Key points
Olivia is a character from Twelfth Night, a play by William Shakespeare, an English playwright.
Twelfth Night is a fast-paced comedy that contains romantic plots, mistaken identities and practical jokes.
Olivia is a wealthy A countess is a noble woman who holds a title, either through marriage of from being the daughter of a nobleman. and is mourning the death of her brother.
Olivia plans to stay in mourning for seven years but then she gets caught up in a love triangle – she loves Cesario (Viola), Orsino loves Olivia and Viola (Cesario) loves Orsino.
Did you know?
In Shakespeare’s time, a woman of Olivia’s social status would have been expected to marry to form the right alliances rather than for love.
Plot summary
Olivia’s key moments
Click through the slideshow to see Olivia’s key moments
Image caption, At the start of the play, Olivia, played in these images by the actress Aislín McGuckin, is mourning the death of her brother. Orsino has declared his love for her, but she refuses to see any visitors.
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Character traits
Indecisive
Olivia has vowed to shut herself away from the world for seven years because she is mourning the death of her brother. However, she quickly changes her mind when she meets Cesario (Viola) and falls in love with him.
Loving
Olivia is devastated by the death of her brother, and vows to mourn him for seven years. When she meets Cesario (Viola) and falls in love with him, she follows her heart and tries to start a relationship with him.
Strong-minded
Olivia rejects Orsino even though he is a powerful man in Illyria. Instead, she actively pursues a relationship with the man she loves, Cesario (who is actually Viola). She even proposes marriage, which was unusual for a woman in Shakespeare’s time.
Relationships
Olivia is a countess. Following the deaths of her father and brother she is the head of the household.
Other characters that live in Olivia’s household are:
Sir Toby Belch – her uncle
Malvolio – her A senior servant in charge of a household.
Maria – her A woman who attends to a lady such as Lady Macbeth, similar to a lady-in-waiting.
Feste – her A comedian employed to entertain.
Malvolio, the steward, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Sir Toby’s friend, both wish to marry Olivia, but neither has genuine feelings for her. Olivia has no romantic feelings for either character, but Sir Toby encourages them to think that she does have feelings for them.
Olivia gets caught up in a love triangle with Viola (Cesario) and Orsino. At the end of the play, Olivia marries Sebastian – Viola’s twin brother – and seems happy to accept him as her husband when she realises that he is not Cesario.
Changes in character
At the start of the play, Olivia is mourning her brother. She refuses to see any visitors and rejects Orsino’s love.
Her mood changes when she hears about Cesario (Viola) and allows him to visit. Olivia quickly falls in love with Cesario (Viola) and wants to have a relationship with him.
At the end of the play, Olivia marries Viola’s twin Sebastian in a case of mistaken identity. When the confusion clears, she is happy to keep Sebastian as her husband.
Why does Sebastian marry a stranger?
A modern audience might be confused about why Sebastian agrees to marry Olivia, given he’s never met her before. It’s possible that he falls in love with her at first sight, or he might just be too shocked or too polite to reject her proposal.
Sebastian and Olivia’s marriage means that all the characters end up in a happy couple, which is a typical ending to Shakespeare’s comedies.
Activity - Order it
What do these key quotations mean?
I cannot love him: let him send no more -
Unless perchance you come to me again?
Olivia
Act 1, scene 5
Olivia rejects Orsino’s romantic messages but shows an interest in seeing Cesario (Viola) again, as she has quickly developed romantic feelings for him (her).
By maidhood, honour, truth and everything,
I love thee so.
Olivia
Act 3, scene 1
Olivia declares her love for Cesario (Viola), unaware that Cesario is not who he appears to be. Viola (Cesario) feels sorry for Olivia because she does not love her and cannot be honest with her.
Listen to a scene
Listen to this clip, in which Cesario (Viola) visits Olivia for a second time, and then answer the question below.
Viola: Madam, I come to whet your gentle thoughts
On his behalf.
Olivia: O by your leave, I pray you!
I bade you never speak again of him;
But would you undertake another suit
I had rather hear you to solicit that,
Than music from the spheres.
Viola: Dear lady -
Olivia: Give me leave, beseech you. I did send,
After the last enchantment you did here,
A ring in chase of you. So did I abuse
Myself, my servant, and, I fear me, you.
Under your hard construction must I sit,
To force that on you, in a shameful cunning,
Which you knew none of yours. What might you think?
Have you not set mine honour at the stake,
And baited it with all th’unmuzzled thoughts
That tyrannous heart can think? To one of your receiving
Enough is shown; a cypress, not a bosom,
Hideth my heart: so, let me hear you speak.
Viola: I pity you.
Olivia: That’s a degree to love.
Viola: No, not a grise; for ’tis a vulgar proof
That very oft we pity enemies.
Olivia: Why, then, methinks ’tis time to smile again.
O world, how apt the poor are to be proud!
If one should be a prey, how much the better
To fall before the lion than the wolf!
Olivia is in love with Cesario. What emotion does Cesario (Viola) say she feels for Olivia?
Cesario (Viola) says he (she) feels pity for Olivia.
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