Summary: Act I, scene iii
In the house of Lady Olivia, we meet Olivia’s uncle, Sir
Toby Belch, and Olivia’s waiting-gentlewoman, Maria. Sir Toby lives
at Olivia’s house and is cheerful, amusing, and usually tipsy. Maria
warns Sir Toby that Olivia is annoyed by his drinking, but Sir Toby
shrugs off this admonition. Maria also tells him that she has heard
that he has brought a foolish friend to court Olivia: Sir Andrew
Aguecheek, who shares Sir Toby’s disreputable habits. Sir Toby protests
that Sir Andrew is a perfect match for his niece, because he is
very rich and is also accomplished in music and languages, but Maria
doesn’t care: in her view, Sir Andrew is a fool, a brawler, and
a drunk.
Sir Andrew enters and, while Sir Toby is trying to introduce
him to Maria, makes a fool of himself by repeatedly getting her
name wrong. Evidently, Sir Andrew is a bumbling idiot. After Maria leaves,
Sir Andrew and Sir Toby talk and joke like old friends. But Sir
Andrew tells Sir Toby that he is discouraged and that he does not think
that Olivia likes him. He plans to leave the next morning, and he
remarks that Olivia will probably choose Orsino over him. Sir Toby
persuades him to stay by flattering him. He says that Olivia will
never marry “above her degree, neither in estate, years, nor wit,”
so Sir Andrew has a good chance with her (I.iii.90–91).
Sir Toby compliments his friend’s dancing and, through his encouragement,
gets the vain and weak-minded—but good-hearted—Sir Andrew to show
off his dancing skills.
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Act I, scene iii →
Summary: Act I, scene iv
Meanwhile, at the house of Duke Orsino, Viola has adopted
a new name—Cesario—to go with her new persona as a teenage boy.
After only three days in Orsino’s service, Cesario has already become
a favorite of Orsino. Indeed, so much does Orsino favor his new
servant that he insists on picking Cesario to go on his most important errand:
to carry his messages of love to Olivia.
Cesario protests that Olivia, who has ignored Orsino for
a long time, is not likely to start listening to his love messages
now. But Orsino points out that Cesario is extremely young and handsome—so
beautiful, in his lips and features, that he resembles a woman—and
that Olivia is sure to be impressed by his attractiveness. Orsino tells
Cesario to “act my woes” when he goes to see Olivia—to behave as
if he shares Orsino’s adoration for the noblewoman (I.iv.25).
After some discussion, Cesario reluctantly agrees to carry the message—reluctantly
because, as she tells the audience in a quick aside, Viola herself
has fallen in love with Orsino and wishes that she could be his
wife.
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Act I, scene iv →
Analysis: Act I, scenes iii–iv
Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria are Twelfth Night’s
most explicitly comic characters, since they take themselves less
seriously than the play’s romantic leads. (Furthermore, the two
noblemen’s very names—“Belch” and “Aguecheek”—seem comically out
of place.) These three provide amusement in different ways, however:
Sir Toby seems to be an intelligent man and makes witty puns, to
which the equally clever Maria is quick to respond. Sir Andrew Aguecheek,
however, appears to be a fool. He doesn’t understand Toby and Maria’s
wit, as we see when he is forced to ask Maria, “What’s your metaphor?”
and “[W]hat’s your jest?” (I.iii.60–64). He
is also easily flattered and doesn’t realize certain painful truths—that
he is not very witty, that Toby and Maria are making fun of him, and
that he does not stand a chance with Olivia.
Act I, scene iv shows us the developing relationship between
Orsino and Cesario. In another useful improbability, we find that,
after only three days, Cesario has become a great favorite of the
duke. As Orsino’s servant Valentine tells Cesario, “If the Duke
continues these favours towards you, . . . you are like to be much
advanced” (I.iv.1–2). In the same conversation,
Valentine assures Cesario that Orsino isn’t fickle—that he remains
steady and constant in his love. Since we have heard Orsino’s flowery
speeches about Olivia in Act I, scene i, we may question how sincere
or steady his love really is, an uncertainty that grows as the play
progresses.
