Twelfth Night: Act 1

Excess and surfeit both describe something that has moved out of or over the limit. As the lines suggest, neither is a healthy state. Yet, Orsino wants to overdose on love (through its stand-in of music) in hopes that it would cure his desire for a woman who doesn't want anything to do with him.

Compare these lines to Orsino's later argument that his love "is all as hungry as the sea, and can digest as much" and is much stronger than a woman's love, which "may be called appetite that suffer surfeit, cloyment, and revolt." Here, he has just told the musicians to stop playing because the song is not as sweet anymore; similarly, the spirit of love, once experienced, abates in strength and value. All these lines suggest that Orsino has never been in a loving relationship.

The adjective is synonymous with bountiful and comes from the Latin bonus which means "good." Originally, a bounteous nature was associated with the generosity of kings or other higher powers. This is suggested by Viola's status as a lady, which enables her to offer to pay the nameless sea captain for helping her.

In Old French, reveler is connected to rebeller, which means "be disorderly, make merry, rebel, be riotous." In his indulgence in revels and masques ("a party of guests wearing costumes and masks"), Andrew is rebelling against Olivia, who is in mourning for her dead brother. The lines could also be Shakespeare alluding to his own play to amuse his audience with the suggestion that they could have something in common with the foolish and strange knight.

With verbal and visual puns (he's wearing clothes that have been mended with patches), the fool responds to Olivia's dismissal of him as boring and dishonest. His syllogism suggests that sin and virtue coexist in a patchwork fashion, and most people, including a fool, can either mend themselves or be forcefully mended, so that they stop transgressing (the alternate definition of "pass beyond, as a limit" might be easier to stick to than not sinning at all).

Someone who is discreet can also be described as "unobtrusively perceptive and sympathetic," "heedful of potential consequences," and prudent, "marked by sound judgment." Thus, when a discreet man reproves, one should see the criticism as helpful rather than bitter. Similarly, when a paid fool insults, one should laugh rather than take it as an abusive attack. These words are Olivia telling Malvolio that he should not be upset when the fool says they are fools.