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OLIVIA:

I pity you.

OLIVIA:

That's a degree to love.

VIOLA:

No, not a grize; for 'tis a vulgar proof,(125)
That very oft we pity enemies.

OLIVIA:

Why, then, methinks 'tis time to smile again.
O, world, how apt the poor are to be proud!
If one should be a prey, how much the better
To fall before the lion than the wolf!(130)

[Clock strikes.]

The clock upbraids me with the waste of time.
Be not afraid, good youth, I will not have you:
And yet, when wit and youth is come to harvest,
Your wife is like to reap a proper man:
There lies your way, due west.(135)

VIOLA:

Then westward-ho!
Grace and good disposition attend your ladyship.
You'll nothing, madam, to my lord by me?

OLIVIA:

Stay. I prithee tell me what thou thinkest of me.

VIOLA:

That you do think you are not what you are.(140)

OLIVIA:

If I think so, I think the same of you.

VIOLA:

Then think you right: I am not what I am.

OLIVIA:

I would you were as I would have you be!

VIOLA:

Would it be better, madam, than I am?
I wish it might, for now I am your fool.(145)

OLIVIA:

[Aside.] O what a deal of scorn looks beautiful
In the contempt and anger of his lip!
A murderous guilt shows not itself more soon
Than love that would seem hid: love's night is noon.
Cesario, by the roses of the spring,(150)
By maidhood, honour, truth, and everything,
I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride,
Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.
Do not extort thy reasons from this clause,
For that I woo thou therefore hast no cause,
But rather reason thus with reason fetter,(155)
Love sought is good, but given unsought is better.

VIOLA:

By innocence I swear, and by my youth
I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth,
And that no woman has; nor never none
Shall mistress be of it, save I alone.(160)
And so adieu, good madam: never more
Will I my master's tears to you deplore.

OLIVIA:

Yet come again; for thou perhaps, mayst move
That heart, which now abhors, to like his love.

[Exeunt.]

• a degree
• a common experience
• Olivia means that she has accepted the fact that Cesario does not love her. She realizes she must stop mourning about it.
• “If one should be conquered, it is better to be conquered by a noble enemy than by a cruel one.”
• reproaches, reprimands
• has grown up
• likely to obtain
• You have no message for my lord?
• Viola means that Olivia does not think that she (Olivia) is a woman in love with a woman. However, this is exactly what Olivia is (because Olivia thinks that Viola is a man.)
• great deal
• “Even the guilt of a murderer is more easily hidden than love. Love is as plain as day and is therefore incapable of hiding itself.”
• despite
• to tie or bind
• “Do not wrongly reason that just because I pursue you, you should not pursue me. Instead, let logic tell you this: while love that is requested is good, love that is given without being requested is even better.”
• complain about

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