Twelfth Night (No Fear Shakespeare)

By SparkNotes

This No Fear Shakespeare ebook gives you the complete text of Twelfth Night and an easy-to-understand translation.

Each No Fear Shakespeare contains

• The complete text of the original play

• A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language

• A complete list of characters with descriptions
• Plenty of helpful commentary

• Language: English
• Publisher: SparkNotes
• Release date: May 30, 2018
• ISBN: 9781411479364

Book preview

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

Original Text

Enter ORSINO, CURIO, and other lords; Musicians playing

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.

5

Oh, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound,

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odor. Enough, no more.

’Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

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

10

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

15

That it alone is high fantastical.

CURIO

Will you go hunt, my lord?

ORSINO

What, Curio?

CURIO

The hart.

ORSINO

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

Oh, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought she purged the air of pestilence.

20

That instant was I turned 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:

25

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

30

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

And lasting in her sad remembrance.

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

35

Hath killed the flock of all affections else

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

These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and filled

Her sweet perfections with one self king!

Away before me to sweet beds of flowers.

40

Love thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.

Exeunt

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

Modern Text

ORSINO, CURIO, and, other lords enter with musicians playing for them.

ORSINO

If it’s true that music makes people more in love, keep playing. Give me too much of it, so I’ll get sick of it and stop loving. Play that part again! It sounded sad. Oh, it sounded like a sweet breeze blowing gently over a bank of violets, taking their scent with it. That’s enough. Stop. It doesn’t sound as sweet as it did before. Oh, love is so restless! It makes you want everything, but it makes you sick of things a minute later, no matter how good they are. Love is so vivid and fantastical that nothing compares to it.

CURIO

Do you want to go hunting, my lord?

ORSINO

Hunting what, Curio?

CURIO

The hart.

ORSINO

That’s what I’m doing—only it’s my heart that’s being hunted. Oh, when I first saw Olivia, it seemed like she made the air around her sweeter and purer. In that instant I was transformed into a hart, and my desire for her has hounded me like a pack of vicious dogs.

VALENTINE enters.

What’s going on? What have you heard from her?

VALENTINE

I’m sorry, but they wouldn’t let me in. But I got the following answer from her handmaid. Olivia’s not going to show her face for the next seven years—not even to the sky itself. Instead, she’ll go around veiled like a nun, and once a day she’ll water her room with tears. She’s doing this out of love for her dead brother, whom she wants to keep fresh in her memory forever.

ORSINO

Oh, if she loves her brother this much, think how she’ll love me when I finally win her over and make her forget all her other attachments! Her mind and heart will be ruled by one man alone—me! Take me to the garden. I need a beautiful place to sit and think about love.

They exit.

ACT 1, SCENE 2

Original Text

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

5

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

10

Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,

Most provident in peril, bind himself,

Courage and hope both teaching him the practice,

To a strong mast that lived upon the sea,

Where, like Arion on the dolphin’s back,

15

I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

So long as I could see.

VIOLA

(giving him money)

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

20

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 his name?

CAPTAIN

Orsino.

VIOLA

Orsino. I have heard my father name him.

25

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—

30

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,

35

Who shortly also died, for whose dear love,

They say, she hath abjured the company

And sight of men.

VIOLA

Oh, that I served that lady

And might not be delivered to the world,

Till I had made mine own occasion mellow,

40

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

45

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

50

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

55

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

60

I thank thee. Lead me on.

Exeunt

ACT 1, SCENE 2

Modern Text

VIOLA, a CAPTAIN, and sailors enter.

VIOLA

What country is this, friends?

CAPTAIN

This is Illyria, lady.

VIOLA

And what am I supposed to do in Illyria? My brother is in heaven. Or maybe there’s a chance he didn’t drown.—What do you think, sailors?

CAPTAIN

It was a total fluke that you yourself were saved.

VIOLA

Oh, my poor brother! But maybe by some fluke he was saved too.

CAPTAIN

It’s possible, ma’am. Don’t give up yet. When our ship was wrecked and you and a few other survivors were clinging onto our lifeboat, I saw your brother tie himself to a big mast floating in the sea. He was acting resourcefully and courageously in a dangerous situation. For as long as I could see him, he stayed afloat on the waves like Arion on the dolphin’s back.

VIOLA

(giving him money) Thank you for saying that—here’s some money to express my gratitude. Since I survived, it’s easier for me to imagine he survived too, and what you say gives me a reason to hope for the best. Do you know this area we’re in?

CAPTAIN

Yes, ma’am, I know it well. I was born and raised less than three hours from here.

VIOLA

Who’s the ruler here?

CAPTAIN

A duke who is noble in name and character.

VIOLA

What’s his name?

CAPTAIN

Orsino.

VIOLA

Orsino. I’ve heard my father mention him. When I first heard about him, he was still a bachelor.

CAPTAIN

He’s still a bachelor, or at least he was a month ago, when I left. But there was a rumor—you know, people always gossip about royalty—that he was in love with the beautiful Olivia.

VIOLA

Who’s she?

CAPTAIN

A virtuous young woman, the daughter of a count who died last year. Her brother had custody of her for a while, but then he died too. They say she’s totally sworn off men now, in memory of her brother.

VIOLA

I wish I could work for that lady! It’d be a good way to hide from the world until the time was right to identify myself.

CAPTAIN

That would be hard to do. She won’t allow anyone in to see her, not even the duke’s messengers.

VIOLA

You seem to be a good person, captain, and although people who look beautiful are often corrupt inside, I believe that you have a beautiful mind to go with your good looks and manners. Please—and I’ll pay you plenty for this—help me conceal my identity, and find me the right disguise so I can look the way I want. I want to be this Duke’s servant. You’ll introduce me to him as a eunuch. You won’t be wasting your time, because I really can sing and talk to him about many different kinds of music, so he’ll be happy to have me in his service. Only time will tell what will happen after that—just please keep quiet about what I’m trying to do.

CAPTAIN

I won’t say a word. You can be a eunuch, but I’ll be mute. I swear on my life I won’t tell your secret.

VIOLA

Thank you. Show me the way.

They exit.

ACT 1, SCENE 3

Original Text

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.

5

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

10

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

15

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

20

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

25

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 quarreler, and but that he hath the gift of a coward to allay the gust he hath in quarreling, ’tis thought among the prudent he would quickly have the gift of a grave.

SIR TOBY BELCH

30

By this hand, they are scoundrels and substractors 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

35

as there is a passage in my throat and drink in Illyria. He’s a coward and a coistrel that will not drink to my niece till his brains turn o’ th’ 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

40

Sweet Sir Andrew!

SIR ANDREW

(to MARIA) Bless you, fair shrew.

MARIA

And you too, sir.

SIR TOBY BELCH

Accost, Sir Andrew, accost.

SIR ANDREW

What’s that?

SIR TOBY BELCH

45

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

50

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. (she starts to exit)

SIR TOBY BELCH

An thou let part so, Sir Andrew, would thou mightst never

55

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. (he offers her his hand)

MARIA

60

(taking his hand) Now, sir, thought is free. I pray

Reviews for Twelfth Night (No Fear Shakespeare)

[drbubbles_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The "translation" into the present idiom is terrifically hilarious.