Act V, Scene 1
The Street before OLIVIA's House.
Enter FESTE and FABIAN.
FABIAN
Now, as thou lovest me, let me see his letter.
FESTE
Good Master Fabian, grant me another request.
FABIAN
Anything. 5
FESTE
Do not desire to see this letter.
FABIAN
This is to give a dog; and in recompense desire my dog again.
Enter ORSINO, VIOLA, and Attendants.
ORSINO
Belong you to the Lady Olivia, friends?
FESTE
Ay, sir; we are some of her trappings. 10
ORSINO
I know thee well. How dost thou, my good fellow?
FESTE
Truly, sir, the better for my foes and the worse for my friends.
ORSINO
Just the contrary; the better for thy friends.
FESTE
No, sir, the worse.
ORSINO
How can that be? 15
FESTE
Marry, sir, they praise me and make an ass of me; now my
foes tell me plainly I am an ass: so that by my foes, sir, I
profit in the knowledge of myself, and by my friends I am abused:
so that, conclusions to be as kisses, if your four negatives make
your two affirmatives, why then, the worse for my friends and 20
the better for my foes.
ORSINO
Why, this is excellent.
FESTE
By my troth, sir, no; though it please you to be one of my
friends.
ORSINO
Thou shalt not be the worse for me; there's gold. 25
FESTE
But that it would be double-dealing, sir, I would you could
make it another.
ORSINO
O, you give me ill counsel.
FESTE
Put your grace in your pocket, sir, for this once, and let
your flesh and blood obey it. 30
ORSINO
Well, I will be so much a sinner to be a double-dealer: there's
another.
FESTE
Primo, secundo, tertio, is a good play; and the old saying
is, the third pays for all; the triplex, sir, is a good tripping
measure; or the bells of Saint Bennet, sir, may put you in mind; 35
one, two, three.
ORSINO
You can fool no more money out of me at this throw: if you
will let your lady know I am here to speak with her, and bring
her along with you, it may awake my bounty further.
FESTE
Marry, sir, lullaby to your bounty till I come again. I go, 40
sir; but I would not have you to think that my desire of having
is the sin of covetousness: but, as you say, sir, let your bounty
take a nap; I will awake it anon.
Exit FESTE.
Enter ANTONIO and Officers. 45
VIOLA
Here comes the man, sir, that did rescue me.
ORSINO
That face of his I do remember well:
Yet when I saw it last it was besmeared
As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war:
A bawbling vessel was he captain of, 50
For shallow draught and bulk unprizable;
With which such scathful grapple did he make
With the most noble bottom of our fleet
That very envy and the tongue of loss
Cried fame and honour on him.--What's the matter? 55
FIRST OFFICER
Orsino, this is that Antonio
That took the Phoenix and her fraught from Candy:
And this is he that did the Tiger board
When your young nephew Titus lost his leg:
Here in the streets, desperate of shame and state, 60
In private brabble did we apprehend him.
VIOLA
He did me kindness, sir; drew on my side;
But, in conclusion, put strange speech upon me.
I know not what 'twas, but distraction.
ORSINO
Notable pirate! thou salt-water thief! 65
What foolish boldness brought thee to their mercies,
Whom thou, in terms so bloody and so dear,
Hast made thine enemies?
ANTONIO
Orsino, noble sir,
Be pleased that I shake off these names you give me: 70
Antonio never yet was thief or pirate,
Though, I confess, on base and ground enough,
Orsino's enemy. A witchcraft drew me hither:
That most ingrateful boy there, by your side
From the rude sea's enraged and foamy mouth 75
Did I redeem; a wreck past hope he was:
His life I gave him, and did thereto add
My love, without retention or restraint,
All his in dedication: for his sake,
Did I expose myself, pure for his love, 80
Into the danger of this adverse town;
Drew to defend him when he was beset:
Where being apprehended, his false cunning,--
Not meaning to partake with me in danger,--
Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance, 85
And grew a twenty-years-removed thing
While one would wink; denied me mine own purse,
Which I had recommended to his use
Not half an hour before.
VIOLA
How can this be? 90
ORSINO
When came he to this town?
ANTONIO
To-day, my lord; and for three months before,--
No interim, not a minute's vacancy,--
Both day and night did we keep company.
Enter OLIVIA and Attendants. 95
ORSINO
Here comes the countess; now heaven walks on earth.--
But for thee, fellow, fellow, thy words are madness:
Three months this youth hath tended upon me;
But more of that anon.--Take him aside.
OLIVIA
What would my lord, but that he may not have, 100
Wherein Olivia may seem serviceable!--
Cesario, you do not keep promise with me.
VIOLA
Madam?
ORSINO
Gracious Olivia,--
OLIVIA
What do you say, Cesario?--Good my lord,-- 105
VIOLA
My lord would speak, my duty hushes me.
OLIVIA
If it be aught to the old tune, my lord,
It is as fat and fulsome to mine ear
As howling after music.
ORSINO
Still so cruel? 110
OLIVIA
Still so constant, lord.
ORSINO
What! to perverseness? you uncivil lady,
To whose ingrate and unauspicious altars
My soul the faithfull'st offerings hath breathed out
That e'er devotion tendered! What shall I do? 115
OLIVIA
Even what it please my lord, that shall become him.
ORSINO
Why should I not, had I the heart to do it.
Like to the Egyptian thief, at point of death,
Kill what I love; a savage jealousy
That sometime savours nobly.--But hear me this: 120
Since you to non-regardance cast my faith,
And that I partly know the instrument
That screws me from my true place in your favour,
Live you the marble-breasted tyrant still;
But this your minion, whom I know you love, 125
And whom, by heaven I swear, I tender dearly,
Him will I tear out of that cruel eye
Where he sits crowned in his master's spite.--
Come, boy, with me; my thoughts are ripe in mischief:
I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love, 130
To spite a raven's heart within a dove.
Going.
VIOLA
And I, most jocund, apt, and willingly,
To do you rest, a thousand deaths would die.
OLIVIA
Where goes Cesario? 135
VIOLA
After him I love
More than I love these eyes, more than my life,
More, by all mores, than e'er I shall love wife;
If I do feign, you witnesses above
Punish my life for tainting of my love! 140
OLIVIA
Ah me, detested! how am I beguiled!
VIOLA
Who does beguile you? who does do you wrong?
OLIVIA
Hast thou forgot thyself? Is it so long?--
Call forth the holy father.
Exit an ATTENDANT. 145
ORSINO
To Viola. Come, away!
OLIVIA
Whither, my lord? Cesario, husband, stay.
ORSINO
Husband?
OLIVIA
Ay, husband, can he that deny?
ORSINO
Her husband, sirrah? 150
VIOLA
No, my lord, not I.
OLIVIA
Alas, it is the baseness of thy fear
That makes thee strangle thy propriety:
Fear not, Cesario, take thy fortunes up;
Be that thou know'st thou art, and then thou art 155
As great as that thou fear'st--O, welcome, father!
Re-enter Attendant and Priest.
Father, I charge thee, by thy reverence,
Here to unfold,--though lately we intended
To keep in darkness what occasion now 160
Reveals before 'tis ripe,--what thou dost know
Hath newly passed between this youth and me.
PRIEST
A contract of eternal bond of love,
Confirmed by mutual joinder of your hands,
Attested by the holy close of lips, 165
Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compact
Sealed in my function, by my testimony:
Since when, my watch hath told me, toward my grave,
I have travelled but two hours. 170
ORSINO
O thou dissembling cub! What wilt thou be,
When time hath sowed a grizzle on thy case?
Or will not else thy craft so quickly grow
That thine own trip shall be thine overthrow?
Farewell, and take her; but direct thy feet 175
Where thou and I henceforth may never meet.
VIOLA
My lord, I do protest,--
OLIVIA
O, do not swear;
Hold little faith, though thou has too much fear.
Enter SIR ANDREW AGUECHEEK, with his head broke. 180
SIR ANDREW
For the love of God, a surgeon; send one presently to Sir Toby.
OLIVIA
What's the matter?
SIR ANDREW
He has broke my head across, and has given Sir Toby a
bloody coxcomb too: for the love of God, your help: I had rather
than forty pound I were at home. 185
OLIVIA
Who has done this, Sir Andrew?
SIR ANDREW
The Count's gentleman, one Cesario: we took him for a
coward, but he's the very devil incardinate(sic).
ORSINO
My gentleman, Cesario?
SIR ANDREW
Od's lifelings, here he is:--You broke my head for 190
nothing; and that that I did, I was set on to do't by Sir Toby.
VIOLA
Why do you speak to me? I never hurt you:
You drew your sword upon me without cause;
But I bespake you fair and hurt you not.
SIR ANDREW
If a bloody coxcomb be a hurt, you have hurt me; I think 195
you set nothing by a bloody coxcomb.
Enter SIR TOBY BELCH, drunk, led by the FESTE.
Here comes Sir Toby halting; you shall hear more: but if he had
not been in drink he would have tickled you othergates than he did.
ORSINO
How now, gentleman? how is't with you? 200
SIR TOBY
That's all one; he has hurt me, and there's the end on't.--
Sot, didst see Dick Surgeon, sot?
FESTE
O, he's drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes were set at
eight i' the morning.
SIR TOBY
Then he's a rogue. After a passy-measure pavin, I hate a 205
drunken rogue.
OLIVIA
Away with him. Who hath made this havoc with them?
SIR ANDREW
I'll help you, Sir Toby, because we'll be dressed together.
SIR TOBY
Will you help an ass-head, and a coxcomb, and a knave? a
thin-faced knave, a gull? 210
OLIVIA
Get him to bed, and let his hurt be looked to.
Exeunt FESTE, SIR TOBY, and SIR ANDREW.
Enter SEBASTIAN.
SEBASTIAN
I am sorry, madam, I have hurt your kinsman;
But, had it been the brother of my blood, 215
I must have done no less, with wit and safety.
You throw a strange regard upon me, and by that
I do perceive it hath offended you;
Pardon me, sweet one, even for the vows
We made each other but so late ago. 220
ORSINO
One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons;
A natural perspective, that is, and is not.
SEBASTIAN
Antonio, O my dear Antonio!
How have the hours racked and tortured me
Since I have lost thee. 225
ANTONIO
Sebastian are you?
SEBASTIAN
Fear'st thou that, Antonio?
ANTONIO
How have you made division of yourself?--
An apple, cleft in two, is not more twin
Than these two creatures. Which is Sebastian? 230
OLIVIA
Most wonderful!
SEBASTIAN
Do I stand there? I never had a brother:
Nor can there be that deity in my nature
Of here and everywhere. I had a sister
Whom the blind waves and surges have devoured:-- 235
To Viola. Of charity, what kin are you to me?
What countryman, what name, what parentage?
VIOLA
Of Messaline: Sebastian was my father;
Such a Sebastian was my brother too:
So went he suited to his watery tomb: 240
If spirits can assume both form and suit,
You come to fright us.
SEBASTIAN
A spirit I am indeed:
But am in that dimension grossly clad,
Which from the womb I did participate. 245
Were you a woman, as the rest goes even,
I should my tears let fall upon your cheek,
And say--Thrice welcome, drowned Viola!
VIOLA
My father had a mole upon his brow.
SEBASTIAN
And so had mine. 250
VIOLA
And died that day when Viola from her birth
Had numbered thirteen years.
SEBASTIAN
O, that record is lively in my soul!
He finished, indeed, his mortal act
That day that made my sister thirteen years. 255
VIOLA
If nothing lets to make us happy both
But this my masculine usurped attire,
Do not embrace me till each circumstance
Of place, time, fortune, do cohere, and jump
That I am Viola: which to confirm, 260
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;
All the occurrence of my fortune since
Hath been between this lady and this lord. 265
SEBASTIAN
To OLIVIA So comes it, lady, you have been mistook:
But nature to her bias drew in that.
You would have been contracted to a maid;
Nor are you therein, by my life, deceived;
You are betrothed both to a maid and man. 270
ORSINO
Be not amazed; right noble is his blood.--
If this be so, as yet the glass seems true,
I shall have share in this most happy wreck:
To VIOLA Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times,
Thou never shouldst love woman like to me. 275
VIOLA
And all those sayings will I over-swear;
And all those swearings keep as true in soul
As doth that orbed continent the fire
That severs day from night.
ORSINO
Give me thy hand; 280
And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.
VIOLA
The captain that did bring me first on shore
Hath my maid's garments: he, upon some action,
Is now in durance, at Malvolio's suit;
A gentleman and follower of my lady's. 285
OLIVIA
He shall enlarge him:--Fetch Malvolio hither:--
And yet, alas, now I remember me,
They say, poor gentleman, he's much distract.
Re-enter FESTE with a letter.
A most extracting frenzy of mine own 290
From my remembrance clearly banished his.--
How does he, sirrah?
FESTE
Truly, madam, he holds Belzebub at the stave's end as well
as a man in his case may do: he has here writ a letter to you; I
should have given it you to-day morning, but as a madman's 295
epistles are no gospels, so it skills not much when they are
delivered.
OLIVIA
Open it, and read it.
FESTE
Look then to be well edified when the fool delivers the
madman:--'By the Lord, madam,--' 300
OLIVIA
How now! art thou mad?
FESTE
No, madam, I do but read madness: an your ladyship will have
it as it ought to be, you must allow vox.
OLIVIA
Prithee, read i' thy right wits.
FESTE
So I do, madonna; but to read his right wits is to read 305
thus; therefore perpend, my princess, and give ear.
OLIVIA
To FABIAN Read it you, sirrah.
FABIAN
Reads 'By the Lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world
shall know it: though you have put me into darkness and given
your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my 310
senses as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter that
induced me to the semblance I put on; with the which I doubt not
but to do myself much right or you much shame. Think of me as you
please. I leave my duty a little unthought of, and speak out of
my injury. 315
The madly-used Malvolio'
OLIVIA
Did he write this?
FESTE
Ay, madam.
ORSINO
This savours not much of distraction.
OLIVIA
See him delivered, Fabian: bring him hither. 320
Exit FABIAN.
My lord, so please you, these things further thought on,
To think me as well a sister as a wife,
One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost. 325
ORSINO
Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer.--
To VIOLA Your master quits you; and, for your service done him,
So much against the mettle of your sex,
So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And since you called me master for so long, 330
Here is my hand; you shall from this time be
You master's mistress.
OLIVIA
A sister?--you are she.
Re-enter FABIAN with MALVOLIO.
ORSINO
Is this the madman? 335
OLIVIA
Ay, my lord, this same;
How now, Malvolio?
MALVOLIO
Madam, you have done me wrong,
Notorious wrong.
OLIVIA
Have I, Malvolio? no. 340
MALVOLIO
Lady, you have. Pray you peruse that letter:
You must not now deny it is your hand,
Write from it, if you can, in hand or phrase;
Or say 'tis not your seal, not your invention:
You can say none of this. Well, grant it then, 345
And tell me, in the modesty of honour,
Why you have given me such clear lights of favour;
Bade me come smiling and cross-gartered to you;
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown
Upon Sir Toby and the lighter people: 350
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffered me to be imprisoned,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e'er invention played on? tell me why. 355
OLIVIA
Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like the character:
But out of question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was she
First told me thou wast mad; then cam'st in smiling, 360
And in such forms which here were presupposed
Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content:
This practice hath most shrewdly passed upon thee:
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge 365
Of thine own cause.
FABIAN
Good madam, hear me speak;
And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come,
Taint the condition of this present hour,
Which I have wondered at. In hope it shall not, 370
Most freely I confess, myself and Toby
Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon some stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him. Maria writ
The letter, at Sir Toby's great importance; 375
In recompense whereof he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was followed
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge,
If that the injuries be justly weighed
That have on both sides past. 380
OLIVIA
Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee!
FESTE
Why, 'some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some
have greatness thrown upon them.' I was one, sir, in this
interlude;:--one Sir Topas, sir; but that's all one:--'By the
Lord, fool, I am not mad;'--But do you remember? 'Madam, why 385
laugh you at such a barren rascal? An you smile not, he's
gagged'? And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.
MALVOLIO
I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you.
Exit.
OLIVIA
He hath been most notoriously abused. 390
ORSINO
Pursue him, and entreat him to a peace:--
He hath not told us of the captain yet;
When that is known, and golden time convents,
A solemn combination shall be made
Of our dear souls.--Meantime, sweet sister, 395
We will not part from hence.--Cesario, come:
For so you shall be while you are a man;
But, when in other habits you are seen,
Orsino's mistress, and his fancy's queen.
Exeunt. 400
FESTE
(Song.)
When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day. 405
But when I came to man's estate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainst knave and thief men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came, alas! to wive, 410
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By swaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.
But when I came unto my bed,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain, 415
With toss-pots still had drunken head,
For the rain it raineth every day.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done, 420
And we'll strive to please you every day.
Exit.
Twelfth Night IV.iii : Twelfth Night