Answer TWO of the following...
Q1: Close read some
part of Viola’s speech in Act 2, Scene 2, which begins “Fortune forbid my
outside have not charmed her!” This is a soliloquy, which means she is speaking
to the audience alone; what does she reveal of her innermost thoughts? Is she
proud to have conquered Olivia’s affections as a “man”? Does she blame Olivia
for her conquest? Or Orsino?
Q2: Why do the comic
characters—Sir Toby, Maria, Sir Andrew—dislike Malvolio so much? What
grievances do they have against him which require Maria’s cruel vengeance? And
related to this, what real-life characters or types might Shakespeare be
satirizing for his audience with Malvolio’s character? (why is he a character
we love to hate—or mock?)
Q3: In Scene 4,
Orsino and Viola have a debate on who loves deeper: a man or woman. This is the
kind of argument The Wife of Bath would have relished. Does Shakespeare seem to
have read Chaucer in this scene? Is he responding to ideas he might have
encountered in The Canterbury Tales? Where do we hear an echo of that
famous work? And does Viola/Shakespeare seem to agree with the Wife?
Q4: Scene 5 is one
of the funniest scenes in all of Shakespeare, and barely contains a drop of
verse from beginning to end. What makes this such a universal scene, and one
that stages particularly well for a modern audience? (also, how does
Shakespeare take pains to make the language relatively easy to follow)?
2. Viola feels bad for making Olivia fall in love with her. She calls herself a monster and feels guilty for making Olivia have a crush on her. Viola compares herself disguising up a man to the “pregnant enemy” (the devil) disguising himself and tricking people. I think she feels slightly proud to have been able to make the sad Olivia fall for her when no other man could, but she knows that it’s only because she knows what women really want – because she is one! She feels bad because she knows how she feels for Orsino, in love with someone who doesn’t and won’t love her back; and that is exactly how Olivia is going to end up feeling for “Cesario.” “Cesario” will never love Olivia back because he is actually Viola. Viola, in her soliloquy, says “what thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breath!” Because she knows that she is going to pine for “Cesario” who will never love her back.
ReplyDelete3. The debate between Orsino and Viola echoes The Wife of Bath’s tale in that Orsino has a very backwards idea of what love is and how women experience it. Orsino thinks that women are not as capable as men to be in love. He also thinks that men should marry younger women because they will stay pretty for longer and that women are less pretty when they aren’t virgins. This view is reminiscent of the way the Wife of Bath talks about the husbands she had. It seems as though these men are not at all aware that women can feel love deeply. Orsino believes the same things that the men in the Wife of Bath’s tale probably believed.
-- Kelci Pollock
Answer to Q1) Viola is not at all pleased with the fact that she captured the attention of Olivia while she is disguised as a man. She is saying how her love for Orsino is as hopeless as Olivia’s love for her (as Cesario). I think she is blaming Orsino and Olivia for the whole mess. I think Viola loves Orsino so much, she would do anything for him. She is helping him out, but it only serves as heartache for her. Also, Viola is mentioning how women are weak when it comes to men, so in a way, I think she is saying it’s Olivia’s fault, but she can’t help it. She also says how wearing a disguise helps the devil do his work; it’s deceitful, and it doesn’t solve anything.
ReplyDeleteAnswer to Q3) Through the words of Orsino, it doesn’t sound like he thinks women feel love at all. Viola takes a stance in the way The Wife did to let Orsino know his views are wrong. Orsino seems to mock women, based on his experience, and compares a woman’s love to her appetite. (It makes me wonder if Shakespeare was hungry when writing this!) Viola takes a stance and could have pulled from The Wife by letting Orsino know that women feel as deep, if not deeper than men; men make empty promises and ramble on, while a woman’s love is deep and genuine.
Q1: Close read some part of Viola’s speech in Act 2, Scene 2, which begins “Fortune forbid my outside have not charmed her!” This is a soliloquy, which means she is speaking to the audience alone; what does she reveal of her innermost thoughts? Is she proud to have conquered Olivia’s affections as a “man”? Does she blame Olivia for her conquest? Or Orsino?
ReplyDeleteA: Viola is shook. She is also pretty upset that she caught Olivia’s attention while she was dressed as a man. I feel she does in a way blame Olivia for this whole mess, but it’s also another stab in the heart as she remembers Orsino. I relate to Viola as I once loved someone so much that I would hurt my heart in order to make them happy, granted I never dressed up as a man to impress anyone, but pretty close. Viola is helping him out, but it’s just a reminder of how she isn’t the one Orsino craves.
Q3: In Scene 4, Orsino and Viola have a debate on who loves deeper: a man or woman. This is the kind of argument The Wife of Bath would have relished. Does Shakespeare seem to have read Chaucer in this scene? Is he responding to ideas he might have encountered in The Canterbury Tales? Where do we hear an echo of that famous work? And does Viola/Shakespeare seem to agree with the Wife?
A: Okay so Orsino has no idea what love is. He has this awful idea of love that just isn’t accurate or even close to being accurate at all. He thinks men and women love different and that basically a man’s love is superior than a woman’s. He also believes that women who are older are not as pretty and if they aren’t virgins they too are not pretty. Viola makes a statement from The Wife of Bath’s Tale of how women love deeper than men do as he continues. I just imagine Viola is just rolling her eyes and probably wants to smack him.
Q2: Malvolio thinks he is better than the comic characters, when really he is equal to or below them in class. The characters do not like him because he is a pompous a** to them. They also do not like them because he is obsessed with Olivia, and he really shouldn't be (because of his class-- and because he is creepy and rude).
ReplyDeleteQ4: Scene five is so funny because everyone loves the idea of hearing someone's deepest thoughts. Malvolio is divulging his deepest wishes and thoughts to what he thinks is an empty garden, and three people who really dislike him are hiding nearby, making fun of him, and commenting on everything he is saying. He makes the language easy to follow through this hilarious commentary. The three in the tree comment, and often repeat, what Malvolio says, just in case the audience missed it the first time.
Q4.)
ReplyDeleteThis scene is so funny because while Malvolio is speaking, the three men who plan the letter idea are in a tree speaking loud enough for Malvolio is speaking. It's funny to us as minders audiences because of the absurdity of the scene. But it's absurd in a different way to the people would have seen this is the time it was preformed. They would have laughed so much at Malvolio for thinking that he would have any chance at being with his mistress. I think that he wrote it this way for the common people to understand. They didn't really understand iambic pentameter, so he threw them a lot of bones in this play.
Q3.) I think that Shakespeare has definitely read Chaucer because he makes Viola so smart. She knows how to make people think that she is a man, and she would do these sacrifices for love. She loves Orsino and would give up her class so that she could be closer to him. The wife bath would have loved this because she talks about how men talk out of their asses about love, how terrible women are because they don't live up to be these mysterious creatures that they had thought them to be in their heads. Orsino does the same things. He thinks that women can't truly understand love because they merely taste and say they don't like it. He says that men devour love. That's what men are supposed to do in this time period, but women, as they've always been, are expected to be pure and not have any thoughts of sex, love, or be too needy. Women are held to a much higher level than men.