For Monday: Twelfth Night, Acts 4-5

Last questions for Twelfth Night! Try to finish the play for Monday's class, though we'll talk about it a bit more on Wednesday. The course calendar says we're going to have an in-class Mid-Term on Wednesday, but I'm moving that back to Friday for reasons I'll explain on Wednesday. But don't worry, it's not a typical Mid-Term and I'll explain what it's all about during Wednesday's class.

Answer TWO of the following: 

Q1: At the end of Act 4, Scene 1, Olivia, mistaking Sebastian for Cesario, tells him, "O, say so, and so be!" Why might this be the motto of the entire Act (if not the play)? How do characters change identities and fortunes merely by the act of speech? Discuss how someone in this act uses language to change themselves or are changed by someone else's language. Are we really constructions of our and other's language?

Q2: In her article, “Twelfth Night: A Modern Perspective,” Catherine Belsey reminds us that Viola is named (as Viola) only once in the play, and only then in Act 5. She goes on to mention that she “has no fixed location in the play. Even when she speaks “in her own person”—and it is not easy to be sure when that is—the play does not always make clear where we are to “find” her identity “ (203). Why do you think Shakespeare makes Viola so transparent in the play and so difficult to pin down? How does that affect the idea of both Olivia and Orsino falling in love with her?

Q3: How does Malvolio change in Act Five? While he’s still very much the same character, what about his language and his words undergoes an interesting transition? How do we—and Olivia—read him differently in the final act? (or, how does Shakespeare suggest we do?)

Q4: Interestingly, in a play about love, none of the men seem remotely in love with the women in question: Sebastian has no reason to love Olivia (he doesn’t even know her!), and Orsino never quite convinces us that he loves Olivia, either. The men are much more convincing when espousing their love for other men: Orsino for Cesario, and Antonio for Sebastian. Why do you think this is? Why can men speak of love more convincingly among each other than to the opposite sex?