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Examples Of Selfishness In Twelfth Night

Decent Essays

As an individual falls in love, they believe that they are ready to sacrifice anything for their loved ones. In reality, this is not true because love is created by their own desires (unclear sentence). Romantic love in the play Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare is a selfish act.

A person's desires for love is so powerful that they want the loved one all to themselves. This is an act of selfishness seen through Duke Orsino he tells Curio and Valentine his messengers that he was the first one who had fallen in love with Olivia, and that Olivia is refusing him only because of her dead brother. For example “Why so I do, the noblest that I have. O, when my eyes did meet Olivia first, methought she purged the air of pestilence! The instant was I turned into a hart; and my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E’er since …show more content…

Olivia is mourning the death of her brother. Instead of grieving, Duke Orsino listens to his own desires of what he wants instead of listing to what Olivia has to say.

Another example is Duke Orsino loves Olivia and he wants to be with her even though she said she would mourn the death of her brother for seven years he still doesn’t stop and tries to get a yes from Olivia. He grows rambunctious and upset when he says.” O’ she hath the heart of a fine frame, to pay the debt of love but to a dead brother.” ( Shakespeare pg 11 33-34) He has no time for sympathy towards Olivia’s late brother but he has time to listen to his own desires. Instead of grieving with her he goes and gives her his words of love. Duke Orsino knows that Olivia is not ready, this is an act of selfishness, he craves something he can’t have and that is Olivia’s Love. love is to crave to the extreme, it’s a hunger that we hope we can never fully satisfy.

In every relationship, there's a partner who gives and one who takes.
Selfish love often suffers from feeling inadequate. An individual's feelings of inadequacy run so

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