In the play "Twelfth Night,"
Shakespeare explores and illustrates the emotion of love with precise
detail. According to "Webster's New
World Dictionary," love is defined as "a strong affection or liking
for someone." Throughout the play
Shakespeare examines three different types of love: true love, self love and
friendship.
"Twelfth Night" consists of many love
triangles, however many of the characters who are tangled up in the web of love
are blind to see that their emotions and feelings toward other characters are
untrue. They are being deceived by
themselves and/or the others around them.
There are certain instances in the play
where the emotion of love is true, and the two people involved feel very
strongly toward one another. Viola's
love for Orsino is a great example of true love. Although she is pretending to be a man and is
virtually unknown in Illyria, she hopes to win the Duke's heart. In act 1, scene 4, Viola let's out her true
feelings for Cesario, "yet a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife (1)." That statement becomes true when Viola
reveals her true identity. Viola and
Orsino had a very good friendship, and making the switch to husband and wife
was easy. Viola was caught up in another
true love scenario, only this time she was on the receiving end, and things
didn't work out so smoothly. During her
attempts to court Olivia for Orsino, Olivia grew to love Cesario. Viola was now caught in a terrible situation and
there was only one way out, but that would jeopardize her chances with
Orsino. It's amazing that Olivia could
fall for a woman dressed as a man, but because Viola knew what women like to
hear, her words won Olivia's heart. The
next case of true love is on a less intimate and romantic scale, and more
family oriented. Viola and Sebastian's
love for one another is a bond felt by all siblings. Through their times of sorrow and mourning
for each of their apparent deaths they still loved each other. They believed deep down that maybe someway or
by some miracle that each of them was still alive and well.
Many people, even in today's society, love
themselves more then anything else.
"Twelfth Night" addresses the issue of self love and how it
affects peoples lives. Malvolio is the
easiest to identify with the problem of self love. He sees himself as a handsome and noble
man. Malvolio believes many women would
love to be with him. He likes to see
things one way only, and he deceives himself just to suit his outlook on the
situation. For example, in the play he
twists Olivia's words around to make it sound like she admires his yellow
cross-gartered stockings, when she really despises them. Both Sir Toby and Olivia show signs of self
love but it is not as big an issue. Sir
Toby only cares about himself and no one else, not even his friends. He ignores Maria's warnings about drinking
into the night, and he continues to push Sir Andrew to court Olivia. Although he believes Sir Andrew doesn't have
a chance. Olivia cares about the people
around her, but she also believes that no man is worthy of her beauty. She thinks she is "all that," and
that no one can match her.
Friendship is the third type of love expressed
in "Twelfth Night." The
biggest and closest friendship would have to be between Orsino and
Cesario. They barely knew each other at
first, and before long Orsino was telling Cesario his inner love for
Olivia. He even had Cesario running his
love messages to Olivia. The second
friendship between Viola and the Sea Captain was not mentioned a lot, but they
had a very deep bond between one another.
They survived the shipwreck together and the Sea Captain promised to
keep Viola's idea about pretending to be a man a secret. If he had opened his mouth the entire play
would have changed. The third
friendship, and definitely the strangest, is between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew
Aguecheek. They are close friends but
sometimes Sir Toby doesn't show it. He
sets Sir Andrew up, and likes to get him into trouble. An example is persuading Sir Andrew to
challenge Cesario to a dual, even though he is not a great swordsman and is
unaware of Cesario's ability. On the
other hand, Sir Andrew appreciates Sir Toby's company because he always lifts
his spirits and makes him feel like a true knight.
Love plays a major role in "Twelfth
Night," and Shakespeare addresses true love, self love and friendship in a
very compelling and interesting way.
Love is great to read about because everyone deserves a little
love. "Twelfth Night" is the
true definition of love, and Shakespeare does a great job of explaining a
somewhat difficult topic.
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