Twelfth Night Episode 4 - "Time Thou Must Untangle This" Scene 1

We now turn to episode 4 of our production of Twelfth Night. At the beginning of this episode we are introduced to the characters Sir Toby Belch (Olivia's uncle), Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Maria, Feste the Fool (a character used to provide unexpected insight and wisdom), and Malvolio. These names were intentionally chosen and you will see how their names will match with their personalities. These characters will comprise what is called the "low plot" in Shakespeare in contrast to the "high plot". The high plot is where the main storyline happens and carries most of the themes, etc. The low plot was written into most-to-all of Shakespeare's plays to provide entertainment to the lower-classes who would attend the plays. These were mostly for entertainment value, although there are usually nuggets of themes and stuff that can be rich when dug out of these sections. Unfortunately, these sections in the plays nowadays can be some of the hardest to understand as they were typically written in prose and included lots of inside (time-specific) jokes, slang, etc. This can get really masked by the differences in the language between then and now. I typically read these sections in modernized English only as I believe that this best captures Shakespeare´s intent with these sections of his plays, mostly entertainment. So, to that end, we will simply be reading Scene 1 of Episode 4 in the modern text. It is a longer scene, but you only need to engage with it once. If you find it funny (maybe slightly appalling, but in a way that you almost can't help but shake your head at the characters, that is Shakespeare's intent.) This storyline will continue in the background of our high plot. We will talk about the themes that we do see in this low plot, but that will not be the main focus. It provides a nice, humorous side-plot to our story. So, without further ado...

Viola (as Cesario) has set forth from the court of Duke Orsino and is on his way to see the Lady Olivia and woo her for the Duke. Sebastian is headed to the court of Orsino with Antonio (who has enemies there) following behind. Meanwhile, at the estate of Lady Olivia...
The curtain closes on Scene 1 of Episode 3. In the background, we see Viola approaching on the road. She will be soon arriving at Olivia's bearing news of the Duke's unrequited love.