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Examples Of Narcissism In Twelfth Night

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In many of Shakespeare’s sonnets, he emphasizes the subjective experience of love; however, he never wallows in his feelings to a conceited extent. Actually, he labels narcissism as incompatible with real love in some of his other sonnets and in his comedy Twelfth Night. Although his narcissistic characters, especially Malvolio, Orsino, Olivia (from his comedy), and the Young Man (from his sonnets), believe themselves to be experiencing passion, their foolish self-indulgence inhibits them from finding true love, as it causes them to act contrary to nature, misinterpret others’ intentions, and misplace certain desires. Conversely, other characters not blocked by self-love, particularly Viola and the Speaker of the Sonnets, can find actual love, since they correctly understand others and themselves. Though Orsino believes himself …show more content…

For example, when describing his first time seeing Olivia, he says, “I turned into a hart, and my desires, like fell and cruel hounds e’er since pursue me” (I, i, 22-24). Later, when his servant tells him she swears celibacy, Orsino says, “Away before me to sweet beds of flow’rs: Love-thought lie rich when canopied with bow’rs” (I, i ,41-42). He loves the idea of being woefully in love so much that he refuses to make any serious move in order to form a bond with the object of his affection. Instead of immediately proving his love to her in reaction to Olivia’s message, Orsino prefers to go wallow in his garden to think about his heartbroken condition. He has the capability to pursue her, but prefers to

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