twelfth night quote flashcards

key quotations to learn and remember and understand !!

I.M.I.T.F.O.L,P.O,/G.M.E.O.I.

act 1 scene 1, orsino.

I.M.I.T.F.O.L,P.O,/G.M.E.O.I.

act 1 scene 1, orsino.

“If music is the food of love, play on, / give me excess of it.” - Orsino, act one scene one.

• Shows Orsino’s selfish need for love; wants as much for himself as possible.

• Imperatives - his need to be in control?

• Sibilance - spiteful and sensual simultaneously. He’s hungry for love he can’t have (Olivia doesn’t love him)

• Shows the link between music and (typically unrequited) love and how the combination can create madness.

D,I.S.T.A.A.W,/W.T.P.E.D.M.

act 2 scene 2, viola.

“Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.” - Viola, act two scene two.

• When Viola, dressed as Cesario, learns that Olivia has fallen in love with her she realises the consequences of her deception:

  • She describes disguise as wicked & contributing to evil

• Viola directly addresses “Disguise”, personifying it to bring a serious tone to the metaphor:

  • She tells it she can clearly see that it leads to evil

• Her use of the word “enemy” suggests she is fully aware of how damaging and dangerous deception can be

• can be paired with “I am not what I am” act 3 scene 1.

  • the imperative is truthful and yet Viola is still deceiving Olivia. Irony.

W.I.L? T.N.H,/P.M.H.P.L.

act 2 scene three, Feste

“What is love? ‘Tis not hereafter, / Present mirth hath present laughter.” - Feste, act two scene three

• Conveying the message that we should live in the moment - Love is fleeting & easily changeable.

• “What is love?” Essentially the big question throughout the play, shown through different portrays of unrequited / forbidden love.
  The use of adverbials of time, such as “hereafter” and “present”, convey love as time-dependant, suggesting love and happiness can only exist in the present moment.

• Links to Orsino’s opening line?

M.F.H.A.D.L.A.M,/A.I.M.B,P,W.I.A.W.

act 2 scene 4, Viola

• “My father had a daughter loved a man, / As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman” - Viola, act 2 scene 4

• The scene is dramatic and tense:

  • Viola’s desperation to tell the truth about her real gender is presented in an emotive & metaphorical speech

• Viola’s grief for her presumed-dead brother, Sebastian, coupled with her unspoken love for Orsino, is veiled behind clever double meanings

• Shakespeare purposely confuses the idea of gender when Viola adds “as it might be, perhaps, were I a woman”:

  • This is ironic as the audience knows her true identity 

S.F.O.S.I.F.T.I.A.I.H.F

Act 1 scene 1, Orsino

• “So full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical." - Orsino, act 1 scene 1.

• “So full of shapes is fancy that it alone is high fantastical." - Orsino, act 1 scene 1.

• Orsino's quote highlights how love is complex and often illusory, like a magician's trick.

  • suggests that his romantic feelings are both grand and misleading, setting the stage for the play's themes of deception & madness.

• Links to act 2 scene 4? “For women are roses..”

F.W.A.R,W.F.F/B.O.D.D.F.T.V.H

Act 2 scene 4, Orsino.

• “For women are roses, whose fair flower / Being once displayed doth fall that very hour.” - Orsino, act 2 scene 4.

• Beauty fades with age,

  • pointing out the superficial nature of love.

• Metaphor - women’s beauty is always on display and you have to ‘get’ them before they are gone?

• Links to act 1 scene 1: “So full of shapes..”