36 SHAKESPEARE QUARTERLY maiden's organ-an absence of other visible male appendages-is precisely the somatic and professional privilege of the evirato singer. Orsino's punning infatuation with Viola's small pipe recalls, or perhaps anticipates, the many sexual legends that grew up around the castrati as much sought-after heterosexual and, still more, homosexual fetish ob- jects.'06 The fact that Olivia is equally captivated by Cesario's corporeal and vocal charms ("Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs. . ." [1.5.296]) doubles the stakes of the game and confirms the spectacular triumph of Viola's "musi- cal" seduction. The very scenes in which Viola puts into effect her abnega- tion and self-mortification-concealing her desire for Orsino or acting as go-between for Orsino's desire towards Olivia-are the scenes in which she achieves erotic dominion over both as captivating castrato. Her eviration is simultane
eunuch who sings as irresistible fetish object