Viola and Olivia

The principal scenes shared by Olivia and Viola begin with scene v in Act I, when the two women meet face to face. Viola has heard of Olivia from the captaIn and Orsino, but meets her for the first tIme when she arrives with Orsino's message. From early in the conversation, Viola/Cesario matches Olivia in wit, and wins an audience with her, even though Olivia has heard Orsino's message before. Yet she is intrigued with Viola/Cesario's bold style, and responds to Viola/Cesario's request to lift her veil. Viola/Cesario encourages Olivia to not leave her beauty in the grave but to embrace love while she is young and have children to carry it on. When Olivia starts asking questions of Viola/Cesario, it becomes clear that her energies have shifted from maintaining her refusal of Orsino, to learning more about the page...