While Cesario is waiting, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew enter and joke with Cesario, but whereas Cesario and Feste entertained the audience with high comedy, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew indulge in low comedy. Like everyone else (with the exception of Malvolio), both men are quite impressed with Cesario, especially Sir Andrew, and much of their joking focuses on their attempting to mimic Cesario's manners. Summing up Cesario, Sir Andrew comments, "That youth's a rare courtier."
Olivia and Maria enter, and Olivia quickly dismisses Maria, Uncle Toby, and Sir Andrew so that she can be alone with Cesario. Immediately, she asks for Cesario's hand and then for his name. When he answers her that he is her servant, she protests: he is Orsino's servant. But, Cesario reminds Olivia, because he is Orsino's servant, and because his master is her servant (because of his love for her), therefore, he himself is her servant. Olivia is distracted by such logic and such talk of Orsino. All of her thoughts are on Cesario, and she would like him to think only of her; as for Orsino, she would prefer that his mind would be absolutely blank rather than filled with thoughts of her. She never wants to hear about Orsino again — or his "suit" (his wooing). She would much prefer that Cesario would present his own "suit" to her — that is, to woo her on his own behalf.
She confesses that the ruse of the forgotten ring and her sending Malvolio after Cesario was only an excuse; she simply wanted any excuse to have Cesario return to her. She desperately wants to hear words of love from him; she begs him to speak. But all Cesario can reply is that he pities her. Olivia accepts Cesario's rejection with a certain dignity, but she certainly accepts it with undisguised disappointment. How much better for her, she says, if her heart had cast her before "a lion" (a nobleman) rather than before "a wolf" (a servant). She then tells Cesario not to be afraid; she will not press him any further for love that he cannot give. Yet she cannot but envy the lucky woman who finally will "harvest" this youth.
