Summary: Act III, scene iv
Olivia, who sent a servant after the departing Cesario
to persuade him to return, tries to figure out how to woo him to
love her. Feeling suddenly melancholy, Olivia sends for Malvolio
because she wants someone solemn and sad to help with her strategy.
But when Malvolio appears, he behaves very strangely.
He wears crossed garters and yellow stockings, smiles foolishly,
and continually quotes strange phrases that Olivia does not recognize.
Malvolio, we quickly realize, is quoting passages from the letter
that he believes Olivia wrote to him. He suddenly exclaims things
like “Remember who commended thy yellow stockings . . . And wished to
see thee cross-gartered” (III.iv.44–47).
Olivia, of course, knows nothing about the letter and thinks Malvolio
has gone mad. When the news arrives that Cesario has returned, she
assigns Maria and Sir Toby to take care of Malvolio, and goes off
to see Cesario.
Malvolio is convinced—in spite of Olivia’s apparent bewilderment—that
he is correct in his surmises and that Olivia is really in love
with him. But when Sir Toby, Fabian, and Maria come to see him,
they pretend to be certain that he is possessed by the devil. Malvolio,
remembering the letter’s advice that he speak scornfully to servants
and to Sir Toby, sneers at them and stalks out. Delighted by the
turn the events have taken, they decide together to lock Malvolio into
a dark room—a frequent treatment for people thought to be possessed
by devils or madmen. Sir Toby realizes that since Olivia already
thinks Malvolio is crazy, he can do whatever he wants to the unfortunate
steward.
Sir Andrew enters with a letter challenging the young
Cesario to a duel. Sir Toby privately decides that he will not deliver
the silly letter but, instead, will walk back and forth between
Sir Andrew and Cesario. He will tell each that the other is fearsome
and out for the other’s blood. That, he decides, should make for
a very funny duel.
Cesario comes back out of the house, accompanied by Olivia, who
insists that Cesario take a locket with her picture as a love token.
She bids he come again the next day, and then goes back inside.
Sir Toby approaches Cesario, delivering Sir Andrew’s challenge and
telling him what a fierce fighter Sir Andrew is. Cesario says that
he does not wish to fight and prepares to leave. Sir Toby then returns
to Sir Andrew and tells his friend that Cesario is a tremendous
swordsman, anxious for a fight. When Andrew and Cesario cross paths,
though, Sir Toby tells each of them that the other has promised
not to draw blood in the duel. Reluctantly, the two draw their swords
and prepare for a fight.
Suddenly, Antonio enters. He sees Cesario and
mistakes him for his beloved Sebastian, and tells Sir Andrew that
he, Antonio, will fight Sir Andrew in Sebastian’s place. Several
Illyrian officers burst onto the scene. They have recognized Antonio—a
wanted man in Illyria—and arrest him. Antonio, realizing that he
will need to pay a bail bond in order to free himself, asks Cesario,
whom he still believes is Sebastian, to return his purse (which
Antonio gives to Sebastian in Act III, scene iii). Viola, however,
has no idea who Antonio is. Antonio thinks that Sebastian is betraying
him by pretending not to know him, and he is heartbroken. Deeply
shocked and hurt, he rebukes Sebastian. The officers, thinking Antonio
is insane, take him away. Viola is left with a sudden feeling of
hope: Antonio’s mention of someone named “Sebastian” gives her some
hope that her own brother—whom she has thought dead—is in fact alive
and nearby. Viola runs off to look for him, leaving Sir Andrew and
Sir Toby very confused.
