Twelfth Night · William Shakespeare · Act 1, Scene 1

Orsino: "If music be the food of love, play on"

Characters
Orsino
Length
114 words, 1 min spoken
 
Male role
 
Comedy

The situation

The opening speech of the play.

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The text

OrsinoIf music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die. That strain again, it had a dying fall; O, it came o’er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour. Enough; no more; ’Tis not so sweet now as it was before. O spirit of love, how quick and fresh art thou, That notwithstanding thy capacity Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there, Of what validity and pitch soever, But falls into abatement and low price Even in a minute! So full of shapes is fancy, That it alone is high fantastical.

Text: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1526. Public domain text from Project Gutenberg. Download the text

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