Twelfth Night | Act II, Scene II

Scene II

A street

[Enter Viola; Malvolio following.]

MALVOLIO:
Were you not even now with the Countess
Olivia?
VIOLA:
Even now, sir; on a moderate pace I have since arrived
but hither.
MALVOLIO:
She returns this ring to you, sir: you might have(5)
saved me my pains, to have taken it away yourself. She
adds, moreover, that you should put your lord into a
desperate assurance she will none of him: and one thing
more, that you be never so hardy to come again in his
affairs, unless it be to report your lord's taking of this.(10)
Receive it so.
VIOLA:
She took the ring of me: I'll none of it.
MALVOLIO:
Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her; and her
will is, it should be so returned: if it be worth stooping
for, there it lies in your eye; if not, be it his that finds it.(15)

[Exit.]

VIOLA:
I left no ring with her: what means this lady?
Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her!
She made good view of me; indeed, so much,
That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,
For she did speak in starts distractedly.(20)
She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion
Invites me in this churlish messenger.
None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none.
I am the man: if it be so, as 'tis,
Poor lady, she were better love a dream.(25)
Disguise, I see, thou art a wickedness,
Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
How easy is it for the proper-false
In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!(30)
For such as we are made of, such we be.
How will this fadge? my master loves her dearly;
And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
And she, mistaken, seems to dote on me.
What will become of this? As I am man,(35)
My state is desperate for my master's love;
As I am woman,—now alas the day!—
What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
It is too hard a knot for me to untie!(40)

[Exit.]

  • just now
  • here
  • bold, daring
  • “She took the ring from me. I refuse to take it back.” Viola decides to play along with Olivia's deception, letting Malvolio believe that she (as Cesario) did indeed leave a ring with Olivia. In truth, it is Olivia who is using Malvolio to deliver the ring as a gift to Cesario.
  • appearance
  • rude, impolite
  • would be better off to
  • Some critics also believe that the passage alludes to the devil disguising himself as a serpent in order to seduce Eve.
  • expert, clever
  • deceivers
  • made of wax, therefore easily manipulated
  • impressions, shapes
  • frailty – weakness
  • turn out
  • If
  • unprofitable
  • This is another reference to the idea that people have no control over the situations in which they find themselves. Instead, it is fate which controls things. The passage also alludes to the fact that, for the audience, time will untangle the knot before the play's end.