William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Source: SparkNotes

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/summary.html

Plot Overview

In the kingdom of Illyria, a nobleman named Orsino lies around listening to music, pining away for the love of Lady Olivia. He cannot have her because she is in mourning for her dead brother and refuses to entertain any proposals of marriage. Meanwhile, off the coast, a storm has caused a terrible shipwreck. A young, aristocratic-born woman named Viola is swept onto the Illyrian shore. Finding herself alone in a strange land, she assumes that her twin brother, Sebastian, has been drowned in the wreck, and tries to figure out what sort of work she can do. A friendly sea captain tells her about Orsino’s courtship of Olivia, and Viola says that she wishes she could go to work in Olivia’s home. But since Lady Olivia refuses to talk with any strangers, Viola decides that she cannot look for work with her. Instead, she decides to disguise herself as a man, taking on the name of Cesario, and goes to work in the household of Duke Orsino.

在伊利里亞王國，貴族奧西諾，閑躺著聽音樂，因思念奧莉維亞而日益消瘦。他無法擁有她，因為她哀悼過世的哥哥而拒絕所有的求婚。同時，在海上暴風雨造成了可怕的船難，一名年輕的貴族女士維歐拉，被暴風雨沖上伊利里亞岸邊。她發現自己孤單地在異地時，她推測雙胞胎的哥哥聖賽巴斯丁可能已在船難中淹沒了，傷心之餘，她接著推敲她可以做的工作，以便養活自己。一位親切的船長告訴她關於奧西諾向奧莉維亞求愛的故事，吸引了她，因此希望自己能到奧莉維亞家中工作，但維歐拉莉維亞拒絕與陌生人談話，所以她無法如願找到工作。最後她化名舍沙里歐，喬裝成男人，才在奧西諾公爵家庭找到侍從的職務。

Viola (disguised as Cesario) quickly becomes a favorite of Orsino, who makes Cesario his page. Viola finds herself falling in love with Orsino—a difficult love to pursue, as Orsino believes her to be a man. But when Orsino sends Cesario to deliver Orsino’s love messages to the disdainful Olivia, Olivia herself falls for the beautiful young Cesario, believing her to be a man. The love triangle is complete: Viola loves Orsino, Orsino loves Olivia, and Olivia loves Cesario—and everyone is miserable.

維歐拉(佯裝成舍沙里歐)立即成為奧西諾寵愛的僕役，而並愛上奧西諾，但這是段艱難的愛情，因為奧西諾一直以為她是男人。當奧西諾請舍沙里歐送情書給自負的奧莉維亞時，她立即被年輕英挺的舍沙里歐迷的得神魂顛倒。三角戀情於是形成：維歐拉愛奧西諾，奧西諾愛奧莉維亞，而奧莉維亞卻愛舍沙里歐，其實大家都是陷於愛情籠牢的可憐人。

Meanwhile, we meet the other members of Olivia’s household: her rowdy drunkard of an uncle, Sir Toby; his foolish friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, who is trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia; Olivia’s witty and pretty waiting-gentlewoman, Maria; Feste, the clever clown of the house; and Malvolio, the dour, prudish steward of Olivia’s household.

When Sir Toby and the others take offense at Malvolio’s constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria engineers a practical joke to make Malvolio think that Olivia is in love with him. She forges a letter, supposedly from Olivia, addressed to her beloved (whose name is signified by the letters M.O.A.I.), telling him that if he wants to earn her favor, he should dress in yellow stockings and crossed garters, act haughtily, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself to anyone. Malvolio finds the letter, assumes that it is addressed to him, and, filled with dreams of marrying Olivia and becoming noble himself, happily follows its commands. He behaves so strangely that Olivia comes to think that he is mad.

同時，在奧莉維亞家中其他成員的副線故事中，我們看到她那粗暴醉漢伯父托比伯爵;他的愚蠢朋友安德魯先生，嘗試用裝可憐的方式向奧莉維亞求婚；還有奧莉維亞機智且俏麗的侍女瑪麗亞;聰明小丑費斯特; 憂鬱的馬翁里歐則是個拘謹、裝模作樣的管家。陰鬱的氣氛攏罩著奧莉維亞家中，因為奧莉維亞剛剛失去她摯愛的哥哥。

當馬翁里歐拘謹地破壞了托比伯爵和其他人的樂趣時，瑪麗亞設計了一齣惡作劇，讓馬翁里歐以為奧莉維亞愛上他。她以奧莉維亞的名義偽造一封信件 (以M.O.A.I為收信人)，信中表示如果他想要贏得她的青睞，就應該穿戴黃色長襪配上橫條的吊襪帶，臉露微笑，態度高傲，且不能對任何人解釋他的行為。馬翁里歐想當然地認為這封信是給他的，腦中便開始幻想自己與莉維亞結婚的可能性，態度變得高尚，愉快地聽從信中的指令，然而他奇怪的行為，在奧莉維亞眼中，真以為他瘋了似的。

Meanwhile, Sebastian, who is still alive after all but believes his sister Viola to be dead, arrives in Illyria along with his friend and protector, Antonio. Antonio has cared for Sebastian since the shipwreck and is passionately (and perhaps sexually) attached to the young man—so much so that he follows him to Orsino’s domain, in spite of the fact that he and Orsino are old enemies.

同時，聖賽巴斯丁卻還活著，他誤以為自己的妹妹已經死了，便與他的朋友兼保護者安東尼奧一起到達伊利里亞。自從船難後，安東尼奧就熱情（或可說有情慾的成分）地照料著聖賽巴斯丁，同時也跟隨他來到他的敵人奧西諾的領土上。

Sir Andrew, observing Olivia’s attraction to Cesario (still Viola in disguise), challenges Cesario to a duel. Sir Toby, who sees the prospective duel as entertaining fun, eggs Sir Andrew on. However, when Sebastian—who looks just like the disguised Viola—appears on the scene, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby end up coming to blows with Sebastian, thinking that he is Cesario. Olivia enters amid the confusion. Encountering Sebastian and thinking that he is Cesario, she asks him to marry her. He is baffled, since he has never seen her before. He sees, however, that she is wealthy and beautiful, and he is therefore more than willing to go along with her.

Meanwhile, Antonio has been arrested by Orsino’s officers and now begs Cesario for help, mistaking him for Sebastian. Viola denies knowing Antonio, and Antonio is dragged off, crying out that Sebastian has betrayed him. Suddenly, Viola has newfound hope that her brother may be alive.

奧莉維亞的仰愛慕者安德魯先生發覺奧莉維亞對舍沙里歐(仍然是維歐拉所喬裝)的情愫，同時，又在以觀看決鬥為樂的托比伯爵慫恿之下，向舍沙里歐挑戰決鬥。然而，當聖賽巴斯丁（神似假裝的維歐拉）一出現，安德魯先生和托比伯爵以為聖賽巴斯丁是舍沙里歐，便與他打鬥。此時，奧莉維亞在打鬥的混亂之中進入，遇到聖賽巴斯丁，也誤以為他就是舍沙里歐，要求他與她結婚。聖賽巴斯丁感到十分困惑，因為他從未見過她，然而，他看見她如此富裕及美麗，便情願地答應她的要求。

同時，安東尼奧遭到奧西諾官員的拘捕，他誤以為舍沙里歐（維歐拉）是聖賽巴斯丁，因此要求其幫助脫困。但舍沙里歐（維歐拉）否認認識安東尼奧，因而安東尼奧被官員拖走，並大聲呼喊聖賽巴斯丁背叛了他。聽到哥哥的名字，舍沙里歐（維歐拉）內心燃起新的希望，認為哥哥也許還活在世上。

Malvolio’s supposed madness has allowed the gleeful Maria, Toby, and the rest to lock Malvolio into a small, dark room for his treatment, and they torment him at will. Feste dresses up as "Sir Topas," a priest, and pretends to examine Malvolio, declaring him definitely insane in spite of his protests. However, Sir Toby begins to think better of the joke, and they allow Malvolio to send a letter to Olivia, in which he asks to be released.

馬翁里歐的行徑好似瘋子，因此可讓瑪麗亞、托比及其他的人藉由醫治瘋病為由，將其鎖進幽暗的小房間，任憑折磨。費斯特盛裝成托帕斯教士，假裝審查馬翁里歐，儘管馬翁里歐抗議但他仍然宣判馬氏瘋了。然而，托比伯爵想到一個更有趣的計倆，他允許馬翁里歐送信給奧莉維亞要求釋放他。

 Eventually, Viola (still disguised as Cesario) and Orsino make their way to Olivia’s house, where Olivia welcomes Cesario as her new husband, thinking him to be Sebastian, whom she has just married. Orsino is furious, but then Sebastian himself appears on the scene, and all is revealed.

The siblings are joyfully reunited, and Orsino realizes that he loves Viola, now that he knows she is a woman, and asks her to marry him. We discover that Sir Toby and Maria have also been married privately. Finally, someone remembers Malvolio and lets him out of the dark room. The trick is revealed in full, and the embittered Malvolio storms off, leaving the happy couples to their celebration.

最終，維歐拉(仍喬裝為舍沙里歐)和奧西諾起身前往奧莉維亞的住處，奧莉維亞看到維歐拉(舍沙里歐)十分高興，以為他就是與他剛結婚的先生聖賽巴斯丁，看到如此的情境，奧西諾十分憤怒，但當聖賽巴斯丁出現時，真相終於大白。

聖賽巴斯丁與維歐拉這對兄妹終於快樂團聚，奧西諾也發現維歐拉原來是女扮男裝，他深愛著她，於是向她求婚。另外，我們發現托比伯爵與瑪麗亞也私訂終身。最後，有人記得關在暗室的馬翁里歐，於是將他釋放，憤怒馬翁里歐迅速離開，留下慶祝愉快的佳偶。

6. Websites Reference on 12th Night

The Twelfth Night (sparknotes) http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/twelfthnight/  

莎士比亞《第十二夜》中英文簡介

http://blog.udn.com/Dalloway68/1421137  

The Twelfth Night's electronic resource http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/12night-table.html  

Wikipedia: The Twelfth Night

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Night  

Grade Saver.Study Guide: The Twelfth Night http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/twelfth/  

e-note: The Twelfth Night

http://www.enotes.com/twelfth/  

The Twelfth Night's summary,characters and essays http://absoluteshakespeare.com/guides/twelfth_night/twelfth_night.htm  

Comment: A study of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, form, structure  http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/twelfth-night.html  

Comment: Sources of TWELFTH NIGHT http://www.io.com/~jlockett/Grist/English/12thnightsources.html  

Comment: Passion and Control in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night http://www.aestheticrealismtheatreco.org/articleontwelfthnight.htm  

Comment:The Significance of Character Names in Shakespeare's Comedy http://shakespeare-comedies.suite101.com/article.cfm/names_in_twelfth_night