MaryKate Vulpis
Acting II
Twelfth Night Response Paper

Twelfth Night

In Act 1 of the play Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare Orsino, who is in love with Olivia, tries to charm the time with music while his latest advocate, Valentine, tries to persuade Olivia to return Orsino’s love. Alas, the distraction the music affords Orsino is temporary, and worse Valentine arrives to report the following: Olivia will sequester herself for seven years while mourning for her recently deceased brother. Which is to say, no, Olivia shall not return Orsino’s love. What I liked the most about this act was when Orsino said “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,
Methought she purged the air of pestilence! That instant was I turn'd into a hart;
And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,
E'er since pursue me.” what he meant when he said this was, he was describing Olivias effect on him. He describes Olivia in terms of her effects on the atmosphere and on him. I feel that this shows a lot about his character and how he has real feelings and wants to describe how his feelings make him really feel. Something I didn’t like about this act is that Olivia doesn’t really give Viola the time of day and just brushes him off and tells him to leave. “Have you any commission from your lord to negotiate with my face? You are now out of your text. But we will draw the curtain and show you the picture. Look you, sir, such a one I was this present. Is ’t not well done?” what she is saying is “Has your lord given you any orders to negotiate with my face? I don’t think so. You’re overstepping your bounds now. But I’ll open the curtain and let you see the picture. Look, sir, this is a portrait of me as I am at this particular moment. It’s pretty well done, isn’t it?” The character I connected to the most in this act was Orsino. I connected to him the most because he shares his love for Olivia and describes it so beautiful ways. I like this because I am also someone to shares how I feel and I just love how he is so open and not afraid to say how he really feels. Yes there were defiantly were lines in this act that I didn’t understand. “There is a fair behavior in thee, captain, And