Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 2
A street.
Malvolio : Were not you even now with the Countess Olivia?
Viola : Even now, sir; on a moderate pace I have since
[p]arrived but hither.
Malvolio : She returns this ring to you, sir: you might have
[p]saved me my
pains, to have taken it away yourself.
[p]She adds, moreover, that you
should put your lord
[p]into a desperate assurance she will none of
him:
[p]and one thing more, that you be never so hardy to
[p]come
again in his affairs, unless it be to report
[p]your lord's taking of
this. Receive it so.
Viola : She took the ring of me: I'll none of it.
Malvolio : Come, sir, you peevishly threw it to her; and her
[p]will is, it
should be so returned: if it be worth
[p]stooping for, there it lies
in your eye; if not, be
[p]it his that finds it.
Viola : I left no ring with her: what means this lady?
[p]Fortune forbid my
outside have not charm'd her!
[p]She made good view of me; indeed, so
much,
[p]That sure methought her eyes had lost her tongue,
[p]For she
did speak in starts distractedly.
[p]She loves me, sure; the cunning
of her passion
[p]Invites me in this churlish messenger.
[p]None of my
lord's ring! why, he sent her none.
[p]I am the man: if it be so, as
'tis,
[p]Poor lady, she were better love a dream.
[p]Disguise, I see,
thou art a wickedness,
[p]Wherein the pregnant enemy does much.
[p]How
easy is it for the proper-false
[p]In women's waxen hearts to set
their forms!
[p]Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we!
[p]For such as
we are made of, such we be.
[p]How will this fadge? my master loves
her dearly;
[p]And I, poor monster, fond as much on him;
[p]And she,
mistaken, seems to dote on me.
[p]What will become of this? As I am
man,
[p]My state is desperate for my master's love;
[p]As I am
woman,--now alas the day!--
[p]What thriftless sighs shall poor Olivia
breathe!
[p]O time! thou must untangle this, not I;
[p]It is too hard
a knot for me to untie!
Previous: Act 2 - Scene 1
Next: Act 2 - Scene 3



