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Home , Orsino (Twelfth Night), Viola (opera)

Name of the Teacher: Sini Jose Subject: English Literature Topic: Lesson: Lesson 11 (or What You Will) Class: VIII Mobile No: 9131457859 Click here to play content related video on YouTube Part- 1 https://youtu.be/9v46GiL3PQY Part- 2 https://youtu.be/PNBQWSL96y8 Part- 3 https://youtu.be/zW9t1_NxwWs 1. Answer the following questions. a. Why does ask the musicians to play on? Answer: a. Orsino asks the musicians to play on because he is in love, and believes that the food of love. b. What is the play on words in Scene 1and how does Orsino twist the meaning? Answer: b. The play on words in Scene 1 is on heart/hart. Orsino is invited to hunt the hart (deer) and he twists it to refer to his heart being hunted by his desires. The first example of wordplay is when Orsino uses a food analogy for music. He says that if music be the food of love then an excess of it may kill the appetite altogether. Later, Curio, referring to the sport of hunting mentions a 'hart' (deer); Orsino twists the meaning by saying he turned into a hart the first time laid eyes on and (continuing the hunting analogy) his desires pursued him like hounds. Olivia, he again says has'... a heart of

1 that fine frame... How will she live when her love for one person would have killed all other affections including her heart within...' c. From the exchange between Orsino and Valentine, what do you think their relationship is? Answer: c. Their relationship is that of master and servant ;from the exchange between Orsino and Valentine, in which Orsino asks him for news and Valentine calls him ‘my lord’, we can work out that Valentine is one of Orsino’s attendants. d. Valentine tells Orsino that Olivia hides away in her room, crying. d. What does Valentine tell Orsino about Olivia? Answer: d. Valentine tells Orsino that he was not able to meet Olivia, but has learnt from her handmaiden that Olivia will not come out for seven years. She is living the life of a nun, and stays in her room. e. Who is Olivia mourning for and why? Answer: e. Olivia is mourning her brother because he is dead. f. Why is concerned about what she will do in ? Answer: f. Viola concerned what she is doing in Illyria when her twin brother is in Elysium (heaven). She fears that he her brother has drowned and will not be found, yet she does not give up searching for him. g. What hope does the captain give Viola? What does he say to console her? Answer: g. The Captain gives Viola hope that her brother survived the shipwreck when he tells her that he saw him tie himself to a strong mast that floated on the sea and was courageously and hopefully fighting the waves. This gave Viola hope that her brother could possibly still be alive.

2 h. Why does the captain refer to Arion? Answer: h. The Captain tells Viola that her brother was holding onto a mast just like Arion held on to a dolphin. Arion was a Greek poet who was saved by a dolphin from drowning. i. How did the captain come by the information he gives Viola about Orsino? Answer: i. The Captain heard 'murmurs' or rumours that Orsino sought the love of fair Olivia. The Captain says that this was the general gossip. j. What reason does Viola give for wanting to work for Olivia? Answer: j. Viola expresses a wish to work for Olivia when she hears of Olivia's predicament. Olivia is a virtuous maid whose father and brother have died in quick succession and that is the reason that she shuns the company of men. Olivia is living in isolation and mourning. Viola decides that she wants to live like that too, at least until she finds out something about her brother at which point it would be appropriate to reveal herself. k. How does Viola pay the captain a compliment? Answer: k. Viola compliments the Captain by saying that he seems to be a good person. The captain refers to Arion because he was saved from drowning by a dolphin. The captain is telling Viola that there is a chance her brother has survived. 2. Answer the following with reference to context. a. If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it…. i. Where do these lines come from? Answer: i. These are the first lines of the play Twelfth Night.

3 ii. Who is the speaker and what does music do for him? Answer: ii. Count Orsino is the speaker. Music is the food of love and he would like to have his fill of it. iii. Is his desire to hear music temporary? Answer: iii. Yes. He says a little later; ‘enough; no more’. iv. Why is the speaker in a confused state of mind following this? Answer: iv. Orsino in a confused state of mind following this because he is deeply in love with Lady Olivia. Love, as he says, makes a person fanciful. b. So please my lord, I might not be admitted; But from her handmaid do return this answer: i. Who is speaking to whom? Answer: i. Valentine is speaking to Duke Orsino. ii. Where is it that the speaker was not admitted? Answer: ii. The speaker was not admitted to Olivia’s house. iii. Why was the speaker not admitted? Answer: iii. iii. Olivia had decided to live like a nun, and not leave her chambers or talk to any man because she was mourning her dead brother. iv. What was the answer the speaker received? Answer: iv. Olivia has decided not to see anyone for seven years because she is in mourning for her brother. c. My brother he is in Elysium. Perchance he is not drown’d: i. Who is the speaker and who is being addressed?

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Answer: i. Viola is speaking to the Captain and the sailor. ii. Where is the speaker? Answer: ii. In Illyria. iii. What is the reference to Elysium? Answer: iii. Elysium means heaven - she believes where her brother has gone after death. iv. What answer does the speaker receive and in what way is it comforting? Answer: iv. The Captain says that he saw her brother tie himself to the mast and this comforts her because it gives her hope that he survived. Quiz 3. Try to find the information and complete the following: a. Full title of the play: Twelfth Night (or What You Will) b. Author: c. Type of play (Tragedy, Historical, etc.): Comedy d. Language: English e. Approximate date written: 1601 -02. f. Setting of play: The kingdom of Illyria g. Main characters: i. Count Orsino ii. Olivia iii. Viola

5 h. Characters who do not appear in Scenes I and II: i. Olivia ii. Sebastian iii. , , , , , Antonio i. Main theme: Love. The things that one may do for love how people suffer as a consequence of love. j. Title refers to: The festival of Epiphany (Christian) (Epiphany Feast of the twelfth night after Christmas (January 6). Regarded as the last night of Christmas festivities, celebrated in Shakespeare's time as a festival in which servant dressed as masters, men as women etc.) Metre Notice that the lines of the play have been set out like lines of poetry. 4. Is there a metrical pattern evident? Scan the lines to find out. Shakespeare’s use of iambic pentameter. Working with Words 1. Try to paraphrase the following, in simple English: (Answer) a. Orsino! I have heard my father mention him. (I have heard my father speak of Orsino.) b. Which country is this, my friends? c. My brother is in heaven. Sailors. Do you think there is any chance that he did not drown? d. Instead she will go around veiled like a nun, and once a day she will water her room with tears.

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e. A virtuous young woman, the daughter of a count who died last year. Her father left her in the custody of her brother but then he also died. Since then she has decided to stay away from people, in memory of her brother. Dictionary work 3. Find out what these words mean, and use them in sentences of your own. Use them as indicated (in brackets). a. cloister (n) /a convent: It's worth spending some time exploring the old cloister by the river. b. briny (adj) /salty: The briny air was making the first time sailor seasick. c. sovereign (adj) /self-governing. Independent: India is a sovereign state. d. bower (n) /an arbour; a shady, leafy recess: She spent lazy summer afternoons in the leafy bower dotted with blue and yellow flowers. e. duke (n) /a nobleman or sovereign prince: The Duke of Wellington defeated Napoleon Bonaparte. f. prattle (v) /gossip; loose talk: That's enough prattle. Get back to work. g. abjure (v) /to renounce under oath: Galileo was forced to abjure his heliocentric theory. h. compass (v) /an enclosing line or, boundary; circle: He stood outside the compass of the fence. Summary: Act I, scene 1 The action in this scene takes place in the land of Illyria, at the palace of Duke Orsino, the ruler. The Duke enters, along with Curio and other Lords, attendants

7 and musicians. Orsino believes that ‘If music be the food of love,' then his musicians should play on. But soon he is disenchanted with music. He speaks in sighs of his love for the beautiful Olivia. To divert his mind Curio, his attendant, suggests that he goes hunting, but he refuses, preferring to stay at home and pine for his love. Orsino's other servant, Valentine, enters to inform him that he has not been able to see Olivia, but has learnt from her handmaiden that Olivia is in mourning for her dead brother. She walks about her house wearing a veil and crying, and has vowed to do so for seven years. Orsino, at this point, wants only to lie in a bed strewn with flowers, listen to music and dream of his love for Olivia and of what he hopes will be her overwhelming love for him. Summary: Act I, scene ii The scene takes place on the Illyrian sea coast. Viola, a young noblewoman, has been shipwrecked along with others off the coast. She speaks with the captain of the crew who rescued her. Viola fears that her twin brother, Sebastian, may have drowned. The captain informs her that he saw her brother cling to a mast, so he may well have survived. She is heartened by this news. Now, with a view to finding some way of supporting herself in Illyria, she learns from the captain that the land is ruled by Duke Orsino, a bachelor, who is in love with a beautiful noblewoman called Olivia. We again hear that Olivia's brother has died and as a consequence Olivia has cut herself off from the world. Viola is filled with admiration for Olivia and Expresses a wish to get employment with her and live like her. The captain says this would be difficult because Olivia sees no one, not even the Duke. She asks the captain to help her to disguise herself as a young man, and determines that she should try to get employment with Duke Orsino instead. She says she will pay the captain handsomely for his help.

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