A reference to Twelfth Night, the heroine Viola, dressed as a boy, is sent by the
Duke Orsino (with whom she is in
love) to woo the Countess Olivia on his behalf. Olivia, still in mourning over the
death of her brother, will accept none of the
Duke'
s advances; however, she finds herself strangely attracted to the youth who has come to win her
love. She asks 'him' what he would do if he were in
love with her. Viola declares (in her most famous speech of the play):
I would Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth,
But you should pity me!