Viola and Feste are go-betweens, in terms of Orsino’s and Olivia’s households. How would you contrast their roles as go-betweens? And what do they have in common? What do they see in each other when their paths cross?

Viola and Feste are go-betweens, in terms of Orsino’s and Olivia’s households. How would you contrast their roles as go-betweens?  And what do they have in common?  What do they see in each other when their paths cross?

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Act 1 scene 2 and Act 2 scene 1 form a pair of matched scenes, as Viola and Sebastian arrive in Illyria with their respective sea-captains.  Compare and contrast the scenes, and the twins as characters.  What do you discover about Viola and Sebastian from these first glimpses of them?

1. Analyze (but do not summarize) Viola’s speeches in Act 2, scene 2, beginning with her response to Malvolio and continuing through her soliloquy once he exits.  Trace as precisely as you can how her mind works in this soliloquy.  What does this scene show us about her?

1. Analyze the mixture of tones in Act 4, scene 2, as Feste impersonates Sir Topas and torments Malvolio (pp. 73-6, 4.2.17-126, from “What ho” to “goodman devil.”)  Trace the changes in detail.  How do these tonal variations and interactions reflect the play?

1. At the end of the play, Viola remains in her disguise onstage.  Why?  This is Shakespeare’s choice: he could have sent her offstage and brought her back on in women’s clothes, and he certainly didn’t need to make Orsino continue to call her Cesario in his final speech.  Why do you think Shakespeare keeps Viola-Cesario present before us – and before the characters in the play – in her masculine disguise?  What is gained, provoked, created thereby?