Cesario's Behavior

Orsino also gives Cesario directions to "Be clamorous" (loud) and "leap all civil bounds" (go above
-- leap -- proper behavior) as a means of drawing attention to himself and thus hopefully gaining
access to Olivia. It may seem strange that Orsino is instructing Cesario to be rude. Why does
Orsino believe Cesario will be successful?
Viola's Reaction
Poor Viola! As the scene ends, "Cesario" promises to "do [her] best/To woo your [Orsino's] lady"
even as she admits that she is falling for Orsino and "myself would be his wife." Notice that the
stage direction says that this is said as an "aside."
A Confession and a Request
Notice that Orsino asks in line 11 that Valentine "stand [. . .] awhile aloof" so that he can speak
privately to Cesario. In privacy, Orsino confesses to telling Cesario "no less but all" and to having
"unclasped/ To thee the book even of my secret soul." Because Orsino feels that Cesario knows
and understands both him and his feelings (which he has allowed Cesario to read like a book) he
feels Cesario can best relay his feelings to his love, Olivia. As a result, he orders Cesario to "stand
at her doors,/ And tell them there thy fixed foot shall grow/ Till thou have audience." -- What does
this mean?
"She will attend it better in thy youth/ Than in a nuncio's of more grave aspect." --- Orsino
acknowledges a general human truth: Beauty is power. He seems to feel that because Cesario is
"in thy youth" and attractive that he may have more sway with Olivia that poor, old Valentine.
Interestingly enough, when Cesario objects, Orsino compliments "his" appearance in a way which
is highly ironic.
Mythological Allusion
When Orsino compares Cesario to Diana (Roman goddess of the moon and the hunt) by saying,
"Diana's lip/ Is not more smooth and rubious", he compliments the beauty of Cesario/Viola's
complexion and the color of her lips. Orsino then comments on Cesario's voice which is "as the
maiden's organ"; obviously, his commentary is ironic because Cesario IS a woman: Viola!
Figurative Language
"Tell them thy fixed foot shall grow" is an example of figurative language because Orsino is not
literally suggesting that he wants Cesario's foot to get larger. Question: What grows? Answer:
Things that are planted. To "plant" can also mean to "place firmly in position" and THAT is what
Orsino wants Cesario to do.
Valentine's presence often confuses readers as it seems random; however, notice Shakespeare's
use of a "ticket name": Valentine seems to have previously played the role of Orsino's "messenger
of love" to Olivia. Unfortunately for Valentine, that role will henceforth be filled by Cesario.
The Role of Valentine
Definition of Aside
An actor's speech, directed at the audience, which is not supposed to be heard by others on stage
Asides are usually employed to let the reader/audience member know what a character is about to
do and/or what he or she is thinking.
Remember that a "ticket name" is a character name which also has symbolic meaning. In other
words, a ticket name "takes the reader somewhere" (as if you bought a ticket to a secondary level
of understanding). There are numerous ticket names used in Twelfth Night, so make sure you are
keeping track of them.
Ticket Name

Maria is Olivia's lady in waiting or, her "chambermaid" (but not the kind of chambermaid who
scrubs toilets and changes sheets). Though we never see Olivia and Maria giggling about boys
and painting each other's toenails, we know that Maria is very close to Olivia close enough to
know her lady's handwriting and close enough to forge it convincingly. That's exactly what Maria
does when she writes a letter that brings about Malvolio's downfall.
Why does she do it? As Olivia's lady in waiting, it's her job to keep Toby Belch and company from
being too rowdy while Olivia mourns for her dead brother. At the same time, Maria's a girl who
likes to have a bit of fun herself. She's saucy, sharp-tongued, witty, and knows how to put the
drunken noblemen in their places. She also knows how to tell a dirty joke. So, when she gets fed
up with Malvolio's constant criticism, nagging, and judgmental ways, she masterminds a plot to
teach him a lesson.
Her scheme to humiliate and punish Malvolio is so clever that Toby Belch falls in love with her and
the two get hitched (off-stage) by the play's end. We sort of see this coming, since Toby's always
bragging to his drinking buddies that he's got a little somethin' going on the side with Maria.
There's some debate about whether or not Maria is a social climber. Some study guides will tell
you that Maria's got her sights set on marrying up in the world. We're not sure if that's true, but the
idea likely has to do with the fact that Toby says, "I could marry this wench for this device [] And
ask no other dowry with her but such / another jest" (2.5.188-189). In other words, Toby suggests
he'd marry Maria in a heartbeat and would forgo a dowry if she could come up with another great
prank. OK, this may suggest that Maria doesn't have much of a dowry, and we know she's not as
high ranking as Toby, but that doesn't really make her a gold-digger now does it? That said,
we do think the play is awfully concerned with social ambition, which you can read more about by
going to "Society and Class."
Maria's not a big drinker or a rowdy party girl but she is one of the play's unruliest figures. Along
with the rest of the zany crew (Toby, Aguecheek, Fabian, and Feste), Maria helps establish the
play's festive and rebellious spirit.

The two male comic characters, while considered as a sort of team, represent the opposite sides
of a coin. Sir Toby Belch, as his name indicates, is earthy, crude, very fat, and jolly. Sir Andrew
Aguecheek, as his name might indicate, is tall, long, thin, and balding.
Sir Toby is also the opposite to Sir Andrew in intellect. Sir Toby is actually a sharp, witty person
who, even when he is drunk, is capable of making a good pun or of creating an ingenious and
humorous plot complication. For example, he appreciates Maria not for her looks or for romantic
matters, but because she is capable of contriving such a good joke against Malvolio. We are not
surprised, at the end of the play, when he marries her.
Sir Toby's character is similar to an earlier comic character of Shakespeare's, Sir John Falstaff.
Both characters share many of the same qualities. For example, both of them are given to
excessive drinking and eating, both love a good prank, and both enjoy harassing serious-minded
people like Malvolio. Thus, while Sir Toby is a knight, he is still a rather corrupt individual. After all,
the only reason he keeps Sir Andrew Aguecheek around is to gull him out of his money. The fact
that he can tease and play jokes on Sir Andrew is secondary to his primary purpose of using Sir
Andrew's money to continue drinking. He is indeed guilty of misusing his niece's house and of
abusing her servants; yet in spite of all of his faults, Sir Toby is, perhaps, Shakespeare's most
delightful comic creation, after Sir John Falstaff.

Sir Andrew Aguecheek, on the other hand, is merely a foolish fellow who is easily gulled and who
does not realize that he has been cheated. It would take a very foolish fellow to think that such a
rich and beautiful lady as Olivia would seriously consider this "ague"-looking, skinny, balding, and
ugly man as a possible suitor. In addition, he is a coward, and a good deal of the humor
surrounding him comes from how he is tricked into fighting with Cesario, and then later, what
happens when he encounters Sebastian. Sir Toby sums up this comical knight with the comment:
he is "an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave; a thin-faced knave, a gull."
William Hazlitt, a famous Romantic writer of the early 1800s, wrote charmingly of these marvelous
comic characters; he was delighted by their contrasting characters. Sir Toby was sanguine, rednosed, burly, a practical joker, and always ready for "a hair of the dog that bit him." He is a fitting
opposite to Sir Andrew (pale as though he had the ague), with thin, smooth, straw-colored hair.
Hazlitt was deeply amused by this wretched little nincompoop who values himself on his dancing
and fencing, being quarrelsome yet chicken-hearted, boastful and yet timid in the same breath,
and grotesque in every movement. Sir Andrew is a mere echo and shadow of the heroes of his
admiration, born to be the sport of his associates, their puppet, and the butt of their jokes; and
while he is so brainless as to think it possible he may win the love of the beautiful Olivia, he has at
the same time an inward suspicion of his own stupidity which now and then comes in refreshingly:
"Methinks sometimes I have no more wit than a Christian or an ordinary man has; but I am a great
eater of beef, and, I believe, that does harm to my wit." He often does not understand the simplest
word he hears, and he is such a mere reflex and a parrot that "I too" is, as it were, the watchword
of his existence. Sir Toby sums him up in the phrase: "For Andrew, if he were opened, and you find
so much blood in his liver as will clog the foot of a flea, I'll eat the rest of the anatomy."
And of Maria, Hazlitt writes: "We have a sneaking kindness for Maria and her rogueries. She fits in
with Sir Toby Belch's view of the world, and it is true that this 'youngest wren of nine' and 'as pretty
a piece of Eve's flesh as any in Illyria' later married him. They are both opposed to Malvolio
because they represent the "cakes and ale" of which, because he was a virtuous puritan, Malvolio
so disapproved.

So Cesario (really Viola) gets almost immediately given the job. And you might sense a little
professional jealousy in what he first says to Viola in Act 1, Scene 4:
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 clearly senses something slightly aggressive in him: is the Duke inconstant, in his favours,
she asks? Valentine replies
No, believe me.
And that's all we see of him. Because, after that, it is Viola who is sent to Olivia: Orsino believes
that Viola's youth will do more good than a 'nuncio of more grave aspect'. Perhaps Valentine is just
too old.
But that is his role in the play - it's not large! And I've quoted, in this post, every line he speaks in
the play!

One of Shakespeare's central points in Twelfth Night is to show that appearances aren't really
what they seem. Essentially, he shows that appearances can be deceptive. He shows us the
deception of appearances through both Olivia and Duke Orsino being deceived by Viola
masquerading as a boy. He also portrays the deception of appearances through the clown
Feste turning out to be the wisest character of them all. But more importantly, he also shows that a
person's beautiful exterior can hide a deceptive character or even poor and untrustworthy
character. One example of a poor character being covered by a good-looking exterior is Sir
Andrew who is described as handsome but is also known to be a drunkard, wasteful, and even
proved to be a coward. The importance of physical appearances hiding an untrustworthy nature,
which is a central point in Shakespeare's appearance vs. reality theme, is revealed in the very first
act. While Viola is preparing to hide herself as Cesario, she tells the captain who saved her
that she finds him to be very trustworthy, as we see in her lines:
There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;
And though that nature with a beauteous wall
Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee
I believe thou hast a mind that suits
With this thy fair and outward character. (I.ii.50-54)
What she is saying here is that even though outward exteriors often "close in pollution," meaning
hide an untrustworthy or even despicable character, she sees that his handsome looks are
actually enclosing an equally handsome nature and character. This speech so early on in the play
shows us that Shakespeare's central point with the appearances vs. reality theme is to show
that appearances can hide deceptive and untrustworthy natures, which further shows us
that Shakespeare views appearances to be far more untrustworthy than reality.

Write a composition of reasonable length (400 words) on the following topic:

You were travelling by train late at night when two men in your apartment quarreled and
then came to blows. You attempted to intervene; and at the same time a lady in the
compartment pulled the alarm chain. Write an account of the incident, including an account
of what happened after the alarm chain was pulled.