A Bluestocking Knits

In honor of Shakespeare’s birthday today, here is perhaps the most famous yellow in the plays, from "Twelfth Night" —

Malvolio has just been suckered into a joke on him by Sir Toby Belch and his friends, who play into Malvolio’s delusions of grandeur by writing a letter supposedly from Malvolio’s employer, Olivia, saying that she is secretly in love with Malvolio, and wants him to wear yellow stockings "cross-gartered," to be rude to the servants, and to generally be even more pompous than he already is: "I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sir Toby, I will wash off gross acquaintance, I will be point-devise [i.e., down to the smallest detail] the very man. I do not now fool myself to let imagination jade me [i.e., make a fool of me]; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross-garter’d; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars I am happy. I will be strange, stout [i.e., unfriendly and lordly], in yellow stockings, and cross-garter’d, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised!"  (II.v.136-145)  Even if you’ve never seen the play, you can probably guess how well this goes over with Olivia!

The photo is from Sussex County (New Jersey) Community College.