Viola’s Soliloquy (Twelfth Night 2.2) (Natalie Erwin)
Viola’s soliloquy in Act 2 Scene 2 of Twelfth Night is the introduction of the love triangle present in the play. This is Shakespeare’s first sign to the audience that not only is this play,what we today would consider, a romantic comedy but a messy one at that. Viola recounts to the audience her interaction with Olivia, making it clear with lines like, “She made good view of me, indeed so much / That straight methought her eyes had lost her tongue.” These two lines describe Olivia’s conversation with Viola, she was looking very closely at Cesario’s appearance, so much so that it was as if she had forgotten how to speak. As the soliloquy continues, Viola reveals that Orsino did not send her with a ring for Olivia and that this was in fact a trick by Olivia to have the opportunity to see Cesario again. Viola notes how easily women are fooled by the appearance of men, perhaps this is Shakespeare playing with irony. Finally, Shakespeare makes the love triangle explicit with the lines:
How will this fadge? My master loves her dearly,
And I, poor monster, fond as muchon him,
What will become of this? As I am man,
As I am woman, now, alas the day,
What thirftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe!
O time, thou must untangle this, not I.
It is too hard a knot for me t’untie.
Due to the fact that this is a comedy, I can only imagine that the situation will become much more tangled and complicated. Viola, Olivia, and Orsino are in for an adventure of love and misfortune, first introduced in Viola’s soliloquy of Act 2.
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