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Twelfth Night As A Romantic Comedy Analysis

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William Shakespeare has written a number of romantic comedies. Twelfth Night is one of the finest comedies of the author. We know that a romantic comedy is a play in which the romantic elements are mingled with comic elements. It is a form of comedy which deals with love. Love at first sight is often its main theme. Generally, a romantic comedy starts with some problems that make the union of the lover difficult. But it ends with their happy union. Twelfth Night is a typical romantic play of Shakespeare. It has some elements which give the play a romantic air. It is romantic in its setting and theme. Love at first sight, music, improbabilities and the violation of the classical rules have lent weight to the view that Twelfth Night is a romantic …show more content…

Twelfth Night is a romantic play. Because the passion of love dominates it. It is the tale of love ending with the ringing of marriage bells. It is also a tale of love at first sight. The Duke, Orsino falls in love with Olivia as soon as he has seen her. Viola falls in love with the Duke immediately. Olivia falls in love with Cesario in the course of her very first interview with him. As soon as Cesario has left, she says to herself-

“Even so quickly may one catch the plague.”

This love is romantic, intense and passionate. It has nothing to do with reason. It is not directed and run with argument.

A Shakespearean comedy is a romantic comedy. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare has treated love as main theme. All the principal characters in the play are passionately in love. They have no other business but that of love-making. The play opens on a note of love. At the very beginning of the play and in the starting dialogue, Orsino says-

“If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it, the surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.”
Thus the Duke is love-sick. Passionate love expressed in poetical language. Love also dominates the hearts of Sir Andrew and Malvolio. They both love Lady Olivia and want to marry her. In this way, the treatment of this theme makes the play even more

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