Sebastian and Antonio — Edexcel GCSE English Literature 1ET0
Edexcel GCSE English Literature · 1ET0
Sebastian and Antonio
Characters
What you need to know
How Shakespeare presents Sebastian and Antonio, and how the character develops across the text: Viola's twin, whose arrival untangles the plot, and the sea captain whose devoted love for him goes unrewarded.
The key quotations for this character and how to analyse them, with the context that shapes them.
How to use the lesson's key quotations in an essay, with a short worked paragraph.
Key quotations: 'My stars shine darkly over me', 'she bore a mind that envy could not but call fair', 'But, come what may, I do adore thee so, / That danger shall seem sport, and I will go', 'My desire, / More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth', 'I can no other answer make but thanks, / And thanks', 'Hold, sir, here's my purse', 'Will you deny me now?', 'Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame', 'Madam, I will', 'Antonio, O my dear Antonio! / How have the hours rack'd and tortured me, / Since I have lost thee!', 'A witchcraft drew me hither'.
Sebastian as Viola's double, quick to fight and quick to marry, and Antonio's intense language of devotion and betrayal.
Context: the twin plot borrowed from Roman comedy, Illyria's reputation for pirates, and readings of Antonio's love as romantic as well as loyal.
Edexcel's Shakespeare question has two parts: part (a) on the printed extract marks only language, form and structure (AO2), so context earns nothing there; part (b) on the play elsewhere, from memory, marks the argument and its references (AO1, 15 marks) and context (AO3, 5 marks), not language analysis. Say which part each worked paragraph and exam tip is for.
