Home > Twelfth Night Text > Act II, Scene V - Page 2

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MALVOLIO:

And then I comes behind.

FABIAN:

Ay, an you had any eye behind you, you might see more
detraction at your heels than fortunes before you.(125)

MALVOLIO:

'M, O, A, I; this simulation is not as the former: and
yet, to crush this a little, it would bow to me, for every
one of these letters are in my name. Soft! here follows prose:

[Reads]

'If this fall into thy hand, revolve. In my stars I am above
thee; but be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some(130)
achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Thy Fates open their hands; let thy blood and spirit embrace
them; and, to inure thyself to what thou art like to be, cast
thy humble slough and appear fresh. Be opposite with a
kinsman, surly with servants; let thy tongue tang arguments(135)
of state; put thyself into the trick of singularity: she thus
advises thee that sighs for thee. Remember who commended
thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered:
I say, remember. Go to, thou art made, if thou desirest
to be so; if not, let me see thee a steward still, the fellow of(140)
servants, and not worthy to touch Fortune's fingers. Farewell.
She that would alter services with thee,
The Fortunate-Unhappy.'
Daylight and champaign discovers not more: this is open. I
will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby,(145)
I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-devise the
very man. I do not now fool myself to let imagination jade
me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She
did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my
leg being cross-gartered; and in this she manifests herself to my(150)
love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits
of her liking. I thank my stars I am happy. I will be strange,
stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with the
swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised! Here is
yet a postscript:

[Reads]

‘Thou canst not choose but know who I am. If thou(155)
entertainest my love, let it appear in thy smiling; thy smiles
become thee well; therefore, in my presence still smile, dear
my sweet, I prithee.’
Jove, I thank thee. I will smile; I will do everything that
thou wilt have me.(160)

[Exit.]

FABIAN:

I will not give my part of this sport for a pension of
thousands to be paid from the Sophy.

SIR TOBY:

I could marry this wench for this device.

SIR ANDREW:

So could I too.

SIR TOBY:

And ask no other dowry with her but such another(165)
jest.

SIR ANDREW:

Nor I neither.

FABIAN:

Here comes my noble gull-catcher.

[Enter Maria.]

SIR TOBY:

Wilt thou set thy foot o' my neck?

SIR ANDREW:

Or o' mine either?(170)

SIR TOBY:

Shall I play my freedom at traytrip, and become
thy bond-slave?

SIR ANDREW:

I' faith, or I either?

SIR TOBY:

Why, thou hast put him in such a dream, that when
the image of it leaves him he must run mad.(175)

MARIA:

Nay, but say true; does it work upon him?

SIR TOBY:

Like aqua-vitae with a midwife.

MARIA:

If you will then see the fruits of the sport, mark his
first approach before my lady: he will come to her in
yellow stockings, and 'tis a colour she abhors, and crossgartered,(180)
a fashion she detests; and he will smile upon
her, which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition,
being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot
but turn him into a notable contempt; if you will see it,
follow me.(185)

SIR TOBY:

To the gates of Tartar, thou most excellent devil
of wit!

SIR ANDREW:

I'll make one too.

[Exeunt.]

• defamation, humiliation
• puzzle
• to force it a little, the letters would refer to me
• consider
• accustom yourself to what you will likely become
• skin
• argumentative
• surly – rude, gruff
• echo with
• political theories
• eccentricity
• During Elizabethan times, men wore garters to hold up their stockings. To cross-garter was to unconventionally cross the garters both above and below the knee. Since Olivia hates the style of cross-gartering, Malvolio will look like a fool to her.
• exchange positions
• open country
• punish, humiliate
• exactly, perfectly
• to make ridiculous
• to praise; compliment
• reveals; makes known
• a command or order
• aloof, distant
• brave
• an income, allowance
• the king of Persia
• scheme, plot
• a gift of money or property from a bride's family to the husband
• fool-catcher, trickster
• Sir Toby is telling Maria that she has conquered him with her impressive wit. The imagery is of a conqueror standing over a victim with a foot on the victim's neck.
• gamble my freedom at a game of dice
• “Like strong alcohol with a midwife.” While a midwife refers to a woman who helps other women during childbirth, in Shakespeare's time, the term midwife was also used as a derogatory term for an old woman. Sir Toby apparently means that the deception works upon Malvolio in the same way that whiskey works on an old woman.
• hates
• hates
• temperament, nature
• state of being hated and scorned
• Tartar is another word for hell. Sir Toby means “the gates of hell.”
• I'll go too

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