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Scene V

Olivia's garden.

[Enter Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian.]

SIR TOBY:

Come thy ways, Signior Fabian.

FABIAN:

Nay, I'll come: if I lose a scruple of this sport, let me be
boiled to death with melancholy.

SIR TOBY:

Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly rascally
sheep-biter come by some notable shame?(5)

FABIAN:

I would exult, man: you know, he brought me out o'
favour with my lady about a bear-baiting here.

SIR TOBY:

To anger him we'll have the bear again; and we will
fool him black and blue: shall we not, Sir Andrew?

SIR ANDREW:

An we do not, it is pity of our lives.(10)

SIR TOBY:

Here comes the little villain.

[Enter Maria.]

How now, my nettle of India?

MARIA:

Get ye all three into the box-tree: Malvolio's coming
down this walk: he has been yonder i' the sun practising
behavior to his own shadow this half hour: observe him,(15)
for the love of mockery; for I know this letter will make
a contemplative idiot of him. Close, in the name of jesting!

[The men hide themselves.]

Lie thou there;

[Throws down a letter.]

for here comes the trout that must be
caught with tickling.(20)

[Exit.]

[Enter Malvolio.]

MALVOLIO:

'Tis but fortune; all is fortune. Maria once told
me she did affect me: and I have heard herself come
thus near, that, should she fancy, it should be one of my
complexion. Besides, she uses me with a more exalted
respect than any one else that follows her. What should(25)
I think on't?

SIR TOBY:

Here's an overweening rogue!

FABIAN:

O, peace! Contemplation makes a rare turkey-cock of
him: how he jets under his advanced plumes!

SIR ANDREW:

'Slight, I could so beat the rogue!(30)

SIR TOBY:

Peace, I say.

MALVOLIO:

To be Count Malvolio!

SIR TOBY:

Ah, rogue!

SIR ANDREW:

Pistol him, pistol him.

SIR TOBY:

Peace, peace!(35)

MALVOLIO:

There is example for't; the lady of the Strachy married
the yeoman of the wardrobe.

SIR ANDREW:

Fie on him, Jezebel!

FABIAN:

O, peace! now he's deeply in: look how imagination
blows him.(40)

MALVOLIO:

Having been three months married to her, sitting in
my state,—

SIR TOBY:

O, for a stone-bow to hit him in the eye!

MALVOLIO:

Calling my officers about me, in my branched
velvet gown; having come from a day-bed, where I have left(45)
Olivia sleeping.

SIR TOBY:

Fire and brimstone!

FABIAN:

O, peace, peace.

MALVOLIO:

And then to have the humour of state; and after
a demure travel of regard, telling them I know my place(50)
as I would they should do theirs, to ask for my kinsman
Toby,—

SIR TOBY:

Bolts and shackles!

FABIAN:

O, peace, peace, peace! now, now.

MALVOLIO:

Seven of my people, with an obedient start, make
out for him: I frown the while; and perchance, wind up my
watch, or play with my—some rich jewel. Toby approaches;
courtesies there to me,—

SIR TOBY:

Shall this fellow live?

FABIAN:

Though our silence be drawn from us with cars, yet(60)
peace.

MALVOLIO:

I extend my hand to him thus, quenching my familiar
smile with an austere regard of control,—

SIR TOBY:

And does not Toby take you a blow o' the lips
then?

MALVOLIO:

Saying ‘Cousin Toby, my fortunes having cast me on
your niece give me this prerogative of speech,’—

SIR TOBY:

What, what?

MALVOLIO:

‘You must amend your drunkenness.’

SIR TOBY:

Out, scab!(70)

FABIAN:

Nay, patience, or we break the sinews of our plot.

MALVOLIO:

‘Besides, you waste the treasure of your time with a
foolish knight,’—

SIR ANDREW:

That's me, I warrant you.

MALVOLIO:

‘One Sir Andrew,’—(75)

SIR ANDREW:

I knew 'twas I; for many do call me fool.

MALVOLIO:

What employment have we here?

[Taking up the letter.]

FABIAN:

Now is the woodcock near the gin.

SIR TOBY:

O, peace! and the spirit of humours intimate reading
aloud to him!(80)

MALVOLIO:

By my life, this is my lady's hand: these be her very
C's, her U's, and her T's; and thus makes she her great P's.
It is, in contempt of question, her hand.

SIR ANDREW:

Her C's, her U's, and her T's: why that?

MALVOLIO:

[Reads]

‘To the unknown beloved, this, and my
good wishes:’—her very phrases! By your leave, wax.
Soft! and the impressure her Lucrece, with which she
uses to seal: 'tis my lady. To whom should this be?

FABIAN:

This wins him, liver and all.

MALVOLIO:

(90)

[Reads]

‘Jove knows I love,
But who?
Lips, do not move,
No man must know.’
‘No man must know.’ What follows? the numbers alter'd!(95)
‘No man must know:’ if this should be thee, Malvolio?

SIR TOBY:

Marry, hang thee, brock!

MALVOLIO:

[Reads]

‘I may command where I adore;
But silence, like a Lucrece knife,
With bloodless stroke my heart doth gore;(100)
M, O, A, I, doth sway my life.’

FABIAN:

A fustian riddle!

SIR TOBY:

Excellent wench, say I.

MALVOLIO:

‘M, O, A, I, doth sway my life.’ Nay, but first, let
me see, let me see, let me see.(105)

FABIAN:

What dish o' poison has she dressed him!

SIR TOBY:

And with what wing the staniel checks at it!

MALVOLIO:

‘I may command where I adore.’ Why, she may
command me: I serve her; she is my lady. Why, this is
evident to any formal capacity; there is no obstruction(110)
in this: and the end,—what should that alphabetical position
portend? If I could make that resemble something in
me,—Softly! M, O, A, I,—

SIR TOBY:

O, ay, make up that: he is now at a cold scent.

FABIAN:

Sowter will cry upon't for all this, though it be as
rank as a fox.(115)

MALVOLIO:

M,—Malvolio; M,—why, that begins my name.

FABIAN:

Did not I say he would work it out? the cur is excellent
at faults.

MALVOLIO:

M,—but then there is no consonancy in the sequel;
that suffers under probation: A should follow, but O does.(120)

FABIAN:

And O shall end, I hope.

SIR TOBY:

Ay, or I'll cudgel him, and make him cry ‘O!’

• Come along
• a tiny bit
• stingy, ungenerous
• malicious person
• to gloat; rejoice
• It was believed that India was rich in gold, so the reference means “my golden one.”
• ridicule, derision
• Hide
• It was believed that one could induce a trance-like state in a trout by tickling its underbelly. Malvolio will be “tickled” through flattery.
• love
• come near to saying
• personality
• arrogant
• struts
• raised
• Malvolio is likened to a male turkey, a bird which was representative of foolish pride and arrogance.
• By God's light
• Here Malvolio reveals his ambition to marry Olivia and rise above his class. This characteristic of Malvolio seems to be the feature which makes him so despised by Sir Toby and the others. In fact, Malvolio's character plays out one of the major themes of the play—the folly of ambition. In Elizabethan times, it was foolish to think that one could rise up out of the social class into which one had been born.
• Shoot him
• There is no agreement regarding the identity of “the lady of the Strachy,” nor whether the words even refer to an actual person. In any case, Malvolio refers to this couple to convince himself that one can marry above one's class.
• servant in charge of a family's clothing and linen
• In the Old Testament, Jezebel is the evil and scheming wife of Ahab. It seems that Sir Andrew is either using her name as a curse or he is referring to Malvolio's scheming character.
• inflates him
• dignity
• slingshot
• decorated with twig-like designs
• the disposition of authority
• modest
• round of observations
• bows
• This is a reference to a method of torture in which the person to be tortured was tied to two carts. Horses pulled the two carts in opposite directions and the person was essentially pulled apart
• still we remain quiet
• stifling, extinguishing
• strict, severe
• punch in the mouth
• a privilege, right
• to improve; to alter
• muscles, tendons
• business
• bird near the trap
• merriment
• suggest
• Some scholars believe that Shakespeare makes a vulgar pun with these lines, however, it is not certain that this is the case.
• stamp
• Malvolio asks the wax for permission before he unseals the letter. Letters were usually sealed with wax, and people had their own personal stamps that they used to make an impression in the wax. Olivia's stamp apparently depicts Lucrece (or Lucretia) a virtuous woman in Roman legend who was raped and then committed suicide
• badger
• stab
• lofty-sounding but ridiculous
• prepared
• How quickly the hawk is distracted by it.
• normal intelligence
• difficulty
• to foretell; signify
• Carefully
• put that together; solve that riddle
• a difficult trail to follow
• Sowter refers to a cobbler or a shoemaker and, in this case, is also the name of the dog to which Malvolio is being compared. The line can be translated to the following: “The dog will follow the scent, even though the smell of deception should be as obvious as the scent of a fox.”
• In hunting, faults are areas where the scent has been lost. Faults are also defects or imperfections, of which Malvolio is believed to have many.
• agreement
• it gets weaker under examination
• beat with a club

1. Strategies for Understanding Shakespeare's Language
2. Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights
3. Dramatis Personæ
4. Act I
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
5. Act II
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
   5. Scene V
6. Act III
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
   4. Scene IV
7. Act IV
   1. Scene I
   2. Scene II
   3. Scene III
8. Act V
   1. Scene I
9. Copyright