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Submitted by ernieb532 on March 4, 2008
Category: English
Words: 1066 | Pages: 5
Views: 631
Popularity Rank: 13,862
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William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, is a rich comedy delving into the innate human desire for love. Each character within the play has their own ideal view of what true love is, but Shakespeare uses these characters merely as vessels for a larger insight into society as a whole. No person wants what they can truly have, but rather, what they cannot. Within this play, what the characters want is not always for the purest reasoning, but instead what will allow them self gain. Shakespeare conveys a cryptic portrayal of romance where his characters are masochists, and his theme is self advancement. Through Duke Orinso, Countess Olivia, and steward Malvolio, these themes are exemplified most.
When the reader is first introduced to Duke Orinso, he is accounting the first time he laid eyes upon the lady Olivia. Through the use of language, the Duke speaks of a love that he wishes he could be full of and die away, "If music be the food of love, play on / Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting / The appetite may sicken, and so die" (1.1.1-3). This is not the usual language one uses when speaking of one they are fond of. In the Dukes case, he seems to be self indulgent, and gains enjoyment from being melodramatic. From the on set of the play, he gives off the impression that he knows he will never obtain the love of Olivia, but he enjoys wallowing in self pity, and encouraging others to be sympathetic to his situation as well. In a separate speech, the Duke refers to his desires for Olivia as "Â…fell cruel hounds / E'er since pursued me" (1.1.20-24). It seems as though love or romance for him is a game, rather than an emotion to be taken seriously. Throughout the rest of the play, his pursuance of Olivia never ceases, and at one point the even threatens to kill his own servant Cesario because of Olivia's mistaken thinking that Cesario was the man she had just married. With that threat from the Duke, this comedy could have potentially been turned to tragedy. The...
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