"Twelfth Night" - Do you know the text ? Quiz

Answer: Curio and Valentine

Curio and Valentine play very minor parts in the play but their lack of success in bringing Orsino out of his love-sick melancholy is made to contrast with Viola (as Cesario) when she has success in distracting him.

Answer: He says he saw him tie himself to a strong mast that was floating well.

There is just enough doubt to cause Viola to have some hope for her brother's survival but there is also enough doubt to make her continue to worry constantly. The Captain is rewarded for suggesting that there is a chance he has survived.

Answer: He was born and bred just three hours away from the spot they stand on.

The Captain speaks of Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, with the authority of someone who knows him and the country very well. He declares that he only left Illyria a month before.

Answer: her father

Olivia's father died about a year before the opening of the play and her brother has died more recently. She has been plunged into mourning by this double tragedy, though it is specifically the death of her brother that has made her swear to avoid the company of men.

Answer: by singing

Viola does become Orsino's messenger but her original intention was to pretend to be a eunuch and to sing to him. It is to be noticed that Viola is a woman of some spirit and makes her own plans for the future that are bold and daring. She is not lacking in confidence even though she has just been part of quite a traumatic experience.

Answer: the health of his niece Olivia

Maria is trying to get Sir Toby to restrain his behaviour and to avoid late nights and drunkenness. Sir Andrew is more Sir Toby's dupe than his friend.

Answer: the fact that he eats too much beef

It was once a superstition that beef was supposed to make a man dull and slow-witted. Thus the English "rosbif" was a term of abuse used by the French about the English. The English, of course, referred to the French as "frogs".

Answer: because Viola is young and not like a man

Orsino believes that Olivia is more likely to listen to someone young and not like a man. Viola's voice is like a young girl's and she even looks like a girl. (Hardly surprising but we must remember that Shakespeare wrote this part for a boy to act as a girl.)

Answer: He points out she is mourning for her brother who has gone to heaven.

The logic is that Olivia appears to be weeping for her dead brother. However, her brother stood so high in her estimation that she is sure that he has gone to heaven. Heaven is the place of promised happiness. Thus Olivia is a fool for weeping at her brother's happiness. Feste has given a good demonstration of his wits.

Answer: by getting Maria to put a veil over her face

Olivia is covered with a veil. Later, upon being requested by Viola, she pulls back the veil and says she is showing the picture. Viola cheekily says that she looks well - "if God did all". This mixture of flattery and impudence is the means of charming Olivia that Viola employs.

Answer: catching the plague

Love is compared with a dangerous illness. It has come and completely overpowered her and Olivia feels unable to resist. "Well, let it be."

Answer: He has enemies from the past who will recognise him.

Sebastian and Antonio have become close friends but at first Antonio doesn't want to run the risk of being arrested by Orsino's officers. However, such is his comradely affection for Sebastian that he changes his mind and decides to risk it after all.

Answer: a song for three or four voices

Maria tries very hard to keep Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste quiet but they persist in singing their catch. Malvolio arrives to tell them off.

Answer: an ale-house

The drink consumed includes Canary wine and later there are references to burning "some sack". Malvolio is probably correct in his observations but his manner of telling them off is too pompous to get the audience's sympathy.

Answer: It is about death and being killed by a cruel fair maid.

The Duke wants sad songs and Feste sings, "Come away, come away death, And in sad cypress let me be laid."
This is possibly a joke by Feste at the expense of the love-sick Duke who seems to be over-indulging in melancholy.

Answer: an imaginary vision of herself

It is Viola, now deeply in love with Orsino but unable to tell him, who thinks of what is going to happen to her because she is unable to declare her love.

Answer: a trout

She compares Malvolio with a trout that can be taught with tickling. This is a means of taking a fish with your bare hands. Malvolio is be tricked through his excessive vanity and stupidity.

Answer: At an inn called "The Elephant"

Antonio has to be slightly more cautious whilst he is in Illyria because he has taken part in a battle against the Duke's galleys some time in the past. Naturally when he asks for his purse back he does not realise that he is addressing Viola and not Sebastian.

Answer: Malvolio's behaviour as a result of Maria's letter.

It is Malvolio in yellow stockings and cross gartered and smiling all the time that convinces Olivia he must have gone mad.

Answer: Antonio

Naturally Antonio has confused Viola with Sebastian and come to the rescue of his "friend". For his pains Antonio is arrested by the Duke's officers.

Answer: Feste

Before he gets there Sebastian is attacked by Sir Andrew and knocks him down. Olivia comes along and finds him in dispute with Sir Toby. In a dream-like state Sebastian follows Olivia into her house.

Answer: Feste

Feste pretends to be a clergyman who has come to visit Malvolio the lunatic. This scene provides a great opportunity for the actor playing Feste to try out different voices as he plays both himself and the priest, Sir Topas.

Answer: The Tiger

This episode from Antonio's past now looks like it could have dreadful consequences for him. The Duke is surely bound to take revenge for past hostilities. Antonio claims that he was never a thief or a pirate but that he was one of the Duke's legitimate enemies. It clearly demonstrates how much Antonio liked Sebastian to risk so much.

Answer: one apple that has been cut in two

When Sebastian sees his sister dressed in man's clothing he remarks that he never had a brother and he wonders what kin "he" can be to him. Sebastian and Viola then confirm who they are by talking of the details of their father's appearance including a mole that he had on his brow.

Answer: Fabian

Fabian tells Olivia the additional news that Sir Toby has married Maria. Olivia decides that Malvolio has been "most notoriously abused". Orsino wants Malvolio to be entreated "to a peace" so that the whole situation can end in harmony.