MARIA

a gentlewoman who is part of Olivia's household in Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night. Maria figures mainly in the subplot of the play, where she works with Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek to have the unpleasant Malvolio dismissed. a lady attending on the Princess of France in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. Maria is a conventional courtly character who serves to further populate the romance of the play. She is paired with Longaville.