Twelfth Night, Act 4, Scene 3

Olivia and Sebastian marry · William Shakespeare

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SCENE III. Olivia’s Garden.

Enter Sebastian.

SEBASTIAN

This is the air; that is the glorious sun,This pearl she gave me, I do feel’t and see’t,And though ’tis wonder that enwraps me thus,Yet ’tis not madness. Where’s Antonio, then?I could not find him at the Elephant,Yet there he was, and there I found this credit,That he did range the town to seek me out.His counsel now might do me golden service.For though my soul disputes well with my senseThat this may be some error, but no madness,Yet doth this accident and flood of fortuneSo far exceed all instance, all discourse,That I am ready to distrust mine eyesAnd wrangle with my reason that persuades meTo any other trust but that I am mad,Or else the lady’s mad; yet if ’twere so,She could not sway her house, command her followers,Take and give back affairs and their dispatch,With such a smooth, discreet, and stable bearingAs I perceive she does. There’s something in’tThat is deceivable. But here the lady comes.

The recurring 'mad' tracks Sebastian's reasoning sliding from firm denial towards admitting that someone, himself or Olivia, must be mad.

The Elephant is an inn. In 3.3 Antonio recommended lodging 'at the Elephant' in 'the south suburbs', so Sebastian has gone there expecting to meet him. An inn called the Elephant also stood on Bankside, near the Globe.

Sebastian checks physical evidence to reassure himself that Olivia’s astonishing behaviour is real.

Sebastian's puzzlement follows the twin mistake in Riche's 'Of Apolonius and Silla' (1581), where Silla disguises herself under her brother's own name, Silvio, so Silvio arriving under that name is taken for her. Here Viola goes as 'Cesario' and Sebastian has travelled as 'Roderigo': no shared name links the twins.

Sebastian checks reality from its most basic facts upwards, and the very insistence of the checking reveals how shaken he is.

Antonio has left their lodging to search for Sebastian, so Sebastian cannot seek his advice.

Sebastian, a twin taken for someone intimately known in a town he has never visited, is in the situation of Plautus's Menaechmi, whose twin brothers, separated in childhood, are repeatedly mistaken for each other in the same town. An early spectator, John Manningham, set the play beside Menaechmi and The Comedy of Errors.

Sebastian cannot explain his sudden good fortune, but Olivia seems far too capable to be mad.

Enter Olivia and a Priest.

OLIVIA

Blame not this haste of mine. If you mean well,Now go with me and with this holy manInto the chantry by: there, before himAnd underneath that consecrated roof,Plight me the full assurance of your faith,That my most jealous and too doubtful soulMay live at peace. He shall conceal itWhiles you are willing it shall come to note,What time we will our celebration keepAccording to my birth. What do you say?

SEBASTIAN

I’ll follow this good man, and go with you,And having sworn truth, ever will be true.

OLIVIA

Then lead the way, good father, and heavens so shine,That they may fairly note this act of mine!

Exeunt.