Narcissism In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

For instance, when he finds the love letter that is supposedly written by Olivia, confessing her love for him, and telling him to smile, wear yellow stockings and go cross-gartered, he says, “I will smile, I will do every thing that thou wilt have me.” (2, 5, 165-6). He thinks the letter is from countess Olivia, who he is in love with, and believes that the greatness of being her husband is about to be given to him. Before finding the letter, he wanders around in Olivia’s garden and dreams about himself “To be Count Malvolio!” (2, 5, 32). He imagines how the other characters of the play would serve him, which again shows that Malvolio thinks he stands above everyone. In addition, when Malvolio is hailed by Olivia, he arrives smiling, wearing yellow stockings and cross-gartered, which makes Olivia think he has gone insane: “Why, this is very midsummer madness.” (3, 4, 51). Consequently, in this part of the play Malvolio’s inside does not match his outside. Throughout the play he is a grave character, that detests other persons having fun, so his actions of smiling and wearing strange dress make him look like a madman, which is why he gets locked up in Olivia’s basement. Towards the end, he returns to his initial manner, and declares that he will “be reveng’d on the whole pack of you!”, referring to the characters that tricked him into believing that the letter was

Shakespeare examines love in two different ways in Sonnets 116 and 130. In the first, love is treated in its most ideal form as an uncompromising force (indeed, as the greatest force in the universe); in the latter sonnet, Shakespeare treats love from a more practical aspect: it is viewed simply and realistically without ornament. Yet both sonnets are justifiable in and of themselves, for neither misrepresents love or speaks of it slightingly. Indeed, Shakespeare illustrates two qualities of love in the two sonnets: its potential and its objectivity. This paper will compare and contrast the two sonnets by Shakespeare and show how they represent two different attitudes to love.

Another example of deception is when Maria, Olivia's servant writes a letter to Malvolio, Olivia's head servant and Maria's coworker. Maria deceives Malvolio by writing in Olivia's handwriting. In the letter she says that Olivia loves men in yellow stockings. "Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered" (2.5. 143-145). Maria knows that Malvolio will follow this ridiculous deed because of this love for his lady Olivia. Sir Toby Belch says, "He shall think by the letters that thou wilt drop that they come from my niece, and that she's in love with him" (2.3. 154-156). Maria places the letter in her garden where Malvolio will definitely find it. Thinking Olivia will fall in love with him because of his clothing, Malvolio dress up in yellow stockings and goes to see Olivia. When Olivia sees Malvolio and the way he is acting, she isolates him for fear that he is insane.

Within sonnet 116, Shakespeare personifies the abstract noun of love when he states ‘Whose worth’s unknown’. Through personifying his ideology of true love, it makes it increasingly

Most of the major characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night experience some form of love or marriage. Whether it’s unrequited like with Antonio and Malvolio, or it is something seemingly unattainable like with Duke Orsino. Regardless, it is clear that love is prevalent as one of the central themes Shakespeare seems to emphasize in Twelfth Night. With that, we see him communicate different interpretations and feelings regarding the subject. He does this with the medium of melodramatic characters. In this essay, I will elaborate on the opinions of love that Shakespeare communicates through one of the leading characters:

Different types of love and marriage play a significant role in Shakespeare’s twelfth night, whether unrequited like with Antonio and Malvolio; or something seemingly unattainable like with Duke Orsino. Love is prevalent as one of Shakespeare's central theme emphasized in the Twelfth Night. With that, we see Shakespeare communicate different interpretations and feelings regarding the subject. He does this with the medium of melodramatic characters. However, this essay will solely elaborate on the character Duke Orsino and his exploration of love. Through Orsino’s actions, Shakespeare conveys several messages still applicable today, some of which are about the fine line between superficial love and genuine love, love's incoherency, and love's

Malvolio is a social climber, he feels that if Olivia would love him his status would be higher. But because of

Malvolio?s conceitedness was broken and then he sees that he did not truly love Olivia, but was only flattered that he had been loved by someone so beautiful and young.

One can observe Orsino's love for Olivia as obsessive. Orsino’s first words “If music be the food of love, play on,” introduce him as a love-sick character whose mind revolves around a woman who does not return his feelings (I.i.1). Olivia constantly populates his mind and he does not cease his pursuit for her love, even after she expresses distaste towards him. Shakespeare mocks love-sick individuals for acting like fools and putting themselves through misery. After learning of Olivia’s marriage, Orsino realizes he has lost her and lashes out at Cesario. He threatens him by stating “I’ll sacrifice the lamb I do love to spite a raven’s heart within a dove”(V.i.33-34). Shakespeare uses Orsino’s love for Olivia to differentiate between good and bad love. Unrequited love can cause an individual to pursue violent actions in blind rage. Orsino shows how love is consuming, crippling, and hinders the ability to live out life.Orsino believes his love for Olivia is true, but he is actually in love with the idea of love, and believes he can only obtain it from Olivia. Shakespeare tries to inform the audiences that they could mistakenly believe they are in

According to The English Review, Duke Orsino has “full of devotion to an ideal of love.” He does not understand that love is not straightforward, and if you love someone, they might not love you back. Orsino loves Olivia, but Olivia loves Cesario who is really Viola. Olivia’s love is complicated. She decides to confess her love to Cesario by saying “Would thou ’dst be ruled by me!” (4.1.68). The confusing part of this encounter is that Olivia really says this to Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother, not Cesario. Olivia’s confusion is most likely not commonly found in the everyday world. However, her complex relationship shows how love is not simple. Olivia thought she loved Cesario/Viola, but in the end, she loved Sebastian. Now, Viola’s character shows the pain and complication of a silenced love. She loved Orsino the whole time she was pretending to be Cesario. She says that she would marry Orsino in the beginning of the play when she says “myself would be his wife” (1.4.46). However, she couldn’t act upon this love until her true identity could be revealed. Sounds very simple and easy does it

The word love can mean many things. Love can be an object, emotion, and a life. However, love could lead to a loss of power, prosperity, and status. In the literary work “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, the readers are introduced to a tragic love story. In this play, readers are also shown the different perspectives of love and the many downfalls it could lead to. The central theme of this work is the recklessness of love. The theme is significant because it is shown throughout the whole story and it’s a strong force that takes place of all the other emotions and values. In this play, Shakespeare uses characters to present different aspects of love. In addition, Nurse, Mercutio, and Romeo completely show what actual love is and what it is like to lose it due to their experiences.

Yet he still continues 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 page 11 33-34) He lacks sympathy towards Olivia for her problems, but he has time to listen to his own desires. Nonetheless rather grieving with her, he goes and gives her his words of love. Duke Orsino knows that Olivia is unsure and this is an act of selfishness. Furthermore, he craves something he can’t have, Olivia’s love. Love is to crave to the extreme, it’s hunger that lovers hope they can never fully

himself just to suit his outlook on the situation. For example, the play he twists Olivia's words around to make it seem like she likes his yellow cross-gartered tights when in reality she dislikes them. Sir Toby just considers himself and no one else, not even his companions. He ignores Maria's notification about drinking into the night, and he continues to push Sir Andrew and Olivia to court. Even though he believes that Sir Andrew doesn't have a chance. Olivia considers the all-inclusive community around her, yet she furthermore assumes that no man is meriting her brilliance. She assumes that she is "all that," and that no one can organize her. For Shakespeare to incorporate this sort of just a single was most likely to demonstrate that Malvolio who thinks excessively of himself isn't right about Olivia cherishing him.

Maria and the conspirators decide to mislead Malvolio into thinking that Olivia is in love with him. Maria decides to lead him on by writing a letter, but means to be from Olivia. This love letter is meant to instruct Malvolio to do actions that Olivia despises. Maria is able to mislead Malvolio because she has the same print and seal as Olivia. Shakespeare is able to trick the characters and create many portrayals of them.

Shakespeare, who wrote the sonnets in 1609, expresses his own feelings through his greatest work of literature. The theme of love in the poems reflect thoughts from the Renaissance period. Love is one of many components of Shakespeare’s life shown in the sonnets. Love can be defined in many ways other than a strong affection for a lover. In Shakespeare’s sonnets, the concept of love can be seen through many uncommon means such as the love of life before death in “Sonnet 73,” love in marriage in “Sonnet 116,” love through sexual desire in “Sonnet 129,” and love through nature in “Sonnet 130,” proving that love can be expressed through many different feelings and emotions.