Twelfth Night | Act I, Scene III

Scene III

Olivia's House.

[Enter Sir Toby Belch and Maria.]

SIR TOBY:
What a plague means my niece, to take the death of
her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy to life.
MARIA:
By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o'
nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to
your ill hours.(5)
SIR TOBY:
Why, let her except, before excepted.
MARIA:
Ay, but you must confine yourself within the
modest limits of order.
SIR TOBY:
Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am:
these clothes are good enough to drink in; and so be these(10)
boots too: an they be not, let them hang themselves in
their own straps.
MARIA:
That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my
lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight that you
brought in one night here to be her wooer.(15)
SIR TOBY:
Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?
MARIA:
Ay, he.
SIR TOBY:
He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.
MARIA:
What's that to the purpose?
SIR TOBY:
Why, he has three thousand ducats a year.(20)
MARIA:
Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats: he's a
very fool, and a prodigal.
SIR TOBY:
Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o' the viol-de-gam-
boys, and speaks three or four languages word for word
without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.(25)
MARIA:
He hath indeed, almost natural: for besides that he's
a fool, he's a great quarreler; and but that he hath the gift
of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis
thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift
of a grave.(30)
SIR TOBY:
By this hand, they are scoundrels and substractors
that say so of him. Who are they?
MARIA:
They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in your
company.
SIR TOBY:
With drinking healths to my niece: I'll drink to her as(35)
long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria.
He's a coward and a coystrill that will not drink to my niece
till his brains turn o' the toe like a parish-top. What, wench!
Castiliano vulgo! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface.

[Enter Sir Andrew Aguecheek.]

SIR ANDREW:
Sir Toby Belch! how now, Sir Toby Belch!(40)
SIR TOBY:
Sweet Sir Andrew!
SIR ANDREW:
Bless you, fair shrew.
MARIA:
And you too, sir.
SIR TOBY:
Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.
SIR ANDREW:
What's that?(45)
SIR TOBY:
My niece's chambermaid.
SIR ANDREW:
Good Mistress Accost, I desire better
acquaintance.
MARIA:
My name is Mary, sir.
SIR ANDREW:
Good Mistress Mary Accost,—(50)
SIR TOBY:
You mistake, knight; ‘accost’ is front her, board her,
woo her, assail her.
SIR ANDREW:
By my troth, I would not undertake her in this
company. Is that the meaning of ‘accost’?
MARIA:
Fare you well, gentlemen.(55)
SIR TOBY:
An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou mightst
never draw sword again.
  • Shakespeare gives Sir Toby a deliberately amusing name. Sir Toby Belch is a drunkard and a glutton, who is rude and crude throughout the play.
  • Truly
  • In Shakespeare's time, the word cousin could refer to almost any relation.
  • Sir Toby apparently means, “let her object to my behavior; it doesn't change anything.” The line itself is a play on a common Latin legal term used during Elizabethan times, exceptis excipiendis. The term meant “allowing for certain exceptions.” It was mainly used in lease agreements to stipulate that certain conditions that existed before the signing of the lease would still be allowed. It seems fitting for Sir Toby, since he is able to misbehave without being kicked out of the house simply because he is Olivia's relative.
  • if
  • drinking, guzzling
  • suitor
  • another humorous name; ague refers to a fever combined with fits of shivering.
  • gold coins used throughout Europe during the time of the play
  • wasteful, reckless
  • an expression of contempt or distaste
  • a musical instrument similar to the cello
  • This is a pun on the word natural. In Shakespearean times, natural was a slang term for idiot.
  • to calm; to put to rest
  • taste or appetite
  • sensible, practical
  • slanderers
  • low person; knave
  • Parishes were townships that were formed around a central church. The parish top was a large top that stood in the village square which citizens could spin for entertainment.
  • [Spanish] Castilian people; it seems as though Sir Toby uses this expression to quiet Maria. Some critics have suggested that, because the Castilian people had a reputation for politeness, Sir Toby is using the phrase as a command for Maria to be polite to Sir Andrew.
  • a scolding woman
  • Approach and greet
  • Sir Andrew doesn't understand what is happening and thinks Maria's name is accost.
  • face
  • greet
  • seduce
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