Love and Desire in "Twelfth Night" Essay

Orsino's love, however, is a courtly love. He claims to be in love with Olivia but seems rather to be in love with the idea of love and the behavior of a lover. Orsino is a Petrachan lover who chooses an object that will not return his love. Because he is not ready for commitment, he courts Olivia in a formal way. By sending his messengers to her house instead of going himself, he does not have to speak to her directly. Early in the play, Viola realises that Orsino's love for Olivia is denied and that she would also reject all men for a period of seven years. Viola believes that Orsino might not be rejected if he visited Olivia himself and says to him: "I think not so, my lord," but Orsino, not wanting to see Olivia himself and wanting to keep up the role of the disappointed lover, insists that Cesario woo her.

wonder if he is really interested in her or just this idea he has of

What is love? Love is a very powerful emotion! Love is something that can come at any time in your life. It can appear in any way, shape, or form. In the famous play “Midsummer Night's Dream,” by William Shakespeare, love is a major theme that affects many people and causes many challenges. In order for love to conquer these challenges one needs to stay true to their love, they may need the help of some magic, and must be persistent.

In the play twelfth night, Shakespeare covered three types of love : Lust, true love and brotherly love. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans posses. Love is an extremely diverse emotion which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night.

Webster’s Dictionary defines love as a feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; preeminent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters. By the end of Shakespeare’s play Midsummer Night’s Dream, it goes without saying that Webster’s Dictionary definition was able to hit this definition head on. Shakespeare is able to paint the perfect picture for this play mainly because he is one of the great masters of the English Language.

Love, before we can talk about it we must define it; then we can dissect it and reference it. Love is defined in the dictionary as an intense feeling of deep affection. Throughout several of Shakespeare’s plays he speaks about love. It is a common theme throughout Shakespeare’s plays, both comedies and tragedies, and we can see that Shakespeare is infatuated with love. Shakespeare and I, though poles apart, raised in different times, places, and even of different genders have one thing in common; we both seem to be hopeless romantics. In Shakespeare’s plays love seems like a very obtainable reality, love conquers all if you believe in it and fight for it. This seems to go against societal structure in a time where marriages were arranged

Viola deceives Orsino into thinking that she is a man. Orsino goes on to suppose that he can win Olivia by using a proxy. Orsino contemplates that Olivia will fall in love with him when he sends “Cesario” to read a pre-prepared passage. While the duke is flattering himself with love, Viola is seeking to conceal her love for him.

One of her duties in the house of the Duke is messenger and she is required to deliver a message to Lady Olivia who Orsino is love with. The messages she must deliver are Orsino declaring his love to Olivia, but the opposite happens. Olivia falls for

In the book or play Twelfth Night or What You Will Viola portrays the themes of identity, and love itself throughout the story, because she shows her love for Duke Orsino and she changes her identity to find her twin brother Sebastian.

‘A feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, partner, or friend.’ this is the dictionary definition of love in today’s society. The idea of love throughout the Shakespearean time is ‘love at first sight,’ most of William Shakespeare's plays involve a character being swoon by another only hours after meeting. And shortly after meeting, they are wed. However, love is not presented the same way in the play Twelfth Night. Shakespeare’s use of a strong female character like Olivia, in his play Twelfth Night, he challenges the idea of marrying for love.

The first type of love we are going to talk about from this play is parental love. What is parental love? Parental love is where a mom or a dad is wanting their kid do good in everything. For example if you kid is an honor roll student you will be more happy because of this . If your kid is not good at this you will become angry with your kid. During the course of this play Shakespeare

The opening speech in the play Twelfth Night is spoken by the unhappy, lovesick Duke of Orsino to his servants and musicians. In the eternally famous opening lines “If music be the food of love, play on…” Orsino asks his musicians to overload him abundantly with melodical love-food that he will totally detest the craving for love. In these lines, Shakespeare presents love as undesirable, something that creeps on people suddenly and it cannot be circumvented. Orsino comment about the connection between romance and imagination further complicates this image. He relates the idea of intense love (“fancy”) in“So full of shapes is fancy / That it alone is high fantastical,” to that of imagination (that which is “fantastical”). Through this link,

Love is a very inaccurate word,  as it can be used in many different ways.  It can be used to describe an object which one particularly likes,  or to describe ones feelings towards a person.  However it does not rest at just these two points.  Love for someone can be in a material sense (sexual),  or in a more moral sense for example.

Also, perhaps Viola is in disguise herself.  She can see through other people's disguises or flaws, that not even they are able to spot.  Some characters are deceived about their true nature.  An example of this is that Orsino sees himself becoming "one self same king" of Olivia's "sweet perfections", fulfilling her sexual desire, thought and feeling "liver, brain and heart".  He naively believes that he is in love with Olivia when he has never really conversed with her.

Love is an ambiguous term that depicts a variety of emotional and mental states. Depending on the person, love can mean different things. True love is generally represented as something sudden and irresistible. It is based on inner qualities and centered on making the other person happy. However, infatuation is insincere and driven by emotions. It is a state of being completely carried away by unreasonable passion or love that is short-lived. In William Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night, the play consisted of many love triangles and complex characters that are tangled up in the idea of love. In every work written by Shakespeare, an important concept is conveyed, but never truly resolved for the audience. Instead, he leaves the questions unanswered by surrounding the play with humor, chaos, and a happy ending. In “The Different Types of Love Presented in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night” and “William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night”, both essays express the idea that Shakespeare paints a vague picture of romance and infatuation through the use of Orsino and Olivia. Although there were moments where the audience would confuse Orsino’s and Olivia’s feelings as true love, the main points of both essays were that their love was infatuation to satisfy their own needs.