‘If music be the food of love, play on’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1)- metaphor connotes harmony, beauty, emotion and pleasure of love and music – spondee shows how overwhelmed Orsino is by idea of being in love |
‘That strain again’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – suggests music has dropped in cadence |
‘like the sweet sound’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – simile – music compared to nature |
‘Stealing and giving odour. Enough, no more.’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – antithesis of ‘stealing’ and ‘giving’ suggests he believes love causes pain – it’s transient – caesura |
‘O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – apostrophe- direct address used to convey power love has over him |
‘she purged the air of pestilence’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – violent verb- implies Olivia can do what is impossible – aligns Orsino as a comic figure as it conforms in Patrachan style. |
‘And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, e’er since pursue me’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – simile – suggests Orsino is victim of love – hyperbolical |
‘But like a cloistress she will veiled walk’ | Valentine (Act 1 Scene 1) – simile – Olivia wishes to isolate herself from Orsino |
‘with eye-offending brine – all this to season a brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh’ | Valentine (Act 1 Scene 1) – semantic field of preservation suggests she wants to bring back dead brother’s love’ |
‘How will she love when the rich golden shaft hath killed the flock of all affections else’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – metaphor – describes Cupid’s arror hitting Olivia |
‘One self king!’ | Orsino (Act 1 Scene 1) – metaphor – engulging in own desires |
‘For saying so, there’s gold’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 2) – ‘gold’ is precious- Viola regards info about Sebastian as precious, showing she values life over material goods – stage directions back this up |
‘Perchance he is not drowned: what think you, sailors?’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 2) – question shows belief in authority of Captain – values Captain’s guidance as much as someone of higher class |
‘He was a bachelor then’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 2) – implies marriage to Orsino is always on Viola’s mind |
‘For such disguise as haply shall become/The form of my intent’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 2) – image of transience through identity – identities are interchangeable |
‘I’ll drink to her as long as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria’ | Sir Toby (Act 1 Scene 3) – highlights his manipulation of Olivia’s mourning to his own end – shows he is an alcoholic |
‘…board her, woo her, assail her.’ | Sir Toby (Act 1 Scene 3) – ‘board’ has naval connotations to do with sex. Sir Toby sees women as sexual objects |
‘It’s dry, sir.’ | Maria (Act 1 Scene 3) – polysemous line suggesting Sir Andrew’s palms are literally dry or he is impotent. |
‘But I am a great eater of beef and I believe that does harm to my wit’ | Sir Andrew (Act 1 Scene 3) – polysemous without Sir Andrew realising it. – links to belief that consuming beef dulls the brain but also suggests he’s been promiscuous with prostitutes and has contracted a disease’ |
‘bear-baiting’ | Sir Andrew (Act 1 Scene 3) – cruel practice foreshadows later cruelty towards Malvolio |
‘In what chapter of his bosom?’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – metaphor the ‘chapter’ suggests Orsino’s advances are predictable and shows understanding of objectification by the Blazon. |
‘A comfortable doctrine’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – metaphor. ‘Comfortable’ implies Orsino’s values are conservative while ‘doctrine’ implies he is a product of courtly love |
‘…indifferent red; item, two grey eyes’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – ‘indifferent’ and ‘grey’ are dull adjectives and Olivia rejects objectification by the Blazon |
‘I know his soul is in heaven, fool’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – ‘know’ shows Olivia trying to assert authority on Feste, using her upper-class status against his wit |
…is but patched with sin; and sin that amends is but patched with virtue’ | Feste (Act 1 Scene 5) – prose – semantic field of clothing suggests conflict between appearance and reality. Is Olivia really grieving? |
‘cucullus non facit monoachum’ | Feste (Act 1 Scene 5) – Latin shows high level of intellect |
‘Give me my veil: come, throw it o’er my face’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – ‘throw’ is dismissive, arguably suggesting Olivia’s sadness is a façade. |
‘Are you a comedian?’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – believes Viola is playing a part. The irony is, she is, but as Orsino’s messenger |
‘Are you the lady of the house?’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 5) – Olivia reluctant to play role and reveal true identity, like Viola. |
‘Give us the place a long: we will hear this divinity’ | Olivia (Act 1 Scene 5) – Shakespeare foreshadows Olivia’s desire for intimacy with Viola |
‘If I did love you in my master’s flame…’ | Viola (Act 1 Scene 5)- Viola indebted to a man’s possession – Orsino. |
Twelfth Night – Act 1 (edited by Mrs. Aguirre)
July 31, 2019