Troilus and Cressida Act Five – “The error of our eye directs our mind: What error leads must err…”

Troilus and Cressida Act Five – “The error of our eye directs our mind:

What error leads must err…”

What is so amazing about ‘Troilus and Cressida’ is the way that Shakespeare is able to combine comedy and satire with the most tragic and bleak of endings to paint a picture of love and power done with wit, strength and irony. ‘Troilus and Cressida’ shows us a portrait of the corrupt and artificial world of men at war while satirising everything from attitudes to war and military glory to romantic love and sex.

Act Five of the play starts near the end of a feast and Achilles is seen bragging to Patroclus about how he will easily kill Hector the very next day. Then Thersites enters and throws his usual round of abuse on Achilles and Patroclus and on both Greeks and Trojans, and delivers a letter from Achilles’ Trojan Princess who pleads with Achilles not to fight the next day. After all his bragging, Achilles decides to follow his love’s wishes. As they exit we see Diomedes as he goes off to visit Cressida, although he is secretly followed by Troilus and Ulysses. Thersites decides to spy on Diomedes and the others.

Diomedes calls for Cressida and Cressida’s father goes to get her while Troilus and Ulysses secretly watch (and Thersites secretly watches everyone). Cressida is wooed by Diomedes and although she doesn’t encourage him, she doesn’t dismiss him straight away and even gives Diomedes a love token in the form of a sleeve that Troilus gave her. Cressida ends the conversation by telling Diomedes to go but then she agrees to see him again and be open to the possibilities. Troilus judges her as unfaithful for this but Shakespeare has Cressida end her scene with an indication of her inner turmoil not seen or heard by Troilus:

“Ah, poor our sex! this fault in us I find,

The error of our eye directs our mind:

What error leads must err; O, then conclude

Minds sway'd by eyes are full of turpitude.”

When Cressida and Diomedes have gone, Troilus is in agony, and then vows to kill Diomedes on the battlefield. They leave to go back to Troy to prepare for the next day.

Also back in Troy, Hector is preparing for a fight despite the pleas of his wife Andromache and sister Cassandra who have both had dreams predicting Hector’s death. Hector dismisses their pleas:

“Mine honour keeps the weather of my fate:

Lie every man holds dear; but the brave man

Holds honour far more precious-dear than life.”

Troilus enters and states that he also will be fighting today and says to Hector:

“Brother, you have a vice of mercy in you,

Which better fits a lion than a man…

When many times the captive Grecian falls,

Even in the fan and wind of your fair sword,

You bid them rise, and live….

For the love of all the gods,

Let's leave the hermit pity with our mothers,

And when we have our armours buckled on,

The venom'd vengeance ride upon our swords,

Spur them to ruthful work, rein them from ruth.”

Hector pleads with Troilus to not fight today but Troilus replies:

“Who should withhold me?

Not fate, obedience, nor the hand of Mars

Beckoning with fiery truncheon my retire;

Not Priamus and Hecuba on knees,

Their eyes o'ergalled with recourse of tears;

Not you, my brother, with your true sword drawn,

Opposed to hinder me, should stop my way,

But by my ruin.”

Cassandra brings back Priam who also asks his son not to fight since he also feels this day will end badly but Hector pleas and goes out to battle. Just after this, Pandarus brings a letter from Cressida to Troilus who tears up Cressida’s letter before he also enters the field of battle.

On the battlefield, everyone’s fate is individual. Troilus, of course, fights Diomedes mono on mono. Thersites escapes the battlefield due to being a coward. Then we see that the Trojans drive back the Greeks and Agamemnon orders the dead body of Patroclus to be laid before Achilles, to make Achilles enter the battle. Achilles and Hector fight against one another for a while but then they break off. Hector decides to keep fighting Greeks while Achilles goes to find his men. With his men in tow, Achilles goes back to find Hector and they gang up on Hector, stab him to death. “Strike, fellows, strike; this is the man I seek. (Hector falls)

So, Ilion, fall thou next! now, Troy, sink down!

Here lies thy heart, thy sinews, and thy bone.

On, Myrmidons, and cry you all amain,

'Achilles hath the mighty Hector slain.”

They then attach his body to a chariot and dragged Hector’s body around the outside of the walls of Troy.

Troilus leads the Trojans back into Troy with the news of Hector’s death. “Go in to Troy, and say there, Hector's dead:

There is a word will Priam turn to stone;

Make wells and Niobes of the maids and wives,

Cold statues of the youth, and, in a word,

Scare Troy out of itself. But, march away…

Strike a free march to Troy! with comfort go:

Hope of revenge shall hide our inward woe.”

As they leave, Troilus encounters Pandarus who he curses:

“Hence, broker-lackey! ignomy and shame

Pursue thy life, and live aye with thy name!”

Pandarus is left alone on stage and ends the play bemoaning the way he was once wanted and is now berated:

“A goodly medicine for my aching bones! O world!

world! world! thus is the poor agent despised!

O traitors and bawds, how earnestly are you set

a-work, and how ill requited! why should our

endeavour be so loved and the performance so loathed…

It should be now, but that my fear is this,

Some galled goose of Winchester would hiss:

Till then I'll sweat and seek about for eases,

And at that time bequeathe you my diseases.”

And this is the end of the play. So ‘Troilus and Cressida’ is a thoroughly modern almost existential play. We are not given a happy, moral or heroic ending. We are left with disappointment and disillusion as Shakespeare shakes our preconceptions about love, war and heroes.

Shakespeare returns in:

‘Measure for Measure’ where  Shakespeare examines whether or not morality can or should be legislated.

Troilus and Cressida Act Four – “The end crowns all, and that old common arbitrator, Time, will one day end it.”

Troilus and Cressida Act Four – “The end crowns all, and that old common arbitrator, Time, will one day end it.”

The Wheels of Fate start to turn in Act Four of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ when Diomedes arrives in Troy to collect Cressida for the Greeks in exchange for the return of Antenor to the Trojans. Both Aeneas and Paris know that Troilus will be devastated by this exchange but feel that the exchange is necessary. While Aeneas goes to get Cressida, Paris asks Diomedes who he thinks deserves Helen more him (Paris) or Menelaus. Diomedes says: “Both alike:

He merits well to have her, that doth seek her,

Not making any scruple of her soilure,

With such a hell of pain and world of charge…

Both merits poised, each weighs nor less nor more;

But he as he, the heavier for a whore…

She's bitter to her country: hear me, Paris:

For every false drop in her bawdy veins

A Grecian's life hath sunk; for every scruple

Of her contaminated carrion weight,

A Trojan hath been slain: since she could speak,

She hath not given so many good words breath

As for her Greeks and Trojans suffer'd death.”

We switch to a scene vaguely reminiscent of the morning after Romeo and Juliet’s marriage where, as the first light of morning breaks, Troilus is leaving Cressida after a night’s lovemaking. Pandarus enters and makes crude jokes about Troilus and Cressida’s lovemaking. Suddenly Aeneas enters and delivers the news to Troilus that Cressida’s father has traded Cressida to the Greeks and Troilus is devastated. Cressida breaks into tears when she hears the news.

Later, Troilus is allowed to say goodbye to Cressida and they promise to be faithful to one another. When Diomedes enters Troilus insists that Cressida is to be treated well but Diomedes replies that “… to her own worth, she shall be prized…”  A trumpet sounds which signals the beginning of Hector and Ajax’s fight.

We jump forward in time and go over to the Greek camp when Cressida is arriving. Ulysses demands that Cressida great and kiss all the Greek Generals but states that he will only kiss her “… When Helen is a maid again…” inferring Cressida is a whore.

As the Trojans enter the terms of Ajax and Hector’s battle are announced. As Ajax and Hector prepare for their fight, Agamemnon asks Ulysses " who the downcast-looking Trojan is and Ulysses points out that it is Troilus and then he praises the battle prowess of Troilus which he thinks is even greater than Hector’s.

The fight between Ajax and Hector begins but after some time it is decided that the battle is a draw and Hector and Ajax embrace. Hector is then led into a Greek tent for Achilles to talk to him. Hector brings Troilus with him. Achilles and Hector insult one another and Hector says that he will look forward to seeing Achilles on the field of battle. The visiting Trojans are taken by the Greeks to dinner and as they leave Troilus questions Ulysses about where the tent of Calchas is (since Troilus aims to visit his love Cressida). Ulysses replies that he will take Troilus there but mentions that Diomedes has been eyeing off Cressida with lust for quite a while. 

Troilus and Cressida Act Three – “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

Troilus and Cressida Act Three – “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.”

It is hard to tell who the true antagonist is in ‘Troilus and Cressida’. At first Achilles seems like the obvious choice but then Ulysses is so masterly written like a subtle villain in the play. But to these two later.

Act Three starts with love and Pandarus who is trying to get an audience with Paris. When Paris and Helen enter, Pandarus praises her and asks Paris to makes excuses for Troilus coming to dinner that night with Priam. Paris and Helen pry out of him that the reason for this is that Troilus is going to try to woo Cressida that very night. Pandarus leaves to find Troilus.

Pandarus finally finds Troilus in an orchard and takes Troilus anxious with anticipation to Cressida. When Pandarus leaves, Troilus and Cressida express their love for one another. They make a love pact and then leave to seal their love in other ways.

Like a Greek tragedy, fate seems to be working against the lovers Troilus and Cressida for in the Greek camp Cressida's father, Calchas, is making a deal for the captured Trojan leader Antenor, which involves his daughter being given to Agamemnon and the Greeks.

Meanwhile, Ulysses gets all of the Greek leaders to go past Achilles’s tent and hardly acknowledge him. This infuriates Achillles who goes to Ulysses to ask him the reason for this snub and Ulysses says that Ajax is the man of the moment. Ulysses also cunningly reveals that he knows that Achilles is in love with a Trojan princess and he suggests that Achilles stop playing with love and try to restore his honour on the battlefield.

“Tis known, Achilles, that you are in love

With one of Priam's daughters…

All the commerce that you have had with Troy

As perfectly is ours as yours, my lord;

And better would it fit Achilles much

To throw down Hector than Polyxena:

But it must grieve young Pyrrhus now at home,

When fame shall in our islands sound her trump,

And all the Greekish girls shall tripping sing,

'Great Hector's sister did Achilles win,

But our great Ajax bravely beat down him.'

Farewell, my lord: I as your lover speak;

The fool slides o'er the ice that you should break.

As Ulysses goes, realizes that that his "reputation is at stake" and on hearing that Ajax is walking around the Greek camp like a peacock puffed up with false pride, Achilles gets Patroclus to send a slave to persuade Ajax to take Hector to Achilles's tent after their fight the next day, so that Achilles and Hector may have a private word or two. The plot thickens.

Troilus and Cressida Act Two – “The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue!”

Troilus and Cressida Act Two – “The common curse of mankind, folly and ignorance, be thine in great revenue!”

 If Act One of ‘Troilus and Cressida’ gives a sense of the war and gives us intricate insights into the relationships between people on the Trojan side, most of the action in Act Two takes place in the Greek camp, and gives us a sense of how Achilles’ arrogance and pride undermines the Greek cause and their ability to act effectively.

 We start with Ajax who orders his slave Thersites to find out what the proclamation which has been put up states. Not only does Thersites refuse to obey his master, but he throws curses at Ajax until Achilles and Patroclus enter and he curses them too. Thersites is dismissed and Achilles reveals the nature of Hector's proclamation and challenge and reveals that the Greek challenger will be selected by a lottery. Achilles also arrogantly states that if there was not a lottery that he would have been the only choice.

 We cross over the walls into the city of Troy, where we hear the Trojan’s having some second thoughts about continuing the war. King Priam and his sons wonder if it would be better just to return Helen to the Greeks. Hector, states that taking Helen may have been bold and brave initially but he questions whether the Trojans should continue to pay the price in blood. Then Cassandra (Priam’s daughter and fraternal twin to Prince Helenus) enters and, seeming almost mad in her behaviour, prophesizes that:

“Cry, Trojans, cry! practise your eyes with tears!

Troy must not be, nor goodly lion stand;

Our firebrand brother, Paris, burns us all.

Cry. Trojans, cry! A Helen and a woe:

Cry, cry! Troy burns, or else let Helen go."

When Cassandra exits, Troilus and others cast off her premonitions as madness and start to argue that the war is now a matter of Trojan honour. Paris supports this (he would of course) while Hector retorts that young men are not subject to reason but are too much driven by "…the hot passion of distempered blood...” Eventually Troilus reinforces the notion that this war is now no longer about Helen but about Trojan honour. Hector concedes and talks of the proclamation and challenge that he sent out that should draw Achilles into combat and the battlefield.

 We cross back over the wall to the Greek encampment where Thersites rails against the arrogance and pretension of Achilles and Ajax. The entrance of Patroclus and Achilles is met by more distain as he calls them fools. Achilles is able to contain Patroclusand stop him from attacking Thersites. When Achilles sees Agamemnon, Ulysses, Nestor, Diomedes and Ajax entering, he retires into his tent.

Agamemnon has by now, lost patience with Achilles and refuses to believe Achilles is ill and asks Ulysses to bring Achilles out to fight the Trojans. Ulysses sees this as an insult to Ajax (who is a very good fighter and ready to fight for the cause) and Ulysses proceeds to praise Ajax upholding him as the best of their Greek soldiers. They leave Achilles inside his tent and decide that Ajax will be their challenger to Hector.Then other Greek commanders, praises Ajax profusely, saying that he is the best of their warriors. They agree to leave Achilles in his tent, and decide that Ajax will be their champion face Hector the next day although Agamemnon’s final words reveal his sense that all will not run smoothly:

"...Let Achilles sleep:

Light boats sail swift, though greater hulks draw deep."

Troilus and Cressida Act One – “Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing… Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is…”

Troilus and Cressida Act One – “Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing… Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is…”

After the ‘triumph’ of a complex play like ‘Hamlet’ it is possible that Shakespeare sat down in 1602 and decided to tackle a project he had been thinking of for a long time. He knew that Elizabethan audiences could accept plays that were complex in ideas characters and themes and now he wanted to challenge the boundaries of their understanding of dramatic style and form. 

The Globe Theatre was proving a financial and popular success and ‘Twelfth Night’ had been a triumph when it was revived there in May, June and July of 1602 along with ‘Hamlet’ and other plays. As the weather turned colder and The Globe closed its doors, Shakespeare’s mind turned to what new project he could premiere at an indoor venue in Winter at one of the inns or colleges inhabited and run by the lawyers in London. He was also probably thinking of making this new play easily transferable to The Globe and its more eclectic audience in May in the Summer of 1603. It is then that he probably burnt the late night candle with re-reading Homer’s ‘Iliad’ and Chaucer's fourteenth-century epic poem, Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer and the work of the Ancient Greeks were undergoing a revival in publishing at that time, yet strangely, not too many dramatic versions had made it to the stage and those that did were largely unsuccessful. It must have struck Shakespeare that these stories were absurdly tragic and romantic to the point of strangeness and Shakespeare knew that his audience would know the end of the story involving Cressida's treachery and Hector's death well. With a passion for the story in hand and a good idea of what an audience might expect and how to still challenge them, Shakespeare would have sat at his table sometime on a dark night in October 1602 and started writing the Prologue to one of his most strange and problematic of his plays - ‘Troilus and Cressida’.

Enter an actor dressed as a soldier, to deliver the Prologue. The well-known prelude to the Trojan War and the beginnings of the Trojan War are retold and the play’s events which take place in the seventh year of the war in Troy are revealed.

We enter the walls of the besieged city of Troy and encounter Troilus who claims he is unable to fight. No, not the Greeks, but the pain in his heart that comes from love for Pandarus's niece, Cressida. Cressida is not in everyone’s good books because her father, a priest in Troy, has already left the city and joined the Greeks). Pandarus says that he has been advocating for and praising Troilus to his niece for some time and complains that he doesn’t seem to have received much thanks for this. Pandarus leaves and Troilus complains that although Pandarus seems tetchy and moody, he knows that working with him is his best hope of winning Cressida’s love. Aeneas enters bringing the latest from the battlefield including the wounding of Paris. Troilus decides he better join his other Trojans on the battlefield.

We go forward in time a little to another part of Troy near one of the gates of the city and we encounter Cressida talking to a servant about how a Greek warrior had got the better of the great Trojan Prince Hector the day before and how this has spurred on Hector in this day’s battle. Pandarus enters and as the Trojan men return from the day’s battle and parade past them, Pandarus praises each one, but saves his greatest praise for Troilus. When Pandarus leaves we find out that Cressida in fact loves Troilus but she is enjoying his adoration of her and wants to hold off a little longer before outwardly showing her affections.

“But more in Troilus thousand fold I see

Than in the glass of Pandar's praise may be;

Yet hold I off. Women are angels, wooing:

Things won are done; joy's soul lies in the doing.

That she beloved knows nought that knows not this:

Men prize the thing ungain'd more than it is:

That she was never yet that ever knew

Love got so sweet as when desire did sue.

Therefore this maxim out of love I teach:

Achievement is command; ungain'd, beseech:

Then though my heart's content firm love doth bear,

Nothing of that shall from mine eyes appear.”

We magically cross over the walls of Troy to the Greek encampment, where King Agamemnon is trying to rally some positive vibe amongst his fellow kings and generals who seem a little down (as you can only get after seven years of war and an unsuccessful siege). The old general Nestor, bucks up a bit and says that although they haven’t won, there have been some individual acts of heroics. Ulysses, astute man that he is, points out that it is not the fact that the war is long without a win that is their problem but the breakdown of authority amongst the Greeks caused by Achilles, their greatest soldier, sitting all day in his tent with his male lover refusing to fight and scoffing at others. Others like Ajax seem to have also been put off their game.

While they are discussing what to do, the Trojan Aeneas enters with a message and a challenge from the Trojan Prince Hector stating that he wants to challenge Greece’s greatest warrior in battle. The prize will be that the winner gets the loser’s wife. Agreeing to the challenge, the Greeks give food and lodging to Aeneas for the night and discuss who should accept the challenge. They know that the challenge is directed at Achilles, their greatest warrior, but they also know that if Achilles looses in battle that this would make their army’s morale go even lower. It is then that Ulysses comes up with the brilliant idea to put Ajax forward as the contender since if Ajax loses, then the Greeks can claim that Achilles would have won if he had put himself forward and this would also have the added plus of inflaming the proud Achilles because he, the obvious and best choice, had seen Ajax chosen before he was chosen. This they believe will be enough to make Achilles once more join the battlefield. Nestor praises the cunning of Ulysses’ plan:

“Ulysses,

Now I begin to relish thy advice;

And I will give a taste of it forthwith

To Agamemnon: go we to him straight.

Two curs shall tame each other: pride alone

Must tarre the mastiffs on, as 'twere their bone.”

Twelfth Night Act Five – “When that I was and a little tiny boy, With hey, ho, the wind and the rain…”

Twelfth Night Act Five – “When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain…”

Although it is corny and forcibly ties together all the loose ends, the ending of ‘Twelfth Night’ still brings a smile to my face every time. The final act is done in one continuous scene and starts with Orsino finally coming to Olivia’s house. Viola (dressed as Cesario) is with him. Illyrian soldiers bring Antonio before Orsino and he recognizes him as his pirate enemy. When asked why he came to Orsino’s lands so openly, Antonio tells of how he rescued, befriended, and protected Sebastian who he thought was Cesario. Cesario (Viola) is berated for taking money and a purse and denying it. 

Just then, Olivia enters and she seems angry with Cesario, whom she claims she has just married. Orsino then becomes angry with Cesario and makes death threats. Viola (dressed as the male Cesario) declares her (his) love for Orsino and Olivia is flabbergasted and calls for the priest who had just performed the wedding. The priest confirms he just married Olivia to the person he identifies as Cesario (Olivia in disguise).

Just when we as an audience think that confusion could not be built up anymore, Sir Andrew enters, crying loud for a doctor as he reveals that Sir Toby and him have just got injured in a fight with Cesario. Viola (as Cesario) is perplexed and denies the charges. As Olivia sends Sir Andrew and Sir Toby away to have their wounds treated, the young Sebastian appears and we know that calm resolution is on the horizon.

Sebastian apologizes to his new wife for having beaten up her uncle and Sir Andrew and then he warmly greats Antonio. Everyone stops in their tracks and stares at, “One face, one voice, one habit, and two persons…” Sebastian and Viola shoot questions at one another and finally confim that they are who they are - long lost brother and sister. Viola then reveals that she is in fact a woman which brings great relief to everyone especially Orsino and Olivia. Orsino says to Viola, “Give me thy hand; and let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.” Viola says that her woman’s clothes are hidden with the sea captain, who is looking after the seemingly mad Malvolio. Feste, the clown remembers the letter he has from Malvolio to Olivia. Feste reads the letter aloud and Olivia summons Malvolio before her whom she thinks is not mad.

Malvolio enters and wants to know why he has been so ill treated. The letter that Malvolio thought was in Olivia’s handwriting is found out to be written in Maria’s handwriting and Fabian reveals all about the tricking of Malvolio and reveals some sense of the reasons why he thinks such a trick was justified while also mentioning that Sir Toby has just married Maria. Malvolio storms out, rightly furious. Orsino sends a servant off to placate Malvolio and find Viola some female clothes. 

The wedding of Sir Toby is crowned by Orsino announcing a grand double wedding of him to Viola and Olivia to Sebastian (who are already married but obviously don’t mind a grander second act to their marriage). As all the happy couples, friends and family exit, the clown Feste strikes up a surprisingly melancholic mood with a song that echoes Orsino’s opening melancholic meanderings at the opening of the play, “If music be the food of love, play on…”. And so, a play that starts in melancholy, despite misunderstandings, meanderings, love and marriage, ends in the same melancholic mood:

“When that I was and a little tiny boy,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's estate,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

For the rain it raineth every day.

'Gainst knaves and thieves men shut their gate,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

For the rain it raineth every day.

By swaggering could I never thrive,

For the rain it raineth every day..

But when I came unto my beds,

With a hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

With toss-pots still had drunken heads,

For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,

With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,

But that's all one, our play is done,

And we'll strive to please you every day.”

Twelfth Night Act Four – “Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep; If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”

Twelfth Night Act Four – “Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;

If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”

The speed and pace of ‘Twelfth Night’ picks up in Act Four as Feste the clown encounters Sebastian and thinking that he is Cesario (Viola when she is disguised as a man) tries to bring him back to Olivia’s house. Sebastian refuses and thinks Feste is mad but then he is accosted by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew who attack him so Sebastian retaliates and Sir Andrew submits but this causes Sir Toby to draw and just when Sebastian and Sir Toby are about to duel, Olivia arrives.

Olivia orders Sir Toby to put down his sword and she dismisses everyone. She then insists that Sebastian (who she thinks is Cesario) to come back to her house. Sebastian agrees to go with Olivia:

“What relish is in this? how runs the stream?

Or I am mad, or else this is a dream:

Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep;

If it be thus to dream, still let me sleep!”

Soon after, back at Olivia’s house, we see what torment Maria, Sir Toby and Feste are going to put the now locked up Malvolio through. Maria gets Feste, the clown, to dress up as the clergyman Sir Topas, and visit Malvolio in his dark prison. Believing Feste is a priest, Malvolio claims that he is not mad but Feste as Sir Topas claims that Malvolio must be mad and filled with the devil because he claims the room is dark when it is filled with light from windows. Malvolio declaresthis is not so and Feste ends this encounter with Malvolio by telling Malvolio that he is mad and that he must remain locked up in darkness. Maria and Sir Toby are pleased with the deception even though Sir Toby wants to end the joke because he knows he has already got on the wrong side of Olivia. Feste is then sent back as both himself and Sir Topas and he has an imaginary conversation. Mavolio clings to his sanity and we start to as an audience, feel sympathy for him and his tenuous grasp of sanity. (Feste as Feste and Feste as Sir Topas) and asks for paper, ink, and light so that he can write to Olivia to explain his predicament and Feste claims does not believe that Malvolio is mad and he says he will help him.

“Nay, I'll ne'er believe a madman till I see his

brains. I will fetch you light and paper and ink.”

In another part of the house, Sebastian is in heaven since the beautiful lady he just met wants to marry him. He wants to search for his friend Antonio to discuss what he should do, but Olivia comes back with a priest, Sebastian sees that circumstances could not be better for a marriage and Sebastian and Olivia leave the stage to take their vows. 

‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ Act Three – “ In nature there's no blemish but the mind; None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind…”

‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ Act Three – “ In nature there's no blemish but the mind; None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind…”

In the 10 to 12 years since Shakespeare wrote ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ he had read and learnt a lot about comedy and particularly the Italian forms of comedy. The references that he makes in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘As You Like It’ to comedy make it seem likely that he saw one of the two or three commedia dell’arte troupes that were invited to play in England between 1595 and 1600. It is also likely that he had bought one or two of the translations of Plautus and Terence (reproduced in again in English translation around 1580) or a translation of a commedia erudite (the learned comedy) play such as those by Giambattista della Porta or Niccolo Machiavelli’s ‘La Mandragola’. Act Three of ‘Twelfth Night’ shows the mastery that Shakespeare has developed by this point in his career to weave comic conventions, with complex characters and rich plotlines.

In Act Three, Cesario (Viola still in men’s garb) is delivering another message of love from Duke Orsino to Olivia’s house and meets the fool Feste outside the house and besides commenting on the fluidity of Feste’s allegiances and appearances, they pun and jest like professionals until Feste goes to get Olivia. Then Sir Toby and Sir Andrew enter and encounter Cesario for the first time. Suddenly their conversation is broken by the arrival of Olivia who dismisses everyone so that she can talk to Cesario alone.

Olivia’s requests that Cesario does not deliver any more messages of love from Orsino and then she reveals how much she loves Cesario. Cesario rejects her but Olivia seems to embrace this rejection and state that maybe Cesario can convince her to love Orsino if he returns again and this is after Cesario emphatically states:

“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.

And so adieu, good madam: never more

Will I my master's tears to you deplore. “

Soon after this, we are brought into Olivia’s house, where Sir Andrew has announced that he will leave since he saw the interactions between Olivia and Cesario and believes his own suit is lost. Sir Toby (who wants Sir Andrew to stay since his drinking and carousing is being funded by Sir Andrew’s purse) insists that Sir Andrew stays because Olivia does love him and is only using Cesario to fuel Sir Andrew’s passion through jealousy. Sir Toby suggests that the solution is that Sir Andrew challenge Cesario to a duel. Suddenly, Maria enters to tell them all that Malvolio has followed the letter to the letter and is smiling like a fool while wearing yellow stockings and crossed garters. They all go to see the fun of Malvolio making a fool of himself.

We swap back to the Duke Orsino’s territory in the streets of Illyria, where we catch up with Sebastian and Antonio (who up until now have been subsidiary to the main plot) who have arrived in town. We learn more about why Antonio is not welcome in Illyria and it involves some battle at sea where Antonio seems to have beaten Orsino or at least caused him shame. Antonio says he will carefully find them somewhere to stay while Sebastian will look around and Antonio fortuitously (or unfortunately depending on the view taken of this act) gives Sebastian his purse and they decide to meet in an hour or so in a local tavern.

Back at Olivia’s house, Olivia is feeling melancholic and is trying to work out a way to make Cesario love her. She calls for Malvolio who turns up grinning like fool and dressed cross-gartered and wearing yellow stockings. He starts to quote from the letter that he thinks that Olivia has written to him. Olivia thinks that Malvolio has gone over the edge and when she hears that Cesario has returned she goes off to see him while asking Maria and Sir Toby to look to the obviously mad Malvolio.

Whether it is vanity or delusion, Malvolio seems to think that Olivia confirmed her affections for him. Maria, Sir Toby and Fabian take advantage of the situation and act as if Malvolio is possessed by the devil and they lock Malvolio away in a dark room. Then Sir Andrew enters having written a letter to Cesario which challenges him to a duel which he shows to Sir Toby. In true commedia dell arte style, Sir Toby does not give the letter to Cesario but decides to become an intermediary between Sir Andrew and Cesario convincing each one that the other is a fierce opponent out to demolish the other.

“… I will deliver his challenge by

word of mouth; set upon Aguecheek a notable report

of valour; and drive the gentleman, as I know his

youth will aptly receive it, into a most hideous

opinion of his rage, skill, fury and impetuosity.

This will so fright them both that they will kill

one another by the look, like cockatrices.”

When Cesario returns with Olivia, she insists that he comes the next day and she gives him a love locket with a portrait of her in it as a sign of her love and then she leaves. Sir Toby approaches Cesario and verbally delivers Sir Andrew’s challenge. Cesario declares he does not wish to fight and goes to leave but then Sir Toby comes back with Sir Andrew after having told Sir Andrew that Cesario is a great swordsman who is very keen to fight him. Sir Andrew and Cesario face each other in apprehension and draw swords and just when they are about to fight, Antonio enters. Shakespeare is brilliant at making what seem like separate plot lines join at the most absurd and tense moments. Antonio mistakes Cesario for his friend Sebastian (in fact since Cesario is really Viola who is the twin sister of Sebastian this is not so absurd) and offers to fight Sir Andrew in his friend’s place.

Suddenly the illustrious Illyrian officers enter and instantly recognize Antonio as the man Orsino has deemed a wanted man. Antonio, knowing that he will need to post bail, asks Cesario who he thinks is Sebastian (but who is really Viola), to return his purse which he gave him. Cesario denies having received such a purse. Antonio is devastated to think that his friend is refusing to acknowledge him and vents his disappointment while the guards take him away thinking that he is mad:

“But O how vile an idol proves this god

Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame.

In nature there's no blemish but the mind;

None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind:

Virtue is beauty, but the beauteous evil

Are empty trunks o'erflourish'd by the devil.”

Viola (still disguised as Cesario) hears Antonio mention her brother’s name Sebastian and is now filled with hope that her brother is alive and that he survived the shipwreck after all. Viola runs off to look for Sebastian leaving Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Fabian confused and bewildered while exclaiming:

“I my brother know

Yet living in my glass; even such and so

In favour was my brother, and he went

Still in this fashion, colour, ornament,

For him I imitate: O, if it prove, confusion

Tempests are kind and salt waves fresh in love.”

So Act Three of ‘Twelfth Night’ ends with an absurdly dramatic complexity due to miscommunications, disguises, secret identities and gender and love confusions. Malvolio has been locked up as a madman, Antonio is arrested, Orsino loves Olivia who loves Cesario who is really a woman called Viola who loves Orsino and has now been mistaken for her brother Sebastian whose friend Antonio thinks that he has denied and deceived him. This is the storm before the calm that Shakespeare had perfected by this time in his career.

‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ Act Two – “… some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ Act Two – “… some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.”

One of Shakespeare’s greatest gifts is his ability to juggle multiple plots extremely well. In Act Two of ‘Twelfth Night’ we switch to somewhere near the coast of Illyria, where we meet Antonio and Sebastian (Viola’s twin brother who has in fact survived the shipwreck and was taken in by Antonio). This scene comes when Sebastian has decided to reveal to Antonio all about his past and his future intentions (convenient for the audience because we get an already established relationship but new and old details at the same time) . We also hear that Sebastian now believes that his sister Viola was drowned in the shipwreck and thinks that he is alone in the world. Sebastian decides to attempt to join Duke Orsino’s court but Antonio says that he won't follow him because he has enemies in the court of Orsino. After Sebastian leaves, Antonio leaves to go to Orsino’s court, Antonio ponders the situation because he wants to follow his friend and help him, but he has many enemies in Orsino’s court and is afraid to go there. He cares about Sebastian so much, however, that he decides to face the danger and follow him to Orsino’s court anyway.

“The gentleness of all the gods go with thee!

I have many enemies in Orsino's court,

Else would I very shortly see thee there.

But, come what may, I do adore thee so,

That danger shall seem sport, and I will go.”

We seem to jump back in real time to the events just after the scene where Viola (in disguise as the young male Cesario) has just left Olivia. Marvelous the way that Shakespeare can play with time to interweave plots covering long time periods and swapping back to a scene where only a few minutes has passed. Olivia has just sent Malvolio off to find Cesario to chastise him and give him back a ring which he supposedly gave to her. Viola (as Cesario) realizes what Olivia is up to (giving him a ring as a sign of her affections while claiming he gave it to her) and goes along with this and suggests that he did give Olivia the ring. Malvolio throws the ring on the ground and leaves and Viola (Cesario's true identity) picks up the ring and reflects:

“I left no ring with her: what means this lady?

Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her…

She loves me, sure; the cunning of her passion

Invites me in this churlish messenger…

Poor lady, she were better love a dream…

How easy is it for the proper-false

In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!

Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!

For such as we are made of, such we be.

… As I am man,

My state is desperate for my master's love;

As I am woman,--now alas the day!--

What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!

O time! thou must untangle this, not I;

It is too hard a knot for me to untie!”

After such thoughtfulness, it is apt that Shakespeare takes us forward in time to later that night (or early in the darkness of the next day's morning) to Sir Toby and Sir Andrew who are up late on one of their all night drinking sessions at Olivia’s house. Feste, the clown, adds to the ruckus and sings and is praised for this until Maria enters warning them that Olivia’s steward Malvolio may soon appear to confront them. Soon after, Malvolio does appear and he berates the men for their drunkenness and warns them that Olivia may soon ask him to throw them out. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste don't endear themselves to Malvolio by insulting him and he leaves giving them final warnings.

They want to get back at Malvolio and while Sir Andrew suggests a duel, Maria trumps this by suggesting that they play an elaborate trick on him by using Malvolio’s puritanical attitudes, his vanity and large ego to have Malvolio believe that Olivia is in love with him. Maria suggests that she leave some fake letters lying around which she will write in Olivia’s handwriting and these letters will profess Olivia’s love for Malvolio. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew love Maria’s plan and instead of going to bed, go off to heat up some more wine to watch the trickery.

We move onto later the next day (a part of the morning when the sun is up) and over to Duke Orsino’s mansion where Orsino is discussing, you guessed it, love, with young Cesario (Viola in her seasoned male disguise). Orsino says that he thinks Cesario is in love (in fact, if he could see deeper, he would realize that Viola disguised as Cesario is really in love with him Duke Orsino). Cesario resigns to admitting that he is in love and he gives hints by suggesting that he loves someone is similar to Orsino in age and features. Orsino gives his opinion that because men are so fickle that Cesario like all men should look towards a younger woman. Feste, who seems to be able to move back and forth between Olivia’s house and Orsino’s in a magical or at least socially promiscuous way, sings another melancholic song which spurs Orsino to send Cesario to plead Orsino’s case to Olivia one more time. Orsino is reminded by Cesario that Olivia shows no romantic interest in him (just as Olivia's/Cesario’s love is unrequited by his love). Orsino then claims that women cannot love with the intensity of men and then Cesario disagrees and tell of a woman he knew (it is in fact Viola’s own tale).

“My father had a daughter loved a man,

As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,

I should your lordship…

She never told her love,

But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,

Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought,

And with a green and yellow melancholy

She sat like patience on a monument,

Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?

We men may say more, swear more: but indeed

Our shows are more than will; for still we prove

Much in our vows, but little in our love.”

Orsino misses the cryptic point of the story and ends the scene by giving Cesario a jewel to give to the Olivia as a sign of his love.

Over at Olivia’s house, no worse for drinking all night without any rest, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew, along with Maria and another servant called Fabian, prepare their deception of Malvolio. Malvolio enters fantasizing about various things including being Count Malvolio with everyone kowtowing to him. He finds Maria’s letter (which he thinks is Olivia’s) which is addressed to the “unknown lover” and this feeds his fantasy and makes him think that Olivia secretly desires him and he decides to wear his yellow stockings, appear cross gartered and smile before Olivia as suggested by the letter:

“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 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…”

Malvolio leaves proclaiming he will do everything in the letter to display his love for Olivia. The others come out of hiding and Maria reveals that Olivia in fact actually hates the color yellow and crossed garters, and people who smile since she is still in mourning. They know that they have set up Malvolio well and truly.