Maria

Play

Twelfth Night

Summary

Maria is Olivia's quick-witted and capable gentlewoman, the intellectual mastermind of the plot against Malvolio. Witty, daring, and pragmatic, she composes the forged letter in Olivia's handwriting that sends Malvolio into his delusion of yellow stockings and cross-garters. Sir Toby admires her genius so extravagantly that he marries her at the play's end — a reward as much as a resolution. She is one of Shakespeare's most resourceful comic women, achieving more through intelligence and initiative than any of the men around her.

Notable Quotations

"I can write very like my lady your niece; on a forgotten matter we can hardly make distinction of our hands." *(II.iii)*

"The devil a puritan that he is, or anything constantly, but a time-pleaser." *(II.iii)*

Cross-references

• Twelfth Night — the play
• Comedies — genre
• character_malvolio — the pompous steward she humiliates with the forged letter
• character_sir_toby — her partner-in-mischief and eventual husband
• character_olivia — her mistress