who dresses up as a priest—Sir Topas—
when he speaks to Malvolio after the steward has been locked in a dark room.

Mistaken Identity

The instances of mistaken identity are related to the prevalence of disguises in the play, as
Viola’s male clothing leads to her being mistaken for her brother, Sebastian, and vice versa.
Sebastian is mistaken for Viola (or rather, Cesario) by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, and then by
Olivia, who promptly marries him. Meanwhile, Antonio mistakes Viola for Sebastian, and
thinks that his friend has betrayed him when Viola claims to not know him. These cases of
mistaken identity, common in Shakespeare’s comedies, create the tangled situation that can
be resolved only when Viola and Sebastian appear together, helping everyone to
understand what has happened.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colours used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Olivia’s Gifts

When Olivia wants to let Cesario know that she loves him, she sends him a ring by way of
Malvolio. Later, when she mistakes Sebastian for Cesario, she gives him a precious pearl. In
each case, the jewel serves as a token of her love—a physical symbol of her romantic
attachment to a man who is really a woman. The gifts are more than symbols, though.
“Youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed,” Olivia says at one point, suggesting
that the jewels are intended almost as bribes—that she means to buy Cesario’s love if she
cannot win it.

The Darkness of Malvolio’s Prison

When Sir Toby and Maria pretend that Malvolio is mad, they confine him in a pitch-black
chamber. Darkness becomes a symbol of his supposed insanity, as they tell him that the
room is filled with light and his inability to see is a sign of his madness.

Changes of Clothing

Clothes are powerful in Twelfth Night. They can symbolise changes in gender—Viola puts on
male clothes to be taken for a male— as well as class distinctions. When Malvolio fantasises
about becoming a nobleman, he imagines the new clothes that he will have. When Feste
impersonates Sir Topas, he puts on a nobleman’s garb, even though Malvolio, whom he is
fooling, cannot see him, suggesting that clothes have a power that transcends their physical
function.
Contrasts in Twelfth Night – look for contrasts between characters but also
WITHIN the same character

• Masculinity and femininity and gender identity: Viola/Cesario, Viola/Olivia

• Sanity and madness: Malvolio/Feste
• Bully and victim: Sir Toby/Sir Andrew/Malvolio
• Puritan and drunkard: Malvolio/Sir Toby
• Disguise and reality: Viola/Sebastian
• Love: Contrast the way in which characters are in love: Olivio/Orsino,
Antonio/Sebastian, Viola/Olivia, Malvolio/Sir Toby
• Fool and wise man: Malvolio and Feste, explore the way in which each is seen.
• Order and chaos: look at the relevance of the title and the inversion of norms.
• Different forms of comedy: Feste vs Sir Andrew and Sir Toby:
• Intellectual musings vs slapstick revelry
• Master and servant: Orsino and Cesario, Olivia and Malvolio
• How love changes characters and reveals contrasts within them: Malvolio, Olivio,
Orsino
• Different types of love: Courtly love/romantic love/homoerotic love/unrealistic love
 Quotation Banks
In order to achieve higher marks in the exam you will need to remember
quotations and use these in your essay in the exam. Below are some examples
of quotations which you could learn for each character. You should also
‘explode’ the quotations by labelling with techniques and annotating their
effect.
Use the look, cover, write, check, repeat method to learn them.

Malvolio
‘Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy. He is very well-favoured and he
speaks very shrewishly; one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him.’
‘Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect than any one else that follows her.’
‘Sad, lady! I could be sad: this does make some obstruction in the blood, this cross-
gartering; but what of that?’
'Tis but fortune; all is fortune’
'And some have greatness thrust upon them.'
‘Why have you suffer'd me to be imprison'd, Kept in a dark house…tell me why’.

Duke Orsino
‘If music be the food of love, play on’
‘I have unclasp'd To thee the book even of my secret soul’
‘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.’
‘Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, more longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, than
women’s are’.
‘Make no compare between that love a woman can bear me and that I owe Olivia’.

Viola/Cesario
‘Conceal me what I am, and be my aid For such disguise as haply shall become The form of
my intent.’
‘But let concealment like a worm i’ th’ bud Feed on her damask cheek; she pin’d in thought,
And with a green and yellow melancholy She sate like Patience on a monument’
[Aside] ‘Pray God defend me! A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a
man.’
‘And those swearings keep as true in soul, as doth that orbed continent the fire
that severs day from night.’
‘That I am Viola: which to confirm, I'll bring you to a captain in this town, where lie my
maiden weeds; by whose gentle help I was preserved to serve this noble count.’
Sir Toby
‘He shall think, by the letters that thou wilt drop, that they come from my niece, and that
she's in love with him.’
‘He is knight… but he is a devil in private brawl: souls and bodies hath he divorced three.’
‘Let us therefore eat and drink. Marian, I say! a stoup of wine!’
‘Let him be the devil, an he will, I care not: give me faith, say I. Well, it's all one’.
‘There's no remedy, sir; he will fight with you for's oath sake’

Olivia
‘Get you to your lord; I cannot love him: let him send no more’
‘Most radiant, exquisite and unmatchable beauty, - I pray you, tell me if this be the lady of
the house.’
‘Oh, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite.’
‘Fear not, Cesario; take thy fortunes up; Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou art As
great as that thou fear'st’.
‘Ay me, detested! How am I beguiled!’

Context
It is important that you revise and memorise key information about the time during which
the play was written and set – the Elizabethan era. All of the relevant information is on your
knowledge organiser – but I have also put it below for your reference.
Context/Literary Tradition
Twelfth Night is about illusion, deception, disguises, madness, and the extraordinary things
that love will cause us to do—and to see. Twelfth Night is the only one of Shakespeare’s
plays to have an alternative title: the play is actually called Twelfth Night, or What You Will.

Twelfth Night was a festival twelve days after Christmas where the usual rules were turned
upside down and the normal order of things was reversed. ‘Twelfth Night’ was first
performed in 1602. Comedy: Common features of Shakespeare’s comedies: set in an
imaginary place, happy ending - usually marriage or betrothal, focus on theme of love and
deception and mistaken identity. Shakespeare often included tragic elements in his
comedies. Tragedies have unhappy endings usually involving the downfall of the main
character.
The Elizabethan Era: 1558-1603 this period is named after Queen Elizabeth I who reigned
during this period. This is the period during which Shakespeare wrote and set the play. Also
known as the Golden Age.
The court and the upper classes: the upper classes were educated and could read and
write. They would dress very smartly and speak in a more formal manner. Those who were
associated with the royal court were known as nobleman and aristocrats.
Women: in the Elizabethan era were submissive and maintained a domesticated role in life.
It was thought that they should speak when spoken to by men. Usually a woman would not
be witty – wit would be seen as being clever and women were not educated during this era.
Viola’s actions defied expectations placed on women, however, it is also important to note
that her actions after the shipwreck are as a result of the limitations placed on women and
she disguised herself to avoid the harsh treatment she could face. Society was patriarchal
which meant that men were in charge/ dominant and women were inferior to them.

Model Answers

All of the model answers that you have been given in class are included in this booklet. You
can use these in several ways.
1. Re-read, highlight, label and annotate for the key ingredients of a successful
response
2. Write your own answer to each of the questions and then use the model to compare
your own. Consider what the differences are and how you can redraft your response
using the model as guidance.
3. Magpie phrases from the models and use them in your own responses
4. Read them to understand how to use the vocabulary from the vocab lists in an
accurate and appropriate context

How is the theme of deception presented in Act 1 Scene 2?

In Act 1, scene 2, Shakespeare introduces the theme of deception through the character of
Viola who determines to disguise herself as a boy in order to obtain work as a servant.
Initially, she is somewhat conflicted concerning the grief for her brother (whom she
presumed had been lost) and the need to survive as a woman in a new land. Viola tells the
captain to ‘Conceal me what I am’, conniving with him to help her fool her prospective
employer, Duke Orsino and thereby dissemble her identify as she could not be honest with
Orsino if she wanted to keep her position. In the quote, ‘Only shape thou thy silence to my
wit’, Shakespeare uses metaphorical language to convey to the audience Viola’s intelligence
in her poetic use of language and her awareness of the need to enlist the help of the
captain. The verb ‘shape’ is used here to ask the captain to ‘control’ his silence so that her
plan is not compromised by his giving it away. Viola is pleased with herself as she uses the
abstract noun ‘wit’ to show how clever she believes her plan is as long as the captain does
not reveal the deceit. She is planning to play the role of a servant rather than take advantage
of her noble status – this allows Shakespeare to explore the differences between men and
women later in the play through the interactions Viola has with Orsino who reveals far more
to her as a boy than he would to her as a woman.
How does Shakespeare reveal the Viola’s feelings in Act 1, scene 5?

Viola is under an obligation to convey Orsino’s love for Olivia in this scene and she makes
this clear in her statement ‘My lord and master loves you’ using nouns ‘lord’ and ‘master’ to
reinforce her status as a servant whilst emphasising his superior position. However,
Shakespeare’s use of innovative poetry serves to attract Olivia to the proxy, Cesario, as ‘he’
uses original imagery (rather than clichés) to convey Orsino’s passion, “With adorations,
fertile tears,/With groans that thunder love, with sighs of fire”. This sequence of metaphors
reinforce Orsino’s contention that Olivia should feel obligated to marry Orsino and produce
heirs. The noun phrase ‘fertile tears’ suggests Orsino’s desperation to have children with
Olivia after marriage. Another noun phrase, ‘thunder love’ suggests the dramatic nature of
his desire using weather/sound imagery to intensify this emotion. The use of personification
in ‘sighs of fire’ employs natural imagery again to illustrate the love that Orsino feels for
Olivia (in Cesario’s words). The use of a proxy to convey such deep emotions is illustrative of
the conventions of Shakespeare’s time when direct expression could be considered to be too
forthright although it might also suggest that Orsino is more concerned with convincing
Olivia than actually wanting to win her. Viola does not seem to feel any resentment at being
asked to convey Orsino’s love for Olivia although the audience is aware at this point that this
obligation will be a challenge for her.

How does Cesario convey love for Orsino in an ambiguous way in Act 2, scene 4?

Adjacency pairs are used as Orsino questions Cesario about the person ‘he’ loves. Viola
answers are ambiguous and create dramatic irony as the audience is aware that she is
talking of her love for Orsino by relating all her answers to him using the second person
pronoun ‘Of your complexion’ and ‘about your years’. This is foreshadowing the final scene
in which Viola’s deception is revealed and the two characters can finally be together. Viola
prevaricates here as her answers are ambiguous and are largely successful as Orsino regards
the relationship with Cesario as master and servant (much like Sebastian and Antonio),
whereas Viola/Cesario (and the audience) are aware of his misapprehension.
Orsino uses Viola as his proxy to carry messages to Olivia. ‘Get thee yond same sovereign
cruelty’. His continued melancholy is evident in metaphor ‘sovereign cruelty’ used to
describe Olivia. The abstract noun ‘cruelty’ conveys how harshly he feels he is being treated
by Olivia whom he accepts holds power over him as evident by the adjective ‘sovereign’. His
love for Olivia is unrequited as she refuses to return his affections yet he shows some
resilience in not giving up. He is lost in his melancholy but continues to strive for Olivia’s
love. It is clear to the audience that Cesario/Viola loves Orsino enough to try to make him
happy even if his happiness depends on the acceptance of another woman. However, she
does try to consider failure in her question, ‘But if she cannot love you, sir?’ which he rejects
out of hand. Shakespeare again uses prevarication as Viola says, ‘…were I a woman,/I should
love your lordship’ using the conditional tense which Orsino interprets literally but the
audience know is a true statement of Viola’s love for Orsino.
How does Shakespeare use dramatic irony in Act 3, scene 4?

In this scene, Viola/Cesario shows bewilderment as Sir Toby tells her/him that s/he has been
challenged to a duel, ‘I am sure no man hath any quarrel to me…’. The audience is aware
that Sir Andrew views ‘Cesario’ as a threat because Olivia loves Cesario. Viola’s masquerade
is beginning to unravel as she finds herself in a dangerous situation made clear as Sir Toby
reveals her challenger has experience, ‘souls and bodies hath he divorced three’ meaning
that he has killed three before whose souls were separated from their bodies. It must seem
to Sir Toby that Cesario lacks valour as ‘he’ declares, ‘I am no fighter’. Shakespeare employs
dramatic irony here as the audience is aware that Viola has no romantic interest in Olivia.
Viola’s aside reveals how close she is to telling ‘them how much I lack of a man’ meaning
that she may have to reveal her true identity.
Antonio arrives to defend the ‘man’ whom he thinks is Sebastian but the audience know is
Viola in disguise, dramatic irony is again evident and this adds to the audience’s enjoyment
through their understanding of plot beyond that of the characters. When Antonio refers to
Viola as Sebastian and is confused that Viola knows nothing of the money, Viola realises the
mistake and has renewed optimism, ‘O, prove true,/That I, dear brother, be not ta’en for
you!’ and the audience realises that Viola is beginning to realise something that they have
known since Act 3, scene 3 – Sebastian is alive.
In Act 3, scene 4, none of the characters are aware that Viola is in disguise and this allows
Shakespeare to use dramatic irony to engage the audience who feel complicit in the plot.
 Practice Extracts

Below are extracts to help you develop your understanding of the play. You should read
them and annotate the points you would discuss. There are also bullet points on the first
one relating to what you should have looked at under each section of the mark scheme. You
should do this for the other 2 extracts too.

Practise 1

Twelfth Night – William Shakespeare

Read the extract below and then answer the question.
Explore the significance of this extract in relation to the comedy of the play as a whole.

Enter Valentine, and Viola in man’s attire

VALENTINE
If the Duke continue these favours towards you, Cesario, you are like to be much advanced. He hath
known you but three days, and already you are no stranger.
VIOLA
You either fear his humour or my negligence, that you call in question the continuance of his
love. Is he inconstant, sir, in his favours?
VALENTINE No, believe me.
Enter Orsino, Curio, and attendants
VIOLA I thank you. Here comes the Count.
ORSINO Who saw Cesario, ho?
VIOLA On your attendance, my lord, here.
ORSINO (to Curio and attendants) Stand you awhile aloof. (toViola)
Cesario, Thou knowest no less but all. I have unclasped
To thee the book even of my secret soul. Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her. Be not
denied access; stand at her doors,
And tell them, there thy fixèd foot shall grow
Till thou have audience.
VIOLA
Sure, my noble lord,
If she be so abandoned to her sorrow
As it is spoke, she never will admit me.
ORSINO
Be clamorous and leap all civil bounds
Rather than make unprofited return.
VIOLA
Say I do speak with her, my lord, what then?
ORSINO
O, then unfold the passion of my love. Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith. It shall become
thee well to act my woes; She will attend it better in thy youth
Than in a nuncio’s of more grave aspect.
VIOLA I think not so, my lord.
ORSINO
Dear lad, believe it.
For 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.
I know thy constellation is right apt
For this affair. Some four or five attend him – All, if you will; for I myself am best
When least in company. Prosper well in this, And thou shalt live as freely as thy lord,
To call his fortunes thine.
VIOLA
I’ll do my best
To woo your lady. (Aside) Yet, a barful strife!
Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife. Exeunt.

• How does Shakespeare present the relationship between Viola (Cesario) and Duke Orsino
in the extract taken from Act 1 Scene 4?
• How does Shakespeare present their relationship in the play as a whole?

In this scene, the success of Viola’s disguise as Cesario in Orsino’s palace is established as
Orsino uses her as his proxy in his courtship of Olivia. The use of a sequence of imperatives
‘address thy gait to her’, ‘Be not denied access’, ‘Be clamorous’, that Orsino gives to Viola all
confirm his superior position and his trust in Cesario. This closeness is foreshadowing his
later proposal, when he finally realises Viola’s true identity. The dated phrase ‘address thy
gait’ is used to instruct Cesario to walk to Olivia’s house and the adjective ‘clamorous’
reveals how strongly Orsino wishes Cesario to convey his love for Olivia when he gets to her
house.
Viola is sceptical as she points out that Olivia is ‘so abandon’d to her sorrow’ meaning that
grieving for those she has lost will prevent Olivia from feeling any other emotion than grief.
The verb ‘abandon’d’ conveys to the audience how Olivia is so full of grief, feels she cannot
commit to romantic love. Shakespeare uses Viola’s final aside, ‘myself would be his wife’ to
remove any ambiguity when s/he is talking to Orsino in disguise, making it clear to the
audience that she loves Orsino and would marry him if she could.

Inference

o The use of disguise as a generic feature of dramatic comedy

o Master/servant relationships
o Orsino as a character, his excessiveness and self-indulgence, his lack of depth, his
behaviour, his sentimentality, his luxuriating in his own excesses, his focusing on an
object of love (Olivia) that is apparently unmoveable
o Viola’s true feelings and disguise.
o Her inability to reveal her feelings

Methods

o The regal entrance of the Duke and his first words

 o The use of irony when Orsino describes Cesario’s beauty (his lips and voice)
as a woman with classical and romantic imagery
o Orsino’s use of language of love - ‘passion of my love’ ‘discourse of my dear
faith’, affectionate use of ‘thee’, ‘good youth’, ‘it shall become thee well’,
‘dear lad’, ‘I know thy constellation is right apt’ - here and elsewhere in the
play
o The specific terms of endearment from Orsino to Cesario (affectionate use of
‘thee’, ‘good youth’, ‘it shall become thee well, dear lad, I know thy
constellation is right apt’)
o Orsino’s love for Olivia, use of excessive language – ‘clamorous’, ‘leap all civil
bounds’, ‘unfold the passion of my love’, excessive behaviour
o The use of foreshadowing – ‘Prosper well in this/And thou shalt live as freely
as thy lord,/To call his fortunes thine’
o Viola’s final aside to end the scene where she steps out of her disguise
o The dramatic surprise in soliloquy of Viola’s confession of love at the end of
the scene

Context

o The setting of Orsino’ s court in Illyria

o The social context - the master/servant relationship, attitudes towards power
and servitude
o The irony of Viola (being played by a man in Elizabethan theatre) in disguise
as a boy

Practise Exam Question 2

The following extract is from Act 2 Scene 3 (your first extract booklet). Malvolio has a
conversation with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew who are drunk and having a party. Malvolio tells
them off.
MALVOLIO
My masters, are you mad? or what are you? Have ye
no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like
tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an
alehouse of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your
coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorse
of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor
time in you?
SIR TOBY BELCH
We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up!
MALVOLIO
Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me
tell you, that, though she harbours you as her
kinsman, she's nothing allied to your disorders. If
you can separate yourself and your misdemeanours, you are welcome to the house; if not,
an it would please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Out o' tune, sir: ye lie. Art any more than a
steward? Dost thou think, because thou art
virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?
FESTE
Yes, by Saint Anne, and ginger shall be hot i' the
mouth too.
SIR TOBY BELCH
Thou'rt i' the right. Go, sir, rub your chain with
crumbs. A stoup of wine, Maria!
MALVOLIO
Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady's favour at any
thing more than contempt, you would not give means
for this uncivil rule: she shall know of it, by this hand.

How does Shakespeare present Malvolio in the play?

You should write about:
• how Malvolio is presented in the extract
• how Malvolio is presented in other sections of the play (you should use
quotations you have remembered from other parts of the play for this).
In the extract, Shakespeare presents Malvolio as trying to exert his authority as he objects
to how the other servants make his high- class household look uncivilised. He criticises the
men for being drunk at all hours of the night and for singing so loudly. Malvolio is presented
as proud and self-righteous, however he does not gain the respect of the others. At the start
of the extract, he issues a series of questions as seen in ‘My masters, are you mad?’ showing
his disbelief at their behaviour. Furthermore, he also asks ‘Is there no respect of place,
persons, nor time in you?’ showing his frustration. Sir Toby’s reply is much shorter and
direct ‘Sneck up’ revealing that he does not regard Malvolio as important. Furthermore,
Malvolio dominated the conversation, however, it is interesting that the others respond
with a lack of respect. Sir Toby views Malvolio as an irritating character and his use of ‘Art
any more than a steward?’ to him shows he believes he is nothing more than a servant,
despite his projection of superiority. Furthermore, the derogatory term ‘steward’ links to
the hierarchy that existed in Elizabethan era and it is clear that Malvolio is aware of this as
he wants to impress the upper class. Towards the end, Malvolio attempts to restore order
and says ‘Sir Toby, I must be round with you’ and issues an ultimatum: if he can behave he
can stay. The direct tone of his speech shows he is trying to exert control and the extract
ends with ‘she shall know of it, by this hand’ showing he will report back to Olivia, revealing
his petty and self-serving character.

Now it is your turn…

Practise 3

Explore the significance of aspects of dramatic comedy in the following passage in relation
to the play as a whole.

• How does Shakespeare present the relationship between Olivia and Malvolio in
the extract taken from Act 3 Scene 4?
• How does Shakespeare present their relationship in the play as a whole

You should consider the following in your answer:

• the presentation of Malvolio
• Olivia’s reactions to Malvolio’s ‘strange manner’

Olivia’s garden.
Enter Olivia and Maria
OLIVIA (aside)
I have sent after him. He says he’ll come:
How shall I feast him? What bestow of him?
For youth is bought more oft than begged or borrowed.
I speak too loud.
(To Maria) Where’s Malvolio? He is sad and civil,
And suits well for a servant with my fortunes.
Where is Malvolio?
MARIA He’s coming, madam, but in very strange manner.
He is sure possessed, madam.
OLIVIA Why, what’s the matter? Does he rave?
MARIA No, madam, he does nothing but smile. Your
ladyship were best to have some guard about you, if he
come, for sure the man is tainted in’s wits.
OLIVIA
Go, call him hither. Exit Maria
I am as mad as he,
If sad and merry madness equal be.
Enter Malvolio and Maria
How now, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO Sweet lady! Ho! Ho!
OLIVIA Smil’st thou? I sent for thee upon a sad occasion.
MALVOLIO 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.’
OLIVIA Why, how dost thou, man? What is the matter
with thee?
MALVOLIO 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.
OLIVIA Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO To bed! ‘Ay, sweetheart, and I’ll come to
thee!’
OLIVIA God comfort thee! Why dost thou smile so, and
kiss thy hand so oft?
MARIA How do you, Malvolio?

MALVOLIO At your request? Yes; nightingales answer

daws.
MARIA Why appear you with this ridiculous boldness
before my lady?
MALVOLIO ‘Be not afraid of greatness.’ ’Twas well writ.
OLIVIA What mean’st thou by that, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO ‘Some are born great –’
OLIVIA Ha?
MALVOLIO ‘Some achieve greatness –’
OLIVIA What sayst thou?
MALVOLIO ‘And some have greatness thrust upon
them.’
OLIVIA Heaven restore thee!
MALVOLIO ‘Remember who commended thy yellow
stockings –’
OLIVIA Thy yellow stockings?
MALVOLIO ‘– and wished to see thee cross-gartered.’
OLIVIA Cross-gartered?
MALVOLIO ‘Go to, thou art made if thou desir’st to be
so.’
OLIVIA Am I maid!
MALVOLIO ‘If not, let me see thee a servant still.’
OLIVIA Why, this is very midsummer madness.