This short scene serves as essential plot machinery, positioning Antonio and Sebastian in Illyria and setting up the purse — a seemingly trivial prop that will become the catalyst for one of the play's most emotionally charged confrontations. Antonio's decision to hand over his purse despite his own vulnerability demonstrates the selflessness of his devotion, and it creates the specific mechanism by which mistaken identity will cause him genuine pain. Antonio's danger in Orsino's territory adds a rare note of genuine peril to the comedy. His account of the sea-fight and his refusal to repay what was taken — "only myself stood out" — establishes him as a man of stubborn principle, someone who will not compromise even when compromise would keep him safe. This moral rigidity makes his later betrayal (as he perceives it) all the more devastating: a man who sacrificed safety for principle finds himself abandoned by the person he risked everything for. The scene deepens the bond between Sebastian and Antonio through small gestures of care. Antonio offers his purse not out of obligation but out of anticipatory generosity — "Haply your eye shall light upon some toy / You have desire to purchase." Sebastian's gratitude, expressed through...
Scene Summary
Antonio has followed Sebastian to Illyria despite the danger — he once fought against Duke Orsino's fleet and would be arrested if recognized. He gives Sebastian his purse for shopping and sightseeing, arranging to meet later at their inn, the Elephant. This brief scene sets up the crucial purse misunderstanding that will explode in Act III, Scene 4 when Antonio encounters Viola-as-Cesario instead of Sebastian.
"I could not stay behind you: my desire, / More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth." — Antonio (III.3.4-5)
"I can no other answer make but thanks, / And thanks; and ever thanks." — Sebastian (III.3.14-15)
"Hold, sir, here's my purse... Haply your eye shall light upon some toy / You have desire to purchase." — Antonio (III.3.38-41)
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