Act II Scene iii Line 27-29
Fool- "I did impeticos the gratillity, for Malviolio's nose is no whipstock, my lady has a white hand, and the Myrmidons are no bottle-ale houses."
The fool is entertaining Sir Andrew and Toby with his wordplay, but he is also warning them about Malvolio and Olivia and that they won't put up with their drunken behavior much longer. He is telling them to head his warnings. However, Sir Andrew and Toby don;t seem to take the warning to heart, as the next line from Sir Andrew after the Fool's warning is "Excellent! Why this is the best fooling when all is done. Now, a song."
The wordplay you mention is a lot of nonsense. The fool is using speech that approximates the language of drunkards and fools to show this inferior group how lunatic they are, and yet he does (I agree) confirm that they best watch their activities. The warning is apparent, but it looks in good fun.
ReplyDeleteI think this is also the fool's way of making the characters of the play look foolish. He does that many times throughout the play. In act III sc i line 61, Viola recognizes this when she says that the fool makes others look foolish while he proves himself smart.
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