Shakespeare's use of dramatic effects in Twelfth Night
Soliloquy
“I left no ring with her; what means this lady? Fortune forbid my outside have not charm'd her!” “he
made good view of me; indeed, so much, That methought her eyes had lost her tongue, For she did
speak in starts distractedly. She loves me, sure: the cunning of her passion Invites me in this churlish
messenger. None of my lord's ring! why, he sent her none. I am the man; —if it be so,—as 'tis,— Poor
lady, she were better love a dream. Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness Wherein the pregnant
enemy does much. How easy is it for the proper-false In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!
Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we; For such as we are made of, such we be. How will this fadge? My
master loves her dearly, And I, poor monster, fond as much on him; And she, mistaken, seems to
dote on me. What will become of this? As I am man, My state is desperate for my master's love; As I
am woman, now alas the day!
“What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! O time, thou must untangle this, not I; It is too hard a
knot for me to untie!”
“If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken
and so die.— That strain again;—it had a dying fall; O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south, That
breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour.—Enough; no more; 'Tis not so sweet now
as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou! That, notwithstanding thy capacity
Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch soever, But falls into abatement
and low price Even in a minute! so full of shapes is fancy, That it alone is high-fantastical.”
Aside
“[Aside] Yet, a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife.”
“SIR TOBY. I'll make the motion. Stand here, make a good show on't; this shall end without the
perdition of souls. [Aside.] Marry, I'll ride your horse as well as I ride you.”
“VIOLA. [Aside] Pray God defend me! A little thing would make me tell them how much I lack of a
man.”
Speech Directions - emotion/stage directions
given from the language in forms of
Song/Reads,dance
Off stage actions
Stage Directions
Entrances and exits
Speech Length, Tension and Pace
Set and Scene Changes
Mise En Scene: Costume
Rhetorical language/ Rhetoric
Act 1 Scene 2 - The use of O to address her presumed dead brother. Significant as this is seen as highly
dramatic, and mirrored in Orsino's Rhetoric in Act 1 Scene 1 in the phrase: "O' It came oer my ear like
the sweet south" a direct Juxtaposition in use of the word. This is seen again when Feste sings a song:
"O mistress mine, where are you roaming"