William Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night

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

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.

love when actually they just loved the idea of it. One such a man is

through his vanity is easily fooled into thinking it is he who she loves although

Within the play ‘Twelfth Night’ it can be argued that the audience may be entertained by the outlook of Malvolio’s gulling. To start with his name means “ill will” within Italian which already suggests his attitude towards the other characters thus showing his place within the play as an “unpopular”character. He is a part of a religious order who sought to regulate forms of worship. In modern time the word “puritan” is often used to mean "Against pleasure" . Historically, the word was has been used degradingly to characterize the puritan group as extremists. This religious group was despised for its opposition to the theater, winter festivals, musical festivals and any forms of entertainment which is what ‘Twelfth Night’ "The evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking" actually stands for, as it is a festival in itself which further comical as he is incongruous with the play's title.

In Shakespeare’s play the merchant of Venice the audience learns about love in many forms. Through the characters, of Portia and Bassanio, Shylock and his love for money over his daughter and Antonio and Bassanio. The audience learns through Portia that true love always triumphs. From shylock we learn that money isn’t everything it seems to be and that you should treasure your family more than money. Through the friendship of Antonio and Bassanio we learn about the love of one friend for another and how they would sacrifice anything for one another. Shakespeare uses many techniques including: tests, plot incident, passionate dialogue, characterisation and emotive language to express his idea of love and friendship to the

Throughout Shakespeare 's Twelfth Night, there are various depictions of gender identity, which causes different relations among the characters. Many of the characters fall between traditional and non-traditional in terms of their courtship rituals; this eventually leads to gender confusion. In addition, the appealing language influences the characters and their decisions.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night boldly questions traditional boundaries between love and homosexuality. Cross-dressing obscures characters’ gender allowing lovers to explore homoerotic emotions. As the play continues, these emotions develop into romantic relationships, which challenge the common conceptions of love and gender. These relationships explore the grey area between friends and lovers. Despite the play’s eventual restoration of traditional love at the end, Twelfth Night presents romantic relationships which explore the concept of homoerotic love and highlight Shakespeare’s opinions about romantic pursuits.

In act 4 of Twelfth Night, Shakespeare continuously keeps show us that love is risky and is it there love you like or there appearance. In act 4 scene 1 sir Andrews comes in and thinks Sebastian is cesario and decides to fight him. As they were fighting Olivia comes in and stops the fight. Olivia is thinking Sebastian is cesario and asks him to run away with her. Shakespeare here is showing why love is risky.

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a widely known romantic comedy that was first published in 1623. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare’s finest works and it tends to have an affinity to modern romantic comedy films and stories. The play has love triangles, unrequited love, lies and deceit, playful comedic relief, and obstacles that interfere with characters’ goals. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were turned into film adaptations and many were used very loosely as source material. Hamlet had Lion King (very loosely), Romeo and Juliet had Romeo and Juliet (the DiCaprio version), and Twelfth Night has She’s the Man. She’s the Man is similar to Twelfth Night in three ways, the plotline, the names of the characters, and the humor. Despite the

The Twelfth Night was a religious festival held during the Elizabethan Era. It also 

celebrated the concept of the reversal of normal order, where the lower and upper class had the 

chance to experience each other’s roles in society. It was a day of celebration in which enabled a 

time of foolishness for each class. This religious festival seem to have influenced Shakespeare’s 

play, Twelfth Night in relations to the concept of the foolishness celebration of switching the 

roles of upper and lower class. In Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, he utilizes Feste’s role as a clown 

to be the figure who functions as a blur for class distinction and to also show that words hold 

power regardless of ones status in society. Malvolio functions as the fool who hopelessly

a plan to dress as a man and seek employment with the Duke Orsino. It

The Outcome of Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare The ‘Twelfth Night’ written by William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan era, is a dramatic comedy enriched with a great deal of hurt to accompany scandalous behaviour and shocking deceptions. The comical elements of this play are those which contribute to Elizabethan humour. The principal characters are of a high social status, making any disruption to their life humorous.

The complex plot - full of mistaken identities, misdirected passions, high comedy, low tricks, and

There are many common themes in William Shakespeare’s writings such as power, nature, conflict, and more commonly, love. Whether it be an irrational type of love such as Romeo and Juliet, a dutiful and tactical love like in King Lear, or love triangles (more like a square) like the one that takes place in Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare surely went all out with the theme of love in Twelfth Night by having every character have a love interest (even ones that coincided with someone else’s). As the play starts off, Duke of Illyria, Orsino, is mourning and moping around about the nature of love which already sets the theme for the entirety of the play. Such lamenting is evident within just the first four lines: