Question

Which lines in this excerpt from act II, scene IV, of Twelfth Night suggest that a woman is inconstant in love?

DUKE: There is no woman's sides

Can bide the beating of so strong a passion

As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart

So big, to hold so much; they lack retention.

Alas, their love may be call'd appetite,

No motion of the liver, but the palate,

That suffer surfeit, cloyment and revolt;

But mine is all as hungry as the sea,

And can digest as much: make no compare

Between that love a woman can bear me

And that I owe Olivia.


VIOLA: Ay, but I know—


DUKE: What dost thou know?


VIOLA: Too well what love women to men may owe:

In faith, they are as true of heart as we.

My father had a daughter loved a man,

As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,

I should your lordship.

Answer 1

The top 3 lines that start with the words:

There,

As, and

They

Answer 2

The first paragraph contains the set of words suggesting a woman's inconstant love:

There is no woman's sides  

Can bide the beating of so strong a passion

As love doth give my heart; no woman's heart

So big, to hold so much; they lack retention.

This claim is specially evidenced in the fourth line, as it implies the object is incapable of holding too much of something - which is in this case, it is romantic interest in someone. Therefore, this lack of retention may be interpreted as inconsistency.