“Loving can hurt sometimes,” Ed Sheeran said, and this is no lie when it comes to Twelfth Night. Love is often an inevitable struggle in a plot, but in this Shakespearean play, a complete love triangle dominates as the main conflict. It cause happiness, excitement, deception, or even insanity, we still can’t seem to figure out if the benefits outweigh the consequences. Throughout Twelfth Night Shakespeare demonstrates love as a cause of suffering, a ‘knot that cannot be untied’ with Olivia’s love, Viola’s disguise, and Malvolio’s fake letter.
Lady Olivia’s initial suffering contributes to the cause of this complex knot. Olivia cannot return the Duke’s love, or anyone’s for that matter, due to the recent loss of her brother and her seven year promise of . After the Duke sends Cesario to deliver his declaration of love, Olivia states, “Even so quickly may one catch the plague?" (I, v, 301) Olivia, already suffering from her mourning, suffers further do to this love, which is described as a ‘plague’. Infected by this love, Olivia sends Malvolio to deliver a ring to Cesario. Also, due to the disguise of Viola, she later confuses Sebastian for Cesario, thus giving him a pearl. The pearl and the ring are symbols of her love, and
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Before this quote, Olivia married Sebastian, thinking he was ‘Cesario’ due to their similar appearance. When it is revealed that the two twins were in Illyria, they realized that they were both alive even though they both thought the other died in a shipwreck. So, in the quote, Sebastian explained the misunderstanding and it was revealed that ‘Cesario’ was actually Viola. The realization of the twins further complicated the situation and the ‘knot’ of lovers. Viola 's disguise impacted the story in very important ways, entangling the knot of suffering lovers by causing Olivia to fall in love with her, hiding her own love for Orsino, and causing many misunderstandings with Sebastian. Malvolio’s suffering was also one of love’s foul
As Rosalind expresses her feelings towards Orlando, Celia explains to her that "[her] words are too precious to be cast upon curs," and that Rosalind would be better off by "[throwing] some of them at [her]" (1.3.4-5). Despite Celia's efforts to receive Rosalind's love words in later Acts, Rosalind insists that her love will only pertain to Orlando, causing Celia to give up and bitterly add "and I'll go to sleep" (4.2.209). However, Celia's homoerotic love gradually undergoes a dramatic shift when she meets Oliver and falls in love with him. Towards the end of Act V, Rosalind and Celia remove their disguise and present themselves to Orlando, Oliver, and two shepherds (Phoebe and Silvius), whom all marry their perspective opposite-sex partner, putting an end to all homoerotic friendships and
The Blame As is the case with many others, Romeo and Juliet fell in love accidentally in the story “Romeo and Juliet,” by William shakespeare. Romeo’s unreal love for Rosaline was soon cleared with the introduction of the capulets daughter, Juliet. As can be known with any tragedy, their love failed. While many reasons remain for this failure, including fate, young age and a no rationality, it will be argued in this essay that Friar Lawrence also played a role in their love’s failure. Without thinking, Romeo and Juliet became victims of their own love chargeable to Friar Lawrence, young age and fate.
Even though the love in this play might not work out in the end, the characters seem to be content in the present. True feelings that one has for another person can make them act a certain way. In Twelfth Night, the pattern of extreme behaviors shows that Andrew, Malvolio, and Antonio are willing to do anything for the one that they love.
“Love led us on to one death” says Francesca (). She portrays herself as helpless and defenseless against the power of love. Furthermore, she says “love…swiftly kindled in the noble heart…still injures me” (). Her repeated usage of love shows that she believes that she did nothing wrong. Love is an implacable force and thus, it overpowered and seized her.
The Nurse is to Blame for Juliet's Predicament in Romeo and Juliet Everyone is faced with a difficult situation sometime in their life where the two different choices will result in totally different outcomes. A situation where once a decision is made they can’t go back. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are from feuding families. They meet, fall in love, and get married with help from Juliet’s nurse and Friar Laurence.
"O, she knew well/ Thy love did read by rote and could not spell." (Act 2, Scene 3, 87-88). As was his love for Rosaline, the Friar believes that his love for Juliet will not last. Even though he thinks that the marriage is flawed he agrees to marry them in his own self-interest of ending the feuding.
Viola’s aspirations are not to go against the social order as she is not a real servant but the play allows her to transgress and glide through the class mobility. She epitomizes social fluidity, transgressing the boundaries of specific roles in society. However her flexibility is asserted on her higher social status with which she begins the play. This once again proves that although the boundaries can be broken, only the elite bourgeoisie can truly permeate them completely. Malvolio remains ‘mad’ for admitting his love while Viola moves upwards to gain marriage.
The question of why Olivia, after dramatically declaring her affections for Cesario, would so quickly jump to Sebastian after finding Viola’s true identity, is likely answered by the societal norms of the Elizabethan era. Cesario and Viola are two halves of one whole; by loving Cesario, Olivia loves Viola too. Upon meeting “him,” Olivia says “Thy tongue, thy face, thy limbs, actions and spirit/ Do give thee five-fold blazon” (1.5.297-298). She is attracted not just to Cesario’s mannerisms, but to Viola’s beauty, which shines through her male bravado. The “actions and spirit” which Olivia refers to are Viola’s ability to converse with Olivia woman-to-woman, unbeknownst to the countess.
Each and every day, people make sacrifices for their loved ones. Maybe they choose to get up earlier in order to do chores or miss an important meeting so that they would have time for each other. There is no greater example of sacrifices for loved ones than in Romeo and Juliet however, where Shakespeare explores two star-crossed lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, who come from two families that have a deep hatred towards each other. The pair meet each other, secretly wed, and then in order to stay together, commit suicide out of despair and distress. Through Romeo and Juliet’s acts of defiance and sacrifice, Shakespeare proves that while hate has the power to destroy and kill, love is even more powerful as it has the power to transform.
In his play, Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare has his characters participate in the practice of deception and dishonesty of others - after all, the foundation of Shakespeare’s play resides within a lie. One of the major deceptions in the play is executed by the Illyrian countess, Olivia, as she repeatedly claims to need solitude to mourn her brother’s death in order to avoid Duke Orsino and his obsession towards her. This deception contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole by adding the thematic message, deception and dishonesty is sometimes the better option when it comes to love. From the beginning of the play, Olivia is introduced as the grieving countess that has recently lost a brother.
Romeo & Juliet William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet entails a story of a young impulsive love that ends in a disaster. This traces the secret romantic relationship between the two families in Verona, as they carry an ancient feud, deepening from generation to generation. Romeo—a Montague—falls deeply in love with Juliet—a Capulet—at a masquerade ball arranged by Juliet’s father. Later during the night, these two lovers expose their love to each other as they decide to marry each other next day. However, life does not follow plans.
Olivia never fully rejects Orsino’s love instead she opts to just avoid him by ordering her gentlewoman to tell Malvolio who comes to summon Olivia on behalf of Duke Orsino “If it be a suit from the Count, I am sick”. Olivia claims that she must stay secluded in her room to recover from health issues and sorrow. However, she never goes out as to avoid Duke Orsino who she does not want any part of being with him. However, Duke Orsino is not able to take the hint from Olivia that she has no interest in him and to leave her alone instead of continuing his fruitless endeavour of attaining her love.
Despite popular opinion, love at first sight does not exist. The idea of “love” is widely misinterpreted as a mere attraction between two individuals. However, many do not understand that love goes much further than this, and what follows is a common misconception between love and lust. Shakespeare in his 17th century play Twelfth Night delves deeper into this idea of love. He presents the character Duke Orsino who appear to be infatuated and love-sick for the Countess Olivia, a woman with which he knows little about.
The first instance which supports the notion that a lapse of communication is responsible for the unsuccessful nature of heterosexual relationships is the case of Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia’s relationship. Both start the play preoccupied with their own concerns, Orsino is worried about finding love, specifically with Olivia, meanwhile she is busy mourning the death of her brother by refusing to marry anyone for seven years. However, it is Orsino’s obsession with seeking love and how he goes about pursuing Olivia that best exemplifies the problematic nature of a male and female’s relationship. Orsino opened the play by saying of love, “Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die” (1.1.1-3), essentially saying that he so badly craves the feeling being in love gives him, that he would like in so great a quantity that it would end his life.
Shakespeare uses Viola (Cesario) as an example of a mechanism that can throw internal conflicts into temporary chaos. Viola willingly faces whatever comes in her way. Her love for Duke Orsino seems too constant and true, unlike the other characters in the play. The temporary chaos of the play is when Viola falls in love with Orsino, who falls in love with Olivia, who on the other hand falls in love with Viola’s disguise, Cesario. This love triangle is very complicated as none of them realize that Cesario is a woman, making this an internal conflict for Viola, as she cannot ‘truly’ love whom she wants.