Name: Leah Johnson____( /10)
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Character Matching
Characters Description
1. K Viola a) Countess Olivia’s servant
2. L Cesario b) Countess Olivia’s jester
3. J Sebastian c) The Duke of Illyria
4. D Olivia d) A Countess in mourning
5. I Antonio
e) Olivia’s miserable steward
6. C Orsino
f) Sir Toby’s cowardly friend
7. H Sir Toby Belch
g) Olivia’s maid
8. A Fabian
h) Olivia’s drunk relative
9. G Maria
i) A sea captain
10. B Puck
11. E Malvolio j) Viola’s twin brother
12. F Sir Andrew k) The protagonist
l) The name Olivia takes when
pretending to be a man.
Name: Leah Johnson Twelfth Night by William
Shakespeare
Act 1/ Scene 1
Setting In the first day in In the palace of Duke
Illyria. Orsino, in Illyria
Characters
Duke Orsino, Valentine, Curio
Plot
At the opening of the scene, Duke Orsino
expresses his love in relation to music.
After this, Curio asks him to go hunting.
Then the Duke refuses and reveals the name of
the woman who he loves, Olivia. He continues to
speak about Olivia lovingly.
Next, Valentine enters and tells the Duke that
Olivia is mourning her brother’s death and does
not wish to entertain any man for the next seven
years.
At the end of the scene Duke Orsino says that he
admires Olivia for the depth of her love and
wonders how much love she would show to her
future lover. He then leaves to go to a flower
garden to continue thinking about his love for
Olivia.
Evaluate
This scene is important to the story because its
showcases the extreme love of Duke Orsino
towards Olivia. Because of this, the love triangle
that is seen further in the play, is ever more
suspenseful and seemingly unbreakable.
Scene 1 Questions:
1. In what sense is Orsino “in love with falling in love?” Why might someone
enjoy the feelings associated with falling in love? Orsino does not know
Olivia personally and so it is likely that he is not in love with Olivia however
he believes that if you truly love a person, you must never give up on winning
their heart so he continually tries courting Olivia. Orsino, just as other
persons, loves the idea of love since it gives him purpose and hope that
whatever troubles he has now will be worth it later when his life is complete
with his other half.
2. Have you ever “fallen” for someone? If so, what did it feel like? Would your
feelings be
similar to or different from Orsino’s feelings?
No, I have never ‘fallen’ for someone however if I did, I believe that I would
not be as persistent as the duke, instead I would accept the other person’s
feelings and try to move on since I believe that love is partly about wanting
the best for that person whether it be with or without you.
3. For Orsino, in what ways is love like music? Do you think music is a good
simile or metaphor for describing the feeling of falling in love? For Orsino,
love is like music since he at first loves Olivia who brings him great joy but
then quickly changes the direction of his love to Viola like music which is
beautiful and out of this world at first but eventually you get bored of
listening to a particular song and switch to another or you get tried of music
entirely and just want some silence. I think music is not perfectly comparable
to falling in love since true love is something that lasts a lifetime and no
matter the hardships or feelings of repetition, the love remains whereas music
provides momentary solace and you would get tired of continuously hearing
it.
4. How does Orsino respond to Valentine’s news? Orsino takes great delight in
Valentine’s news and twists it so that it could relate to something else of
benefit to him. He makes Olivia to be a saint for loving her brother so deeply
and wonders how deep her love for him would extend if she would give her
heart to him. This then seemingly makes him love her even more.
5. If you were a good friend of Orsino’s, what advice would you give him at this
point? If I were a great friend of Orsino, I would tell him to let Olivia be if he
truly loves her. I would try to open his eyes to the realities of his obsessive
love and show him that Olivia would be happier without his continued
harassment.
