ipl-logo

Twelfth Night Love Analysis

1197 Words5 Pages

In the play “Twelfth Night,” Shakespeare explores and illustrates the emotion of love with special detail. According to “Webster’s New World Dictionary,” love is defined as “a strong affection or liking for someone.” Throughout the play Shakespeare examines four different types of love: true love, self love, friendship and sibling love. Love is a major theme in the play of “Twelfth Night.”
True Love: “Twelfth Night,” is a romantic comedy and romantic love is one of the plays main focuses. There are three romantic love stories in the play. Duke Orsino expresses his love for Countess Olivia. Curio makes use of a pun when he asks the love-sick duke if he wants to go hunting the “hart,” a male deer.(1,1,18) “Why, so do I, the noblest that I have,” replies Orsino, referring to his heart, the seat of passion. Viola disguised as a man, Cesario, serves the duke. She falls in love with Orsino. The duke asks Viola to go woo Olivia on behalf of him. In Act I Scene 5 at lines 220-229 Olivia compares Viola’s declaration of Orsino 's love to a sermon in church, based on a text in the bible. This is an unusual metaphor. What makes things more complicated is …show more content…

Moreover, sibling love is the fourth type of love shown in the play. Olivia expresses this love very clearly and is rather overstated as well because she wants to keep “A brother’s dead love, fresh “(1.1,31)” till seven years’ heat” (1,1,26 ). She is willing to mourn and bar herself from the rest of the world for seven years purely for a dead brother. Her grief is short, her vow is broken instantly upon meeting Cesario. Another pair of siblings in “Twelfth Night” are Sebastian and Viola who both think that the other is dead but “For saying so, there 's gold” clearly symbolises Viola having hope for Sebastian being alive. Sebastian wishes that “they would had so ended”(2,1,18). He loves his sister so much that he wants to die to spare himself the pain. The bond between siblings is so strong it causes people to go to new

Show More
Related

  • Almost, Maine Character Analysis

    1240 Words  | 5 Pages

    But not quite. ’The play’s intentions seem to be to portray love and relationships in the way they really are. There are eight scenes in the play, as well as an prologue, an interlude, and an epilogue; each scene focuses on one of nine ‘couples’(the prologue, interlude, and epilogue feature the same couple) whose relationships are moving from one stage to the next throughout the course of the scene. For example, the couple from the Prologue, Interlude, and Epilogue are on a date where they say ‘I love you’ for the first time; the couple from Where It Went are a married couple that realizes they no longer have fun together like they once did; and the couples from They Fell and Seeing the Thing are two best friends who realize that they are in love with each other in different ways. Each of the nine situations are situations that can, and do, happen in real life to real people.

    Read More

  • Sacrifice In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

    1140 Words  | 5 Pages

    Mark Overby says, “Love is much like a wild rose, beautiful and calm, but willing to draw blood in its defense.” Love, a magnificent and wonderful emotion, not only includes admiration, but requires sacrifice. William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, revolves around the children of two rival families, the Montagues and the Capulets. This feud even has the citizens of the town, Verona, involved in this ancient rivalry. The children, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, fall deeply into a love that is forbidden.

    Read More

  • Who Was To Blame For Romeo And Juliet's Death Essay

    391 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet have fate against each other. Its said hat their love is “death marked.” Romeo and Juliet can’t control what going to happen as they go alone with this. For starters they’re in different groups, so they don’t know how their groups is going to react. It is their misfortune that leads to a terrible at the end.

    Read More

  • Homosexuality In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1112 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • She's The Man Movie Vs Play Analysis

    623 Words  | 3 Pages

    Viola liking duke Orsino but duke Orsino liked liked Olivia and Olivia liked Sebastian. Nobody seemed to like the right person until the

    Read More

  • Unrequited Love In Romeo And Juliet Essay

    639 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet, the story where two forbidden lovers take their own lives for the sake of love. Within this story Shakespeare shows multiple kinds of love that everyone experiences in life, and within this essay i will be talking about two. The two main types of love i noticed in Shakespeare’s story “Romeo and Juliet”, were Unrequited love and obviously, the main focus, romantic love. These two types of loves have their share of differences but surprisingly they have their similarities as well. The first type of love shown in Romeo and Juliet is unrequited love.

    Read More

  • Deception And Dishonesty In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    508 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Twelfth Night Narcissism Analysis

    984 Words  | 4 Pages

    Vanity, one of Twelfth Night 's major concerns, is displayed throughout the play by characters who are plagued with emotional conditions which prevent them from loving others. The lives of Illyria 's Duke Orsino and Countess Olivia, for example, remain circumscribed by vanity and narcissism. Similarly, Olivia 's steward, Malvolio, remains encumbered by vanity and narcissism, while Olivia 's Uncle Toby shows himself to be selfish, and his drinking partner, Sir Andrew, stands as a caricature of vanity. In contrast, Viola, an outsider shipwrecked upon Illyria 's shore, suffers solely from grief for her sea-drowned twin brother. In further contrast, Olivia 's lady-in-waiting, Maria, displays none of these characteristics, but instead operates as the play

    Read More

  • The Role Of Love In Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing

    1622 Words  | 7 Pages

    When it comes to learning about the characters in a story, analyzes look at the characters’ characterization through the plays. For Shakespeare, he focused on the relationships of his characters in his plays to underline the true meaning of love. From his comedic plays to his tragedies, the love between two or more characters signified an irrational and crazy way love operates in his plays. In his play, Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare described the typical “perfect” couple, Hero and Claudio, and the “surprising” couple, Benedick and Beatrice. In Act 4, these relationships are put to the test whether their relationships are true and honest after the wedding.

    Read More

  • Love At First Love In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    958 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Types Of Love In Romeo And Juliet

    1472 Words  | 6 Pages

    Types of Love in Romeo and Juliet In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses real life scenarios to convey a deep and heartwarming literary work. Romeo and Juliet showcase different types of love throughout the play in unique characters. First, Shakespeare creates the love and bond of friendship between Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio. Secondly, to show parental love he uses characters such as, Friar Laurence, Capulet, Lady Capulet, and Nurse.

    Read More

  • Viola's Disguise In Twelfth Night

    929 Words  | 4 Pages

    As he states that all lovers are, “Unstaid and skittish in all motions else / Save in the constant image of the creature / That is beloved.” (2.4, 20-22). This demonstrates Orsino’s misunderstanding of the concept of love, as it seems that true love means fickle and erratic according to his definition. Furthermore, in disguise as Cesario, Viola also unintentionally exposes the passionate nature beneath the courtly manner and mourning veil of the “virtuous maid” (1.2, 32), as she causes Olivia to fall in desperate love with Cesario.

    Read More

  • Relationships In Twelfth Night

    1209 Words  | 5 Pages

    Shakespeare’s renowned play Twelfth Night centers around love, both in platonic and romantic instances. Characters display elements of self, brotherly, amorous, and friendly love towards one another; however, of the relationships portrayed, the strongest ones are those between men. In contrast, relationships between men and women lack depth and sincerity due to the lapse of communication between the opposing genders. Men are able to express their feelings to one another more freely, which gives their bonds strength that heterosexual relationships fail to display.

    Read More

  • Viola And Olivia In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

    1851 Words  | 8 Pages

    It is even possible that her vow to retreat from society fueled her lack of interest in the duke who pursues her called Orsino. Olivia and Viola both have lost a brother, although Viola fortunately eventually finds her brother. Still, due to the fact both characters believe their brothers to be dead for the majority of the play, their attitudes are affected by this. Olivia in particular attempts to keep a good opinion of

    Read More

  • Theme Of Disguise In Twelfth Night

    1043 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Twelfth Night Love Analysis

Open Document