Viola from the comedy Twelfth Night is a beloved Shakespeare character, one of the trouser roles in which a resourceful young woman disguises herself as a man to make her way in the world. Shipwrecked on the shores of Illyria and believing her twin brother dead, Viola becomes Cesario, and on behalf of her new employer, the lovesick Duke Orsino, begins wooing the Countess Olivia—even as Viola finds herself catching feelings of her own for her new boss. Olivia, intrigued by this new messenger, sends her servant after Cesario with a ring. A stunned Viola realizes that she is now in the middle of a love triangle. Try ordering the lines of her speech as she puts it all together in this quiz:

Twelfth Night
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