twelfth night A Street Act 2 Scene 2 summary and analysis

Act II: Scene 2

A street 

  Summary

Viola, still in disguise as Cesario, comes on stage and is followed by Malvolio, who catches up with the lad and asks him if he is indeed the young man who was with the Countess Olivia only a short time ago. Cesario admits that it was he, and Malvolio holds out a ring to him — seemingly a ring that Duke Orsino sent to Olivia, one which Cesario left behind by mistake. Malvolio adds sarcastically that Cesario would have saved Malvolio the time and trouble of returning it if Cesario had not been so absent-minded. Scornfully, Malvolio tells Cesario to return to his master, Orsino, and tell him that Olivia "will none of him," and furthermore he warns Cesario that he should "never be so hardy to come again in his [Orsino's] affairs."

Cesario is dumbfounded by Malvolio's high-handed manner; then, matching Malvolio's insolence, he says, "I'll none of it." Malvolio is incensed at Cesario's haughty manner and flings the ring to the ground; if Cesario wants it and "if it be worth stooping for, there it lies." With that, he exits abruptly.

Left alone, Viola ponders all that has happened; she is absolutely certain that she left no ring with Olivia, yet why does Olivia believe that she did and, moreover, why did she send Malvolio with such urgency to return it? Then she realizes what may have happened, and she is horrified: can it be possible that Olivia has fallen in love with Viola's boyish disguise? She is aghast: "fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her!" Thinking back on their interview, however, she clearly recalls that Olivia certainly "made good view of me; indeed, so much / That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue."

The evidence is clear. Olivia has indeed fallen in love with Cesario; when she spoke to the young man, she spoke in starts and spurts, and her manner was vague and distracted. Now "the winning of her passion" has sent Malvolio after the "boy" whom she believes to be the object of her love.

Viola pities Olivia; it would be better for the poor Olivia to "love a dream." Viola recognizes that "disguise . . . art a wickedness." She aptly calls disguise a "pregnant enemy," an enemy able to play havoc with "women's waxen hearts." Like Olivia, Viola too is a woman. She knows the anguish of love: "Our frailty is the cause, not we," she meditates, "for such are we made of."

This is a dreadfully complicated knot. Viola loves her master, Orsino, who loves the beautiful but disdainful Olivia, who loves the handsome Cesario (who is not a man at all, but is Viola, in disguise). Viola calls on Time to untangle this knot, for she is incapable of doing so herself; "it is too hard a knot for me to untie."

Analysis

At the end of Act I, Olivia sent Malvolio to catch up with Cesario and return a ring that Cesario did notleave behind. In this short scene, Malvolio is seen returning the ring in a very scornful, haughty, and arrogant manner. The scene serves in part to bring out Malvolio's rudeness and his ill nature. He is extremely insolent to a youth who has caused him no personal injury. His unwarranted enmity is seen in the manner in which he delivers the ring. Malvolio's action here again prepares the reader for delight in the tricks that will later be played on this insolent man who shows nothing but scorn for any person who is not above him in social status.

While this scene does not advance the plot, it does show us how intricately Viola is caught up in the entanglement. She suddenly realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with an exterior facade — and not with the inner person. This realization allows her to comment on the "frailty" of women who are constantly deceived by disguises of one sort or another. When Viola cries out, "Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much," she speaks with allusions about the "wickedness" that arises from a woman's being constantly deceived by disguises, ever since Eve was first deceived in the Garden of Eden. Yet, Viola must retain her disguise because, as a girl alone in a foreign country, she would be powerless to defend herself, as we see later when the cowardly Sir Aguecheek threatens her.

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The Sea-coast Act II Scene 1 summary and analysis

Act II: Scene 1

The Sea-coast 

the sea coast 12th night

Summary

The second act begins on the seacoast of Illyria. Viola's twin brother, Sebastian, was not drowned after all. He survived the shipwreck and enters on stage talking with Antonio, a sea captain (not the same sea captain who managed to reach shore with Viola). Sebastian, like his sister Viola, is deeply grieved; he is sure that Viola was lost at sea and perished in the storm. He blames the stars and "the malignancy of [his] fate" for his dark mood and his misfortune. He turns to the sea captain, and, feeling that he can be straightforward with him because of what they have both just experienced, he tells the captain that he wants to be alone. He needs solitude because of his terrible grief; his troubles are many, and he fears that they will spread like an illness and "distemper" the sea captain's mood. He cares too much for the captain to unburden his woes on him.

Antonio, however, will not leave Sebastian; his friendship for the young man is strong enough to withstand Sebastian's emotionalism. Sebastian's composure suddenly breaks, and he bewails his lot; if Antonio had not saved him, he would now be dead at the bottom of the sea, alongside his beloved sister. "If the heavens had been pleased," his fate would have been the same as his sister's. He then recalls his sister's beauty, and he remembers her keen mind, a mind that was extraordinary and enviable. At this point, Antonio protests. Sebastian was correct when he spoke earlier of his dark moodiness being able to "distemper" Antonio's temperament. The sea captain says that Sebastian's lamentations are "bad entertainment," a fact that Sebastian quickly realizes and quickly apologizes for.

Antonio changes the subject to matters more practical and more immediate. He asks Sebastian if he can be the young man's servant. That single favor would please him immensely. That single favor, however, Sebastian cannot grant him, for as much as he would like to do so, he dare not take Antonio with him. His destination is Duke Orsino's court and Antonio has "many enemies" in Orsino's court. Yet "come what may," Antonio says that he will always treasure his friendship with Sebastian. Thus, he will go with Sebastian. Antonio's devotion to Sebastian is admirable; he recognizes the dangers ahead if he follows Sebastian to Orsino's palace, but after the horrors of the shipwreck, future "danger shall seem sport."

Analysis

This scene takes us away from the regal households and out to the seashore on another part of the coast of Illyria. The two new characters who are introduced, Sebastian and Antonio, form the third plot line of the comedy. Sebastian is Viola's twin brother whom she believes was probably drowned at sea, and this fact will create comic complications, which will be resolved in the fifth act. Like his sister, Sebastian is kind and good-looking. When Sebastian describes his sister as a lady "though it was said she much resembled me, was yet of many accounted beautiful," we are being prepared for the confusion later in the play when Sebastian will be mistaken for Cesario (Viola), and Viola (as Cesario) will be mistaken for Sebastian by Antonio, the sea captain.

Sebastian will appear throughout the rest of the comedy as more impulsive and more emotional than his twin sister; for example, he will consent to marry a woman (Olivia) whom he has just met — an act of extreme impetuosity. But yet we must assume that Sebastian possesses many good qualities to have attracted the loyalty of such a stalwart man as the sea captain, who decides to risk his life to accompany the handsome young lad to Duke Orsino's court.

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Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 4 Summary and Analysis

Act I: Scene 4

Summary

In Duke Orsino's palace, one of his pages, Valentine, enters, accompanied by Viola, disguised as a young eunuch, Cesario. By their conversation, we realize that after only three days, Cesario has already become a great favorite with the duke. In fact, Viola has won Orsino's confidence and favor so thoroughly that when "Cesario" enters, Orsino sends the others away so that he and Cesario might be alone. He asks Cesario to do him a very special, very personal favor. Cesario is to be the duke's messenger, his proxy, and carry notes of love from Orsino to Olivia. Cesario is to explain in detail the passion which Orsino has for Olivia and, in addition, Cesario is to enact Orsino's "woes." Furthermore, because Cesario himself is so beautifully handsome, Orsino believes that his avowals of love will be all the better received. His reasoning is that his love messages will entice the fair Olivia favorably because they will be presented in such a handsome package, as it were. Orsino also says that if Cesario is successful, he will be well rewarded; he will "live as freely as thy lord / To call his fortune thine."

Cesario is reluctant; in an aside, he reveals that "he" (Viola in disguise) has fallen in love with Orsino. Ironically, as Cesario, Viola will be doing some wooing for a man whom she would gladly have as a husband herself.

Analysis

This scene shows us that Viola has been completely successful in carrying out her plan to become a member of Duke Orsino's household. Within a period of only three days she has completely captivated the duke, who has taken a fancy to her and is now not only employing her as his personal messenger, but he has also confided his innermost thoughts to her — that is, he has confided them to "Cesario."

At the opening of the scene, Valentine informs Cesario that he is likely to be advanced in the duke's service. This prompts Cesario to ask if the duke is sometimes "inconstant" in his favors. Viola is hoping that the duke will ultimately be constant to her — and yet she is also hoping that the duke will be inconstant in his affections for Olivia; it is not, however, until the last line of this scene that we discover that in these three days Viola has fallen in love with the duke. Part of the comic situation here involves the dramatic irony that Viola (in disguise) is forced to try to win Olivia for Duke Orsino when in reality, she would like to shed her disguise and be his wife herself.

At the end of the scene, Viola cries out, "Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife." This statement aligns Viola then with the other romantic lovers. She differs from them only by the fact that she is in constant touch with reality and can therefore evaluate her position.

Click here for Twelfth Night Act 1 Scene 5 Summary and Analysis 

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