Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

by

William Shakespeare

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Twelfth Night makes teaching easy.

Olivia Character Analysis

Read our modern English translation.
A beautiful noblewoman in Illyria. At the beginning of the play, she has rejected both Orsino and her ridiculous suitor, Sir Andrew Aguecheek. In mourning for her recently deceased brother, she has vowed not to receive any man, or to go outside, for seven years. However, when she meets Cesario (Viola in her male costume) she falls in love and forgets these oaths. Olivia's mourning for her brother therefore resembles Orsino's love-melancholy: it seems more like a performance than a real, deeply felt emotion. Like Orsino, she seems to enjoy indulging in misery, and also has no problem shifting the object of love from one person to the next.

Olivia Quotes in Twelfth Night

The Twelfth Night quotes below are all either spoken by Olivia or refer to Olivia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Desire and Love Theme Icon
).
Act 1, scene 5 Quotes
Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy.
Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Olivia
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 1.5.240-242
Explanation and Analysis:
Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.
Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Orsino, Olivia
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 1.5.271-279
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, scene 5 Quotes
Be not afraid of greatness: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker), Malvolio (speaker)
Page Number: 2.5.148-150
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, scene 1 Quotes
O world! how apt the poor are to be proud.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker)
Page Number: 3.1.134
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, scene 4 Quotes
Why, this is very midsummer madness.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker), Malvolio
Page Number: 3.4.61
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, scene 1 Quotes
Why have you suffered me to be imprisoned,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e'er invention played on? Tell me why.
Related Characters: Malvolio (speaker), Olivia
Page Number: 5.1.363-366
Explanation and Analysis:
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Olivia Quotes in Twelfth Night

The Twelfth Night quotes below are all either spoken by Olivia or refer to Olivia. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Desire and Love Theme Icon
).
Act 1, scene 5 Quotes
Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive
If you will lead these graces to the grave
And leave the world no copy.
Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Olivia
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 1.5.240-242
Explanation and Analysis:
Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.
Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Orsino, Olivia
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 1.5.271-279
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, scene 5 Quotes
Be not afraid of greatness: Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker), Malvolio (speaker)
Page Number: 2.5.148-150
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, scene 1 Quotes
O world! how apt the poor are to be proud.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker)
Page Number: 3.1.134
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 3, scene 4 Quotes
Why, this is very midsummer madness.
Related Characters: Olivia (speaker), Malvolio
Page Number: 3.4.61
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 5, scene 1 Quotes
Why have you suffered me to be imprisoned,
Kept in a dark house, visited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck and gull
That e'er invention played on? Tell me why.
Related Characters: Malvolio (speaker), Olivia
Page Number: 5.1.363-366
Explanation and Analysis: