Twelfth Night Lust

In the kingdom of Illyria (fantasy world), Twelfth Night was supposedly originally written for the entertainment of Queen Elizabeth I. William Shakespeare’s comedy associates with the Feast of Epiphany (January 6th) and was means for entertainment in the seventeenth century. It contains some aspects that can be thought of as

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. The play starts by following Viola, a girl who has been shipwrecked. Viola and the many other characters face many obstacles due to who they love. Despite the fact that the play offers

Duke Orsino, being one of the most dynamic characters in Twelfth Night, has varying positions on the topic of love throughout the play. In the first act of the play, he views love as an emotion that acts upon the attractiveness of an individual, an emotion that is easy to fall in and out of, and he views the amount of love one person holds for another as equal to the amount of love they would hold for everyone else. “‘O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence.’” Orsino (1.2.20) This statements essentially means ‘When I first saw Olivia, she was so beautiful, I thought she made everything better.’ Orsino also views love as something that is easy to fall in and easy to fall out of. “‘O spirit of love”

Blindness of Love in Twelfth Night by Shakespeare In the play "Twelfth Night" Shakespeare shows how anyone can be blinded by love and act so impulsively to satisfy their appetite for love, that often they fall in love with a façade rather then the person behind the disguise. Also Shakespeare also

True love is extremely different then lust, and was also present through out the play. True love is obviously one of the strongest forms of love and is an extremely powerful emotion that one would perhaps do many things for. Shakespeare showed various forms of true love in twelfth night especially through Viola (Cesario) and Orsino. Even though Orsino did not know it, Olivia was falling in love with him. She saw qualities in him that she appreciated and liked. Unlike lust, true love is usually developed, and grows stronger as you get to know and understand the person better. In this case, Viola only began to like Orsino after she had gotten to know him. It grew more and more and finally in the end when her true identity was revealed she married him. Another example of true love was with Sir. Toby and Maria. When you are in love you would always try to do things for the best interest?s for that person, and would try to protect them from harm. Throughout the play there are numerous times where Maria tries to warn and protect Sir Toby from Malvolio and Olivia, so that he would not get in trouble. If you care for someone that much to keep them out of harms way, then that is a strong sing of true love. True love was also present when you will forgive or

According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, love is defined as “strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties; attraction based on sexual desire; affection and tenderness felt by lovers; affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interest; or an assurance of love.” In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, three different types of love are experienced: friendship love, true love, and self love. Each character experiences a different type of love, and in some cases it is not what they originally expected. The twisted, yet intriguing love story allows the reader to get lost in each characters emotions and development throughout the play. Many instances of love in the play are overwhelmed with a

Love as the Cause of Suffering In William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, love as the cause of suffering is one of the most prominent theme of the story. Even though this play ends in love and wedded bliss, Shakespeare also shows us that love can also cause pain. The characters often view love as a curse, something that is thrust upon you and you cannot easily or willing escape. Examples include Malvolio’s love for Olivia, the love triangle between Olivia, Duke Orsino, and Viola as Cesario, and Antonio’s crush on Sebastian. There are countless occasions where unrequited love for another results in heartbreak and sorrow.

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

“Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for”(Bob Marley). Here Bob Marley (song writer) quotes that pain is going to come to everybody at some point in their life whether it's love or something else, but the pain should be something

The fantasy of Olivia he supposedly unconditionally loves is not about Olivia, but all about himself. Not only this, but Orsino is easily convinced to return the deep affection of Viola, possibly because the Duke focuses entirely on his success and desires in love rather than genuine affection. Perhaps, Orsino only developed these feelings for Olivia because he wanted more luxurious things in life. Orsino had great food, servants, and a giant castle. The one thing he lacked in was love. Therefore, the Duke wished to have the most beautiful countess in all of the land: Olivia, to continue owning more and more luxurious things. Through this, Shakespeare conveys that an egotist and wealthy man cannot genuinely love if he does not fixate the gain of love on himself. Not only this, but it also continues the previous message that one might be irrationally obsessed with the idea of love rather than a person due to all of the pleasures there are to

One could read that it is better to love a member of the same sex and not have the love returned than to be hounded by suitors. The line might be read as the concluding lesson to a sarcastic representation of courtship; to follow the conventions is good, but to have love returned is much better. When Sebastian arrives the norm seems to be restored, but love is fulfilled when Sebastian consents to be ruled by Olivia. Even with all the problems supposedly solved, the gender role question is still present for Olivia seems never to have entirely relinquished her active "male" role. Twelfth Night tackles many uncomfortable issues regarding love and identity which Shakespeare never truly resolves for his audience. Instead he leaves the questions open, but contains the discomfort with humor, disguise, chaos and a happy

In the next line, however, Olivia showed signs of her emotional dilemma. Guilt began to plague her thoughts for a fleeting moment. The reason for this shame was not entirely explained, but I believe it had everything to do with the death of her brother which was mentioned at the very beginning of the play. She was ashamed of falling into this lustful state of mind while she was supposed to still be in mourning. She noticed immediately after she hinted at her feelings for Cesario, the guilt surfaced.

At first he pleads for the “excess of it, that, surfeiting” (I.i.2). For, music nourishes the soul; therefore he wants more of it. However, later in the soliloquy Orsino says that because of love, music “tis not so sweet now as it is before” (8). Shakespeare is already showing how Orsino tries to force passionate love for Olivia that it is not as sweet and fulfilling as it should be if it was genuine true love. This theme goes throughout the play and even comically plays out in Olivia’s forged love for Malvolio. Any type of false love in Twelfth Night comes to a crash landing at the end.

In the play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, covers three types of love, Lust, true love and superficial. Love is one of the most confusing and most misunderstood emotions that we as humans possess. Love is an extremely diverse emotion and allows for multiple opinions on what it truly is which is why it was used as the main topic in twelfth night.

Love and Gender in Twelfth Night      Shakespeare's Twelfth Night examines patterns of love and courtship through a twisting of gender roles. In Act 3, scene 1, Olivia displays the confusion created for both characters and audience as she takes on the traditionally male role of wooer in an attempt to win the disguised Viola, or Cesario. Olivia praises Cesario's beauty and then addresses him with the belief that his "scorn" (3.1.134) only reveals his hidden love. However, Olivia's mistaken interpretation of Cesario's manner is only the surface problem presented by her speech. The reality of Cesario's gender, the active role Olivia takes in pursuing him/her, and the duality of word meanings in this passage threaten to turn the