Twelfth Night, or What You Will Society and Class Quotes

This passage reminds us that it's not just her gender that Viola hides when she cross-dresses as "Cesario." She also disguises her "estate" (meaning her "general condition" and also her "social rank"). Viola's assumed identity as "Cesario," then, suggests that both gender and class are not stable identities. Rather, they can be performed, disguised, and impersonated by just about anyone.

Even though Sir Andrew Aguecheek is a wealthy nobleman, Maria predicts that his foolish ways and excessive spending will drain his wealth within a year. This, perhaps, is why it's so important for him to marry the wealthy heiress, Olivia.

Sir Toby is preoccupied with marrying his frenemy, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, to his kinsman, Olivia. To encourage his pal, Toby insists that Olivia will not "match" (marry) above her "degree," which means her social rank ("estate"), her age ("years"), and her general intelligence ("wit"). In other words, Toby says Olivia won't marry the Duke, who is higher ranking, older, and smarter than Olivia. (We know better – Olivia's just not into him.)

History Snack: These comments echo a common Elizabethan idea that nuptials among "equals" made for happier marriages. In 1568 Edward Tilney, one of Queen Elizabeth's courtiers, wrote a famous book called The Flower of Friendship. Check out this excerpt from Tilney's book on marriage – it sounds a lot like what Sir Toby says about Olivia: "equality is principally to be considered in […] matrimonial amity [friendship], as well as years, as are the gifts of nature, and fortune. For equalness herein, makes friendliness."

Of course, even though Toby Belch argues for Olivia to marry a social "equal," he's clearly not at all concerned with his niece's happiness. Toby wants Aguecheek to marry Olivia for selfish reasons. Our theory? If Aguecheek marries Olivia, he'll control Olivia's wealth. Since Aguecheek pretty much does whatever Toby says, Toby would be able to access and to some degree, control Olivia's fortune through Aguecheek. Olivia's situation as an unmarried heiress with a dead father places her in a situation that's similar to that of Portia in The Merchant of Venice. Portia and Olivia are both powerful women with a lot of money and no husband to tell them what to do – until Shakespeare marries them off, that is.

When Toby and Aguecheek get rowdy at Olivia's house, Malvolio is disgusted by their riotous behavior. By suggesting they have turned Olivia's house into an "alehouse" (a bar), and by comparing their singing to the clanging sounds of "tinkers" (tradesmen who mended household metal goods like cups and spoons), Malvolio suggests that Sir Toby and Sir Andrew are acting like unmannered commoners instead of members of the nobility. Toby is not only rude, says Malvolio, he's also breaking rules of social decorum.

When Malvolio chides Sir Toby and crew for their bad behavior, Toby tells him to "go rub" his steward's "chain" of office (a chain worn to symbolize Malvolio's status as head servant, or "steward"). Here, Toby conveys that Malvolio has no right to scold his social betters. The dismissal is especially demeaning, as it suggests that Malvolio should go "rub" off.

We learn of Malvolio's secret social aspirations when Toby and company eavesdrop on his private thoughts. The fact that we eavesdrop right along with Toby's crew and know all about Maria's forged letter seems to implicate us, as an audience, in the elaborate prank. In this way, our knowledge places us in cahoots with the mean-spirited jest.

Sir Andrew is clearly annoyed that Olivia isn't interested in marrying him. Here, it also seems that Olivia's apparent desire for a mere "serving-man" ("Cesario") is also something that rubs Andrew the wrong way. This may partially explain why Andrew's so easily convinced to challenge "Cesario" to a duel.

Feste is quite good at getting people to empty their pockets. Here, he's appreciated for his comedic and linguistic chops but he is also treated like an errand boy who might get a nice tip if he fetches Olivia. It's hard for us to imagine that someone like, say, the brilliant Will Ferrell would be forced to run errands for chump change, but that's exactly what happens in this play. Some critics suggest that passages like this one self-consciously point to the way entertainers and performers (like Shakespeare and his colleagues) were regarded as mere servants or worse. (Note: In the movie Shakespeare in Love, the scene where Lord Wessex nearly runs down a group of performers with his horse perfectly captures this attitude.)

It's not entirely clear why Duke Orsino says this to Olivia after the Countess learns that she has married Sebastian and not "Cesario." It seems that Orsino's just as concerned with marriages between social equals as Toby Belch. (See our discussion of 1.3.21 above.) Is Orsino saying that Olivia shouldn't feel bad about marrying the wrong person because Sebastian is a member of the nobility, like her? Is a marriage among social equals really so important to the Duke? And why does Orsino immediately follow the assertion by saying "if this be true" he's going to marry Viola? Does this suggest that the only thing holding back Orsino from hooking up with "Cesario" was "Cesario's" status as a servant? Lots of questions and lots of possible answers. Have at it.

Here, Feste mocks Malvolio, who earlier quoted these lines from Maria's forged letter. We often think of the Malvolio sub-plot as being secondary to other issues in the play. There's historical evidence, however, to support the idea that many of Shakespeare's contemporaries found Malvolio's aspirations for social domination or "greatness" (via marriage to Olivia) to be the play's most central issue. What do you think? Is Malvolio the play's central figure?

History snack: In his copy of the Second Folio of Shakespeare's work, King Charles I (b.1600-1649) crossed out the title of Twelfth Night and wrote in Malvolio! as a replacement. (Note: The play was written around 1601-1602, when Elizabeth I ruled England. Still, it's cool to know that Charles read the play and thought enough about it, or himself, to change the title.)