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Olivia. Did he write this?

Clown. Ay, madam.

Olivia. See him delivered; bring him hither.

[Exit Fabian C.]

[Enter Fabian, with Malvolio C.]

How now, Malvolio!

Malvolio. Madam, you have done me wrong,

Notorious wrong.

Olivia.

Have I, Malvolio?

No.

Malvolio. Lady, you have. Pray you, peruse that letter;

You must not now deny it is your hand.

Why have you given me such clear lights of favor,

Bade me come smiling and cross-gartered to you,

To put on yellow stockings and to frown

Upon Sir Toby and the lighter people;
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you suffered me to be imprisoned,
Kept in a dark house, visited by a priest,
And made the most notorious cuckoo

That ever invention played on? Tell me why.
Olivia. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confess, much like it;

But out of question 'tis Maria's hand.

And now I do bethink me, it was she

First told me thou wast mad. Thou camest in smiling,
And in such forms which here were presupposed
Upon thee in the letter. Prithee, be content.
This plot hath most shrewdly outwitted thee;

But when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own cause.

Fabian.

Good madam, hear me speak. Most freely I confess, myself and Toby Set this trick against Malvolio here,

Upon some stubborn and uncourteous things
We found in him. Maria writ

The letter at Sir Toby's great importunity,

In recompense whereof he hath married her.

Olivia. [To Malvolio.] Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!

Clown. Why, "some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrown upon them." I was one, sir, in this interlude; one Sir Topas, sir; but that's all one. "By the Lord, fool, I am not mad." But do you remember? "Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? If you smile not, he's gagged." And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Malvolio. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. [Exit C.] Olivia. Pursue him, and entreat him to a peace;

He hath been most notoriously abused.

[Exeunt C., or Curtain.]

ADDITIONAL READINGS

From the complete play of Twelfth Night.

Orsino, Viola, Olivia, and Sebastian.

I, i, ii, iv, v, 170-end.1

II, ii, iv.

III, i, 87-end; iv, 61-64, 208-224, 302-391.
IV, i, iii.

V, i, 7–280, 319–329, 384–391.

Antonio.

II, i.

III, iii, iv, 308-391.

V, i, 48-98, 210-258.

Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

I, iii.

III, ii, 1–65; iv, 149–207, 225-end.

IV, i, 24-49.

V, i, 171-210.

1 The line numbers refer to The Macmillan Pocket Classics edition of Twelfth Night.

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Olivia. Alas, poor fool, how have they baffled thee!

MACBETH

A Playlet, Covering the Basic Plot of

THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH

THE CHARACTERS IN ORDER OF FIRST APPEARANCE

Three Witches.

MACBETH (mǎk-bĕth'),

BANQUO (băngkw),

Ross (rôs),

ANGUS* (ǎng'gus),

generals of the King's army.

} noblemen of Scotland.

FLEANCE (fle'äns), Banquo's son.

*

A Servant to Macbeth (who may be the Attendant in Act III and

the Messenger in Act V).

LENNOX (len'uks), a Scottish nobleman.

LADY MACBETH.

Two Murderers.*

Eleven Apparitions,* two being children.

MALCOLM (mǎl'kům), son to DUNCAN (dŭng'kăn), King of Scotland. YOUNG SIWARD (se'wûrd), son to the Earl of Northumberland, general of the English forces, allied with Malcolm.

MACDUFF (mǎk-dŭf'), a Scottish nobleman and staunch friend to King Duncan and Malcolm.

A Soldier.*

20 reading parts; only three of the apparitions speak.*

SETTING: Scotland, 1040 to 1057 A.D.

* Cast_reducible to 11, if Lennox appropriates Angus' lines, if Fleance doubles for Young Siward, and if those who take the witches' parts double for the servant, attendant, messenger, two murderers, and soldier.The apparitions may be represented by Ross, Lennox, Malcolm, and Fleance, who may each pass twice the aperture through which the apparitions are seen.

There are actually 30 stage parts in the playlet, and these may be increased with advantage to possibly 40 by adding supernumerary lords and ladies in Act III and soldiers in Act V.

SYNOPSIS

ACT I. A heath during a storm. The three witches. Macbeth and Banquo.

ACT II. The courtyard of Macbeth's castle during a visit of the King. Banquo and his son Fleance.

ACT III. Scene 1.

of Scotland.

Macbeth..

A hall in the palace of Macbeth, now King Banquo. Macbeth and his court. Two murderers. Scene 2. The same. The banquet. The murderer.

The ghost of Banquo.

ACT IV. Macbeth consults the witches again. The apparitions' promises to Macbeth. The show of Banquo's posterity - a line of kings.

ACT V. Scene 1. Birnam wood at daybreak. Malcolm, the son of old King Duncan, and his forces against Macbeth.

Scene 2. Macbeth's castle on Dunsinane hill.

PROLOG-INTRODUCTION1

The setting is Scotland in the eleventh century.

Macbeth and Banquo, Scottish generals, have repulsed a Norwegian invasion, and are on their way to apprise the Scottish King of their victory.

They have to cross a heath, “a windy, storm-swept moor. It is without a tree or shrub; all that can be seen is black bog water, stones, and furze. The desolation of the scene when the fogs are trailing over its pathless waste and settling down upon its pools is indescribable."

Three witches meet Macbeth and Banquo on this heath. The weird sisters, as they are called, know the future — and especially how Macbeth has determined to bend it to his purposes. They startle him by reading his thoughts; he would supplant the King, and to obtain his place has determined to murder him. The weird sisters salute Macbeth with the title king. This presents no new temptation to Macbeth; it is but an echo of his thoughts. But it is encouragement; it creates the spark that brings him to the accomplishment of all his guilty purposes.

1 Prolog-Introduction. Macduff may assume the Prolog lines.

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