Twelfth Night Lesson Plan

After Viola, as Cesario, receives the ring from Malvolio, she responds with a monologue in which she says, "Alas, our frailty is the cause, not we, / For such as we are made of, such as we be" (2.2.29-30). What does she mean by this?

Viola offers this aphorism right after she realizes Olivia has fallen in love with Cesario, which is partially the result of her deception. She says, "How easy is it for the proper false / In women's waxen hearts to set their forms!" (2.2.27-28). Here, Viola uses the metaphor of a wax-sealed letter (usually pressed with some kind of sigil or other embossing tool that identifies the sender) to mourn the fact that handsome ("proper") but...