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    Twelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
    Twelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
    Twelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”
    Ebook202 pages3 hours

    Twelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”

    By Willam Shakespeare

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    About this ebook

    The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown. Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George’s Day, and baptised there on 26th April. Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery. Anne gave birth to their first son six months later. Shakespeare’s first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established. This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were performing his works. With the advantage of Shakespeare’s progressive writing they rapidly became London’s leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King’s Men. By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare’s name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages. No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King’s Men. William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateFeb 1, 2016
    ISBN9781785436048
    Twelfth Night: “Better a witty fool, than a foolish wit.”

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      Book preview

      Twelfth Night - Willam Shakespeare

      Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

      or What You Will

      The life of William Shakespeare, arguably the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, is relatively unknown.   

      Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1565, possibly on the 23rd April, St. George’s Day, and baptised there on 26th April.

      Little is known of his education and the first firm facts to his life relate to his marriage, aged 18, to Anne Hathaway, who was 26 and from the nearby village of Shottery.  Anne gave birth to their first son six months later.

      Shakespeare’s first play, The Comedy of Errors began a procession of real heavyweights that were to emanate from his pen in a career of just over twenty years in which 37 plays were written and his reputation forever established.

      This early skill was recognised by many and by 1594 the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were performing his works.  With the advantage of Shakespeare’s progressive writing they rapidly became London’s leading company of players, affording him more exposure and, following the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603, a royal patent by the new king, James I, at which point they changed their name to the King’s Men. 

      By 1598, and despite efforts to pirate his work, Shakespeare’s name was well known and had become a selling point in its own right on title pages.

      No plays are attributed to Shakespeare after 1613, and the last few plays he wrote before this time were in collaboration with other writers, one of whom is likely to be John Fletcher who succeeded him as the house playwright for the King’s Men.

      William Shakespeare died two months later on April 23rd, 1616, survived by his wife, two daughters and a legacy of writing that none have since yet eclipsed.

      Index of Contents

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      ACT I

      Scene I - Duke Orsino's Palace.

      Scene II - The Sea-Coast.

      Scene III - Oliva's House.

      Scene IV - Duke Orsino's Palace.

      Scene V - Oliva's House.

      ACT II

      Scene I - The Sea-Coast.

      Scene II - A Street.

      Scene III - Oliva's House.

      Scene IV - Duke Orsino's Palace.

      Scene V - Oliva's Garden.

      ACT III

      Scene I - Oliva's Garden.

      Scene II - Oliva's House.

      Scene III - A Street.

      Scene IV – Oliva’s Garden.

      ACT IV

      Scene I -Before Oliva's House.

      Scene II - Oliva's House.

      Scene III - Oliva's Garden.

      ACT V

      Scene I - Before Oliva's House.

      William Shakespeare – A Short Biography

      William Shakespeare – A Concise Bibliography

      Shakespeare; or, the Poet by Ralph Waldo Emerson

      William Shakespeare – A Tribute in Verse

      DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      ORSINO, Duke of Illyria.

      SEBASTIAN, Brother to Viola.

      ANTONIO, a Sea Captain, Friend to Sebastian.

      A Sea Captain, Friend to Viola.

      VALENTINE & CURIO: Gentlemen attending on the Duke.

      SIR TOBY BELCH, Uncle to Olivia.

      SIR ANDREW AGUECHEEK.

      MALVOLIO, Steward to Olivia.

      FABIAN, FESTE, a Clown: Servants to Olivia.

      OLIVIA, a rich Countess.

      VIOLA, in love with the Duke.

      MARIA, Olivia’s Woman.

      Lords, Priests, Sailors, Officers, Musicians, and other Attendants.

      SCENE.—A City in Illyria; and the Sea-coast Near It.

      ACT I

      SCENE I. Duke Orsino’s Palace.

      Enter DUKE ORSINO, CURIO, and other Lords; Musicians attending

      DUKE ORSINO

      If music be the food of love, play on;

      Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

      The appetite may sicken, and so die.

      That strain again! it had a dying fall:

      O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,

      That breathes upon a bank of violets,

      Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:

      'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

      O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,

      That, notwithstanding thy capacity

      Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

      Of what validity and pitch soe'er,

      But falls into abatement and low price,

      Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy

      That it alone is high fantastical.

      CURIO

      Will you go hunt, my lord?

      DUKE ORSINO

      What, Curio?

      CURIO

      The hart.

      DUKE ORSINO

      Why, so I do, the noblest that I have:

      O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

      Methought she purged the air of pestilence!

      That instant was I turn'd into a hart;

      And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

      E'er since pursue me.

      Enter VALENTINE

      How now! what news from her?

      VALENTINE

      So please my lord, I might not be admitted;

      But from her handmaid do return this answer:

      The element itself, till seven years' heat,

      Shall not behold her face at ample view;

      But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk

      And water once a day her chamber round

      With eye-offending brine: all this to season

      A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh

      And lasting in her sad remembrance.

      DUKE ORSINO

      O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame

      To pay this debt of love but to a brother,

      How will she love, when the rich golden shaft

      Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else

      That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,

      These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd

      Her sweet perfections with one self king!

      Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:

      Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

      Exeunt

      SCENE II. The Sea Coast.

      Enter VIOLA, a CAPTAIN, and Sailors

      VIOLA

      What country, friends, is this?

      CAPTAIN

      This is Illyria, lady.

      VIOLA

      And what should I do in Illyria?

      My brother he is in Elysium.

      Perchance he is not drown'd: what think you, sailors?

      CAPTAIN

      It is perchance that you yourself were saved.

      VIOLA

      O my poor brother! and so perchance may he be.

      CAPTAIN

      True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,

      Assure yourself, after our ship did split,

      When you and those poor number saved with you

      Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,

      Most provident in peril, bind himself,

      Courage and hope both teaching him the practise,

      To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;

      Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,

      I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

      So long as I could see.

      VIOLA

      For saying so, there's gold:

      Mine own escape unfoldeth to my hope,

      Whereto thy speech serves for authority,

      The like of him. Know'st thou this country?

      CAPTAIN

      Ay, madam, well; for I was bred and born

      Not three hours' travel from this very place.

      VIOLA

      Who governs here?

      CAPTAIN

      A noble duke, in nature as in name.

      VIOLA

      What is the name?

      CAPTAIN

      Orsino.

      VIOLA

      Orsino! I have heard my father name him:

      He was a bachelor then.

      CAPTAIN

      And so is now, or was so very late;

      For but a month ago I went from hence,

      And then 'twas fresh in murmur,--as, you know,

      What great ones do the less will prattle of,--

      That he did seek the love of fair Olivia.

      VIOLA

      What's she?

      CAPTAIN

      A virtuous maid, the daughter of a count

      That died some twelvemonth since, then leaving her

      In the protection of his son, her brother,

      Who shortly also died: for whose dear love,

      They say, she hath abjured the company

      And sight of men.

      VIOLA

      O that I served that lady

      And might not be delivered to the world,

      Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,

      What my estate is!

      CAPTAIN

      That were hard to compass;

      Because she will admit no kind of suit,

      No, not the duke's.

      VIOLA

      There is a fair behavior in thee, captain;

      And though that nature with a beauteous wall

      Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee

      I will believe thou hast a mind that suits

      With this thy fair and outward character.

      I prithee, and I'll pay thee bounteously,

      Conceal me what I am, and be my aid

      For such disguise as haply shall become

      The form of my intent. I'll serve this duke:

      Thou shall present me as an eunuch to him:

      It may be worth thy pains; for I can sing

      And speak to him in many sorts of music

      That will allow me very worth his service.

      What else may hap to time I will commit;

      Only shape thou thy silence to my wit.

      CAPTAIN

      Be you his eunuch, and your mute I'll be:

      When my tongue blabs, then let mine eyes not see.

      VIOLA

      I thank thee: lead me on.

      Exeunt

      SCENE III. Olivia's House.

      Enter SIR TOBY BELCH and MARIA

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      What a plague means my niece, to take the death of her brother thus? I am sure care's an enemy to life.

      MARIA

      By my troth, Sir Toby, you must come in earlier o' nights: your cousin, my lady, takes great

      exceptions to your ill hours.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Why, let her except, before excepted.

      MARIA

      Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest limits of order.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than I am: these clothes are good enough to drink in; and so be

      these boots too: an they be not, let them hang themselves in their own straps.

      MARIA

      That quaffing and drinking will undo you: I heard my lady talk of it yesterday; and of a foolish knight that you brought in one night here to be her wooer.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Who, Sir Andrew Aguecheek?

      MARIA

      Ay, he.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      He's as tall a man as any's in Illyria.

      MARIA

      What's that to the purpose?

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Why, he has three thousand ducats a year.

      MARIA

      Ay, but he'll have but a year in all these ducats: he's a very fool and a prodigal.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Fie, that you'll say so! he plays o' the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.

      MARIA

      He hath indeed, almost natural: for besides that he's a fool, he's a great quarreller: and but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarrelling, 'tis thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      By this hand, they are scoundrels and subtractors that say so of him. Who are they?

      MARIA

      They that add, moreover, he's drunk nightly in your company.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      With drinking healths to my niece: I'll drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and

      drink in Illyria: he's a coward and a coystrill that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn

      o' the toe like a parish-top. What, wench! Castiliano vulgo! for here comes Sir Andrew Agueface.

      Enter SIR ANDREW

      SIR ANDREW

      Sir Toby Belch! how now, Sir Toby Belch!

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Sweet Sir Andrew!

      SIR ANDREW

      Bless you, fair shrew.

      MARIA

      And you too, sir.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.

      SIR ANDREW

      What's that?

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      My niece's chambermaid.

      SIR ANDREW

      Good Mistress Accost, I desire better acquaintance.

      MARIA

      My name is Mary, sir.

      SIR ANDREW

      Good Mistress Mary Accost,--

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      You mistake, knight; 'accost' is front her, board her, woo her, assail her.

      SIR ANDREW

      By my troth, I would not undertake her in this company. Is that the meaning of 'accost'?

      MARIA

      Fare you well, gentlemen.

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou mightst never draw sword again.

      SIR ANDREW

      An you part so, mistress, I would I might never draw sword again. Fair lady, do you think you have

      fools in hand?

      MARIA

      Sir, I have not you by the hand.

      SIR ANDREW

      Marry, but you shall have; and here's my hand.

      MARIA

      Now, sir, 'thought is free:' I pray you, bring your hand to the buttery-bar and let it drink.

      SIR ANDREW

      Wherefore, sweet-heart? what's your metaphor?

      MARIA

      It's dry, sir.

      SIR ANDREW

      Why, I think so: I am not such an ass but I can keep my hand dry. But what's your jest?

      MARIA

      A dry jest, sir.

      SIR ANDREW

      Are you full of them?

      MARIA

      Ay, sir, I have them at my fingers' ends: marry, now I let go your hand, I am barren.

      Exit

      SIR TOBY BELCH

      O knight thou lackest a cup of canary: when did I see thee so put down?

      SIR ANDREW

      Never in your life,

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