Keep reading the play, and feel free to read past Act 2, but we'll only have time to discuss Act 2 for Wednesday's class. We won't have questions for Friday, but will have an in-class response for Act 3, so enjoy these questions! :)
Answer TWO (or One, in an extended response):
Q1: Carefully examine Viola’s speech in Act 2, Scene 2, which begins “Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her!” This is a soliloquy, which means she is speaking to the audience alone; what does she reveal of her innermost thoughts? Is she proud to have conquered Olivia’s affections as a “man”? Does she blame Olivia for her conquest? Or Orsino?
Q2: In Act 2, Scene 4, Orsino and Viola have a debate on who loves deeper: a man or woman. Part of the humor of this scene is that Orsino is telling a woman how women feel, and why they can’t possibly measure up to his own (male) affections. How does Viola respond to his claims, and where might she borrow some ideas from The Sonnets along the way?
Q3: Act 2.5 is one of the funniest scenes in all of Shakespeare, and barely contains a drop of verse from beginning to end. What makes this such a universal scene, and one that stages particularly well for a modern audience? (also, how does Shakespeare take pains to make the language relatively easy to follow)?
Q4: In a play full of "fools," what role does the Fool seem to play in this comedy? While Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are largely confined to one locale, the Fool seems to move freely throughout the play, talking with virtually everyone. Why might a 'fool' i Shakespeare not be exactly what we make a fool to be in the modern sense (or what someone like Sir Andrew is, for example)?
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