Capítulo 15 de 25 · 2'58"
Olivia drops her guard and tells the young messenger plainly that she loves him, swearing by spring roses and her own youth. Her confession turns on a paradox — "I am not what I am" — and a plea: "Loves sought is good, but given unsought is better." Cesario, who cannot love her back, is left trying to leave.
I Am Not What I Am
❝ Monólogo · 6 frases Olivia's confession
It opens with oaths and closes with a proverb, so a private plea sounds like law.
❝ Monólogo · 4 frases The page's refusal
Every vow is sincere and every vow hides the same secret, so the refusal is honest and false at once.
Alone with Cesario, Olivia finally admits her love, swearing by the roses of spring, by her maidenhood and her truth that her passion cannot be hidden. She argues that a love given freely is better than one that must be won, and asks Cesario to come again. Cesario, who is really Viola and loves Orsino, gently refuses and says no woman shall ever own her heart.
The scene turns the play's disguise into pure ache. Olivia, who swore off men, has fallen for a servant who is not what he seems, and her confession is full of self-knowledge she cannot act on: 'I am not what I am,' Cesario says, and Olivia is the one who is truly not herself. Her plea, 'Loves sought is good, but given unsought is better,' is a lover's argument for being chosen freely. Viola, hearing it, can answer only with refusal, because she loves Orsino and cannot reveal that she is a woman. The irony is exact: the one person Olivia finally opens her heart to is the one who can never take it. Even Olivia's line 'Love's night is noon' describes a brightness that makes the hiding harder, not easier.
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
“Loves sought is good, but given unsought is better.”
It sets pursued love against unasked love in one balanced line, which is why it still gets quoted.
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“I am not what I am.”
The line denies his own identity, and only the audience knows how literally true it is.
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“Love's night is noon.”
In five words it makes love a light that erases darkness, a proverb and a stage image at once.
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“That you do think you are not what you are.”
A mirror sentence: you think you are not what you are, and the loop is the point.
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“Be not afraid, good youth.”
A command softened by a gentle address: reassurance with rank folded in.
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Cesario, by the roses of the spring, by maidhood, honour, truth, and... and... and everything, I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride, nor wit, nor reason can my passion hide. Do not extort thy reasons from this clause for that I woo thou, therefore, has no cause, but rather reason thus with reason fetter. Loves sought is good, but given unsought is better.
By innocence I swear and by my youth I have one heart, one bosom, and one truth... Yes. ...And that no woman has, nor never none shall mistress be of it save I alone. And so adieu, good madam, never more will I my master's tears to you deplore.
Siguiente · 16laugh yourself into stitchesLa escena: Maria's Crew Goes to Watch MalvolioShe has fallen for the messenger despite her vow to mourn. When Cesario presses her, she finally admits her feelings and swears they cannot be hidden.
Cesario is really Viola, a woman, and she is in love with Duke Orsino. She cannot reveal her identity, so she must refuse while hiding the real reason.
It means the speaker is not what he appears to be. Viola/Cesario says it about the disguise, but it also fits Olivia, who is no longer the grieving woman she seemed.
She says a love that is freely given is worth more than one that has to be pursued: 'Loves sought is good, but given unsought is better.'
She cannot let the messenger go even after being refused. Her 'Yet come again' shows her love is stronger than her pride or her dignity.
