Twelfth Night: Act 2, Scene 4
Enter DUKE ORSINO, VIOLA, CURIO,
and others.
DUKE ORSINO
1
Give me some music. Now, good morrow, friends.
2
Now, good Cesario, but that piece of song,
2. but: just, as in "just another slice of cake, please."
3
That old and antique song we heard last night:
3. antique: of the good old times.
4
Methought it did relieve my passion much,
4. relieve my passion: comfort me.
5
More than light airs and recollected terms
5. light airs: trivial tunes. recollected terms: perhaps common clichés.
6
Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times:
7
Come, but one verse.
CURIO
8
He is not here, so please your lordship that should
9
sing it.
DUKE ORSINO
10
Who was it?
CURIO
11
Feste, the jester, my lord; a fool that the lady
11. Feste: This is the only time that the clown's name is mentioned. In speech-headings he's "Clown."
12
Olivia's father took much delight in. He is
13
about the house.
DUKE ORSINO
14
Seek him out, and play the tune the while.
[Exit CURIO.] Music plays.
15
Come hither, boy: if ever thou shalt love,
16
In the sweet pangs of it remember me;
17
For such as I am all true lovers are,
18
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else,
18. Unstaid: unsteady. motions else: other thoughts and feelings.
19
Save in the constant image of the creature
20
That is beloved. How dost thou like this tune?
VIOLA
21
It gives a very echo to the seat
22
Where Love is throned.
21-22. gives a very echo to the seat / Where Love is throned: echoes the feelings of the loving heart.
DUKE ORSINO
22
Thou dost speak masterly:
23
My life upon't, young though thou art, thine eye
24
Hath stay'd upon some favour that it loves:
24. stay'd upon: lingered over. favour: face.
25
Hath it not, boy?
VIOLA
25
A little, by your favour.
25. by your favour: if you please. (Viola, who loves Orsino, also means thanks to you and near to your appearance.)
DUKE ORSINO
26
What kind of woman is't?
VIOLA
26
Of your complexion.
26. complexion: complexion, appearance.
DUKE ORSINO
27
She is not worth thee, then. What years, i' faith?
27. She is not worth thee, then: (Orsino is being modest; if the woman looks like him, "Cesario" could do better.)
VIOLA
28
About your years, my lord.
DUKE ORSINO
29
Too old by heaven: let still the woman take
30
An elder than herself: so wears she to him,
30. wears she: adapts herself.
31
So sways she level in her husband's heart:
31. sways she level: i.e., always holds the same place.
32
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
33
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
33. fancies: affections, loves.
34
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn,
34. worn: worn out.
35
Than women's are.
VIOLA
35
I think it well, my lord.
DUKE ORSINO
36
Then let thy love be younger than thyself,
37
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent;
37. hold the bent: keep its intensity (In Orsino's metaphor, "affection" is compared to a bow bent to shoot an arrow.)
38
For women are as roses, whose fair flower
39
Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour.
39. display'd: in full bloom.
VIOLA
40
And so they are: alas, that they are so;
41
To die, even when they to perfection grow!
41. even when: just when.
Enter CURIO and Clown.
DUKE ORSINO
42
O, fellow, come, the song we had last night.
43
Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain;
42. fellow: To the Clown. (This is a nice way of speaking to someone of lower social status.) 43. Mark: Pay close attention. 44. spinsters: women who spin thread.
44
The spinsters and the knitters in the sun
45
And the free maids that weave their thread with bones
45. free: carefree. bones: bobbins used in making lace.
46
Do use to chant it: it is silly sooth,
47
And dallies with the innocence of love,
46. Do use: Are accustomed. silly sooth: simple, innocent truth. 47. dallies with: plays lovingly with. 48. Like the old age: As in the good old days.
48
Like the old age.
Clown
49
Are you ready, sir?
DUKE ORSINO
50
Ay; prithee, sing.
Music.
THE SONG
Clown
51
Come away, come away, death,
51. Come away: i.e., come (away from where you are) to me.
52
And in sad cypress let me be laid;
52. in . . . cypress: in a cyrpress coffin or among boughs of cypress (Cypress was emblematic of death and mourning.)
53
Fly away, fly away breath;
54
I am slain by a fair cruel maid.
55
My shroud of white, stuck all with yew,
55. stuck all with yew: decorated with sprigs of yew. (Yew was also emblematic of death and mourning.)
56
O, prepare it!
57
My part of death, no one so true
58
Did share it.
57-58. My . . . it: i.e., I am the truest lover who has ever died for love, or I had to die alone, because only I was so true to love.
59
Not a flower, not a flower sweet
60
On my black coffin let there be strown;
60. strown: strewn.
61
Not a friend, not a friend greet
62
My poor corpse, where my bones
shall be thrown.
63
A thousand thousand sighs to save,
63. A thousand thousand sighs to save: In order to save a million sighs.
64
Lay me, O, where
65
Sad true lover never find my grave,
64-65. where / Sad true lover never find: where no sad true lover may find.
66
To weep there!
DUKE ORSINO
67
There's for thy pains.
67. pains: efforts. (Orsino offers money.)
Clown
68
No pains, sir: I take pleasure in singing, sir.
DUKE ORSINO
69
I'll pay thy pleasure then.
Clown
70
Truly, sir, and pleasure will be paid, one time
70. pleasure will be paid: pleasure has to be paid for .
71
or another.
DUKE ORSINO
72
Give me now leave to leave thee.
72. leave to leave: permission to take leave of.
Clown
73
Now, the melancholy god protect thee; and the
74
tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for
74. doublet: tight jacket. changeable taffeta: thin, iridescent, opalescent silk. 75. opal: an iridescent gemstone.
75
thy mind is a very opal. I would have men of such
76
constancy put to sea, that their business might be
76. constancy: inconstancy. (The Clown is being ironic: he means that Orsino is inconstant, changeable.)
77
every thing and their intent every where; for that's
78
it that always makes a good voyage of nothing. Farewell.
Exit.
DUKE ORSINO
79
Let all the rest give place.
79. give place: withdraw. (Orsino wants to talk to Cesario alone.)
[CURIO and Attendants leave the room.]
79
Once more, Cesario,
80
Get thee to yond same sovereign cruelty:
80. same sovereign cruelty: Olivia, the "same" person Orsino and Cesario discussed earlier. Orsino calls Olivia "sovereign cruelty," because she is the Queen of his heart. 82. quantity of dirty lands: mere acreage. 83. parts . . . her: gifts of fortune. hold as giddily as fortune: Fortune makes you giddy by changing your fate suddenly. queen of gems: i.e., Olivia's beauty. 86. pranks her in: adorns her with.
81
Tell her, my love, more noble than the world,
82
Prizes not quantity of dirty lands;
83
The parts that fortune hath bestow'd upon her,
84
Tell her, I hold as giddily as fortune;
85
But 'tis that miracle and queen of gems
86
That nature pranks her in attracts my soul.
86. attracts my soul: that captivates my soul.
VIOLA
87
But if she cannot love you, sir?
DUKE ORSINO
88
I cannot be so answer'd.
VIOLA
88
Sooth, but you must.
88. Sooth: truly.
89
Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,
90
Hath for your love a great a pang of heart
90. for your love: because of love for you.
91
As you have for Olivia: you cannot love her;
92
You tell her so; must she not then be answer'd?
92. be answer'd: accept your answer with good grace?
DUKE ORSINO
93
There is no woman's sides
94
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion
94. bide: abide, withstand (without bursting).
95
As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart
96
So big, to hold so much; they lack retention
96. retention: the ability to hold true (to one love).
97
Alas, their love may be call'd appetite,
98
No motion of the liver, but the palate,
98. motion of the liver: deep emotion. (The liver was the seat of true love.)
99
That suffer surfeit, cloyment and revolt;
99. suffer: experience. cloyment: glut. revolt: revulsion.
100
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
101
And can digest as much: make no compare
102
Between that love a woman can bear me
102. bear me: have for me.
103
And that I owe Olivia.
103. owe Olivia: have for Olivia .
VIOLA
103
Ay, but I know
DUKE ORSINO
104
What dost thou know?
VIOLA
105
Too well what love women to men may owe:
106
In faith, they are as true of heart as we.
107
My father had a daughter loved a man,
108
As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,
109
I should your lordship.
DUKE ORSINO
109
And what's her history?
VIOLA
110
A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
111
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
112
Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought,
112. damask: pink and white, like the damask rose. 113. green and yellow: pale and sallow. 114. like patience on a monument: like a scupture of Patience on a tomb.
113
And with a green and yellow melancholy
114
She sat like patience on a monument,
115
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?
116
We men may say more, swear more: but indeed
117
Our shows are more than will; for still we prove
117. will: desire, feeling. still: always. prove: demonstrate.
118
Much in our vows, but little in our love.
DUKE ORSINO
119
But died thy sister of her love, my boy?
VIOLA
120
I am all the daughters of my father's house,
121
And all the brothers too: and yet I know not.
122
Sir, shall I to this lady?
122. shall I to: shall I go to.
DUKE ORSINO
122
Ay, that's the theme.
123
To her in haste; give her this jewel; say,
124
My love can give no place, bide no denay.
124. can give no place, bide no denay: cannot yield, cannot endure denial.
Exeunt.