#maria twelfth night

[wordpainterpixie]

Olivia: How do Toby and Antonio usually get out of these messes?

Maria: They don't. They just make a bigger mess that cancels the first one out.

Olivia: Oh... Should we stop them?

Fabian, covered in mustard: Too late.

[macbooth]

Malvolio: I wish I could know why you have so much violence and contempt in your heart.

Maria: I work a minimum wage job.

[diioonysus]

dresses + art

[aq2003]

please do yourself a favor and listen to david tennant malvolio reading the fake love letter to him (act 2 scene 5 of twelfth night). im going to actually start sobbing. oh my GOD

[lizardrosen]

opening night for twelfth night, everyone wish me luck!!!

[greencheekconure27]

Thinking about Maria in Twelfth Night today, and I'm sure somebody else analyzed this before me (and probably much better) but:

Sir Toby is often seen as the instigator of the prank on Malvolio, but Maria? Maria is the one who turns on him the very SECOND he threatens her place in the household. She wasn't interested in enabling Toby before this, but this is where it flips, and she immediately goes all-out.

My theory is that before Malvolio came along she was Olivia's closest confidant (besides Feste, who apparently has a tendency to disappear from time to time), and I do think she genuinely loves her. Then Olivia's father and brother die, and suddenly she has to handle all the family affairs, and on top of that she isolates herself in her grief. So Malvolio,(who originally would interact more with her father and later brother) becomes closer to her, displacing Maria; the distance between her and the rest of the household keeps growing, and Malvolio gains more and more power because Olivia's too miserable to intercede on their behalf. To Toby and by extension Andrew Malvolio is merely a nuisance and an upstart- they still are above him on the social ladder, and it's pretty clear to everybody that Olivia will keep putting up with his shenanigans no matter what she says.To Maria, he's a genuine threat and a rival for her mistress's favour. I don't think she's doing this for Toby (she likes him yes but she also disapproves of his behaviour) or just out of pettiness; she really wants Malvolio out of the way, so she encourages the others' petty grievances to achieve this goal. She's not just the brains behind the operation, she's the one who gets the most out of it, which includes her marrying Toby before the truth comes out to secure her position even better.

(Feste participates partially because a) he views it as part of his court jester duties to restore the balance (which is why he also helps him when the rest of the company starts going overboard) b) Malvolio attempted to threaten his position as well c) general love of chaos)

[feste-de-jester]

🃏 ⤷ Twelfth Night Characters, Lines and Scene Numbers

Thought this table was pretty cool, so I copied it up onto Google Sheets to post here! :)

(Sir Toby above everyone in BOTH his amount of lines and his amount of scenes...as he should be though to be fair, what a cool guy)

(also I linked the source I got it from in the ID! ✨)

[butchhamlet]

Hello!! When I tell you I literally use your blog as a Shakespeare resource ALL THE TIME like I just have so much respect for all your takes and your ability to hold so much in your head?? Insane. I am vv curious to hear your thoughts & feelings about Maria from Twelfth Night?? I just got cast as her in a very cool production and while I’m working on my own interpretation I am very curious and interested in what you think are important things to bear in mind with her!! <3

HI ANON!!! SORRY THIS TOOK ME SO LONG TO ANSWER YOU HAVE PROBABLY FIGURED OUT EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR OWN MARIA BY NOW AND PERHAPS HAVE EVEN DONE YOUR SHOW (IN WHICH CASE I HOPE IT WENT WELL; IF NOT THEN GOOD LUCK!)

but yeah! yeah! maria! i think about her! she fascinates me, actually, because it's--i was going to say "hard to tell whose side she's ever on," but that makes twelfth night sound like some kind of war plot, when the gulling subplot is in fact just an elaborate prank. but i guess i can say that she fascinates me because her feelings toward olivia and toby are never entirely clear. she's olivia's maid, and they seem to have some fondness for each other, but she's also not above imitating olivia's handwriting (and thus kind of? impersonating her?) for a prank that olivia doesn't get to know about (and depending on how you interpret malvolio and olivia, this could be either maria going "haha this'll be so funny" or maria just not caring if this man makes olivia uncomfortable). and she seems to care about toby as well, and certainly jokes around with he and andrew, but it's also clear that she is exasperated if not harried by his constant bullshit. and yet she marries him--does that prove that she loves him, and the annoyance she feels about him partying at odd hours is just that, annoyance, because the people we love have flaws? or does she marry toby because it's her shot at social mobility? how much does she resent being a maid? is toby her stepladder or her true love or both? does she recognize that irony that by marrying toby she's doing exactly what malvolio hoped to do and can't--marrying up and becoming part of the household nobility? and does she feel bad for him?

anyway beyond all that i think she's fucking awesome. when toby was like "maria you could step on my throat" he was right. don't worry queen i know you're the root of some have greatness thrust upon them

[gayestshakespearecouples]

More quotes, submitter's comments, and credits for photos under the cut!

Orlando and Rosalind

Additional quotes I picked out:

Orlando says this to Rosalind while he still fully believes she's some guy named Ganymede

Rosalind says this in the middle of a rambling speech at one point

Plus, this is a very obvious dick joke that may be from Orlando's poetry that he writes to Rosalind or may just be Touchstone, from whom we hear this, taking the piss

Submitter's comment (also an excellent summary of the play's concept and what's going on with these two):

Toby, Andrew and Maria

Additional quotes I picked out:

Toby cheerfully eggs on Andrew to make moves on Maria, even though he himself fancies her (he later clarifies that he explicitly meant "accost" as "try to get in her pants")

said to Toby:

and another moment where both the knights are totally down bad for Maria (who Toby ends up marrying), yet they never fight over her at any point

Submitter's comments:

Toby and Andrew submission

Toby and Maria submission

Photos:

Orlando and Rosalind: Folger Theatre, 2017

Toby, Andrew and Maria: The Banbury Players, year unknown

[itsawritblr]

Shakespeare Saturday: Twelfth Night.

Taking a break from writing, I'm rewatching some of my favorite Shakespeare adaptations.

Twelfth Night, National Theatre, 2017. One of the few times I think changing the character's sex has worked well: Malvolio is Malvolia and Feste is female. Tim McMullan is brilliant as Sir Toby Belch.

Tamara Lawrance as Viola disguised as Cesario.

[pennydew]

i could talk about the the twelfth night by shakespeare for hours btw

[wordpainterpixie]

Malvolio: Hey, where's Toby?

Feste: Doing stuff.

Malvolio: Well, that's suspicious. Where's Olivia?

Feste: Trying to stop Toby from doing stuff.

Malvolio: Good. Where's Maria?

Feste: Why my good sir, she's trying to stop Olivia from stopping Toby from doing stuff.

Malvolio: ...And what are you doing?

Feste: I, naturally, am distracting you so that you don't stop Maria from stopping Olivia from stopping Toby from doing stuff.

Malvolio: Naturally.

*loud crash from the distance*

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

honestly? dream aesthetic

[blossoms-and-petrichor]

In Twelfth Night productions, Maria and Olivia should be a little mean. As a treat.

[aq2003]

twelfth night is not a Shakespeare I have read or seen but now I’m a bit terrified of ever consuming it. I definitely would never touch that audio drama with a 10 foot pole though (so so tempting. I might give in)

i was normal about twelfth night and held many normal emotions about it i really liked it for being this fun very messy queer drama until i listened to david tennant malvolio which ruined my life i cannot stress enough all of my evil derangements are because of david tennant malvolio if he had not done any of that i would have been FINE

[a-biochemist-not-a-bird]

twelfth night public works Toby only