"Twelfth Night", William Shakespeare (1601)

Résumé du document

This document sums up the William Shakespeare's comedy "Twelfth Night", written around 1601-02. Here are a few extracts of the document : "Act 1, scene1 : "Orsino, the Duke of Illyria is moaning about his unshared love for Olivia. Valentine, a lord of his court, is coming from her house where he hadn't been admitted but has spoken to her handmaid : she said that Olivia has decided to go veiled for the rest of her days and to never get married, because of the death of her father and her brother.

Act I, scene 2 : The captain and Viola sailed to Illyria , where the captain had been brought up. We learn that Viola's brother had disappeared during the shipwreck, and nobody knows whether he is dead or alive. Viola asks the captain to introduce her as a eunuch at the duke's and he accepts."

Extraits

[...] After a long time and many comings and goings of her servant, Olivia finally lets this messenger in. I.6 The scene presents the talk between Olivia and Viola, still pretending to be a man. The first one is badly disposed toward the second at the beginning, but this one succeeds in talking to her alone, and gets her interested in the Duke's love : How does he love me? finally asks Olivia. But she mainly turns benevolent to Viola and nearly asks her to come back. [...]

[...] The scene thus presents Feste tormenting Malvolio, who keeps asking desperately for some light and some paper to write a letter to Olivia. IV.3 Sebastian is waiting in Olivia's garden, soliloquizing about his love for Olivia. She enters with a priest and they get married. Act V. Scene1 This scene presents the fall of the masks : -the Duke and Viola enters whereas Fabien is asking Feste to let him read Malvolio's letter. Orsino orders him to go and bring back Olivia. During his absence, two soldiers come in with Antonio bound. [...]

[...] "Twelfth Night", William Shakespeare (1601) Act I. Scene1 Orsino, the Duke of Illyria is moaning about his unshared love for Olivia. Valentine, a lord of his court, is coming from her house where he hadn't been admitted but has spoken to her handmaid : she said that Olivia has decided to go veiled for the rest of her day and to never get married, because of the death of her father and her brother. I.2 The captain and Viola sailed to Illyria , where the captain had been brought up. [...]

[...] Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are delighted in advance and praise Maria's spirit. II.4 Orsino asks for some music to relieve his passion and has a discussion about love with Viola-Cesario, wherein he expresses his great admiration for her. Again, he instructs her to go and tell Olivia his love once again. II.5 Sir Andrew and Sir Toby are hidden to observe Malvolio's reaction when he finds the letter Maria has thrown down before leaving. Their expectation is not deceived : Malvolio makes a complete fool of himself : he dreams out loud about the brilliant future he sees lying in front of him, calling himself Count Malvolio» , planning to baffle Sir Toby; he construes every single gesture Olivia has ever did as a love confession to his person : he is full of presumption and smugness. [...]

[...] They agree to meet later in the night at The Elephant, an inn. III.4 While Olivia is waiting for Viola-Cesario, Maria arrives and warns her that Malvolio has become mad. He joins her cross-gartered, wearing yellow stockings, and keeping on smiling, all three things commended by Maria through the letter, and not at all by Olivia as he thinks so. Moreover, he keeps peppering his speech with quotations from the letter that Olivia does not understand : she definitely thinks he has gone crazy and asks Maria to go and get sir Andrew to take good care of him. [...]