Romance

Abstract

That Olivia might be suffering from a violent, concealed passion for Malvolio is hardly less likely than some of the things that actually do happen in Twelfth Night. Sudden emotional reactions are the object of mockery in As You Like It; here, they are taken for granted. Their language is understatement. Olivia has to convey the awakening of her love for Cesario in the line ‘You might do much. / What is your parentage?’ [I V 265–6]. Viola’s grief at her brother’s loss is conveyed so briefly that Felicity Kendal, who played the part in the BBC TV production, found her first scene ‘the most difficult in my life. Viola’s life is shattered, yet it is written very simply — it can seem rather glib’ (the BBC TV Shakespeare edition, 1979, p. 25).

Jove knows I love; But who? Lips, do not move; No man must know.

[ii v 95–8]