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IV. "Thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad" (2.5.193-94)

Like Olivia's love for Cesario/Viola, Antonio's love for Sebastian partakes in a psychological enactment of fantasy that functions as an inward performance of gender trouble. Mistaking Viola for her twin brother in act 3, "even in a minute" Antonio has his faith undermined by the confused Cesario (3.4.370-72), who is unable to return Antonio's purse because he does not have it. In his crestfallen state, Antonio announces that he has done "devotion" to Sebastian's "image" with a "sanctity of love," but that this "god" has proved a "vile idol" unworthy of Sebastian's handsome features (3.4.374-75). Antonio's passionate disenchantment—reminiscent of Othello's—is based on a mistaken interpretation of objective reality, and like the amorous image-making that preceded it, his recasting of Sebastian into the image of a deceiving "devil" partakes of the same...

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1. Introduction
2. I. The Renaissance Context: "I, poor monster" (2.2.33)10
3. II. "I am the man" (2.2.24)
4. III. "I do adore thee so, / That danger shall seem sport" (2.1.46)
5. IV. "Thou hast put him in such a dream, that when the image of it leaves him he must run mad" (2.5.193-94)
6. Copyright