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How Does Shakespeare Present Love In Twelfth Night

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In William Shakespeare’s play, Twelfth Night, he focuses on romance and the pain it causes. The story starts when twins Viola and Sebastian are in a shipwreck leaving them stranded in a new country with no resources. Having been separated, Viola takes extreme measures and decides to dress as a man named Cesario in order to work for the Duke Orsino. Having this job, not only does she find herself falling in love with Orsino, she also learns he’s infatuated with a woman named Olivia. While this is happening, Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby, is trying to set her up with his friend Sir Andrew. Olivia, thinking Viola is truly a man, falls in love with her. Sebastian finds shelter with a local man. Upon travelling into town, Sebastian and Olivia meet and …show more content…

In the beginning of the play, Orsino along with members of his court are enjoying the music being played while speaking with one another. Orsino declares that “if music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die” (1.1.1-3). This represents Orsino’s current state in terms of his love. He says that if music is love, play more songs and to play so many to the point where he grows tired of it and stops loving. In this, he reveals his true yearning, or appetite, for love adding on that it’s not being satisfied and he would rather have an excess of love to the point where he no longer wants it at all. This shows Orsino’s lack of romance and desperation for someone to love him. Later in this same conversation, Curio asks Orsino if he’d like to go hunting to which Orsino replies, “why, so I do, the noblest that I have. O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence. That instant was I turned into a hart, And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds” (1.1.19-23). From this, we know that Orsino feels as if his heart is under fire, or being hunted, because of his unrequited feelings for Olivia. This explains his appetite for love because he wishes Olivia felt the same as he did. In these excerpts, we get a get a glimpse into the suffering Orsino …show more content…

When Olivia is first mentioned in the story, her servant Valentine is telling Orsino that because of the death of her brother, Olivia will be mourning for 7 years and is uninterested in love. This is a contrast to when Olivia later falls in love with Viola, who she believes to be a man named Cesario. Cesario is sent by Orsino to go to Olivia and win her heart for him [Orsino]. However, after meeting Cesario and hearing all he had to say, Olivia realizes she’s in love with him even questioning if “even so quickly may one catch the plague” (1.5.301). From this moment of realization, not only are Olivia’s new feelings for Cesario revealed but also her lookout on love. By comparing catching feelings to catching a plague, Olivia reveals she believes love to be a painful sickness. In other words, Olivia immediately regrets her love for Cesario as she knows it will cause her to suffer. Because of her love, she tries numerous times to get Cesario to marry her, always failing because Cesario [Viola] had feelings for another. Later in the story Olivia stops a fight in the courtyard between Sir Toby and Sebastian, who she thinks is Cesario. After stopping the brawl, Olivia askes Sebastian if he’d “be ruled by [her]” (4.2.67-8). To which he replies “Madam, I will” (4.2.69). Believing she’ll be married to Cesario, Olivia brings a

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