More handpicked essays just for you.
How shakespeare explores the theme of fate and freedom. will
Themes and motifs in twelfth night
How shakespeare explores the theme of fate and freedom. will
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
From sadness derives happiness, but does happiness cause sadness? Twelfth Night is a play by William Shakespeare where identities are mixed up and misunderstood. It is set in a country called Illyria, where a shipwreck takes place and siblings Viola and Sebastian are separated, each believing the other is dead. After assuming Sebastian’s dead, Viola disguises herself as a boy where she becomes really close to the Duke Orsino and falls in love with him. But, at that time Duke Orsino is in love with the Countess Olivia, who is not in love with the Duke, but she instead falls in love with Cesario and Olivia breaks her own contract of not marrying for seven years while mourning her own brother’s death. The Countess’ household consists of Fabian, …show more content…
This is the case with them because when the shipwreck first happened, Viola was sad that her brother was dead even saying that he is in Elysium which is like heaven. “My brother he is in Elysium”(1.2.4). This shows Viola’s belief that her brother is truly dead in the shipwreck wondering if he’ll be happy in Elysium. This is the sadness that sparks her willingness to find a way to live in Illyria and later disguise herself as a boy named Cesario to be closer to the Duke Orsino as she has found love with him. “[Aside] Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife”(1.4.43). as this is what Viola says to herself when the Duke asks her to go to Olivia’s household to declare the Duke’s love for her. This shows Viola has gotten over her brother’s death and has a secret love for the Duke which she later . But, she is not the only that found happiness after a tragedy but her brother who is still alive did as well. He was confined by sadness when he believed his sister died in the shipwreck as well. “ ...She is drowned / already, sir, with salt water, though I seem to drown her remembrance again with more” (2.2.26-28). This shows Sebastian’s grief of her death at sea even though she is not. Although, they were hurt, grieving or in pain they both found someone or many people that made them happy and joyful. For Sebastian, this person was the Countess Olivia even if it was …show more content…
Despite this, Olivia still found and married a man that she likes in the end and is happy. She found happiness with love and the person that she chose who is Sebastian even though she wanted Cesario but they are twins. “Plight me the full assurance of your faith, / That my most jealous and too doubtful soul” (4.3.26-27). These lines show Olivia’s willingness to marry Sebastian and her wanting him to be in a loving relationship together. In conclusion, Olivia is a very strong woman who found her light in the darkness and found love with Sebastian despite her not having freedom of choice over her husband and the death of her
During the weeks leading up to matrimony, Olivia fell madly in love with Cesario, who though looks and sounds just like Sebastian, is truly Viola dressed as a man. Sebastian does not realize this as he meets Olivia for the first time. He is amazed that a woman of her statue and beauty would feel so strong for him and he wastes no time.... ... middle of paper ...
The confusion that Sebastian creates when he returns would not occur. without Viola's disguise, in the middle of the room. Sir Andrew believes that the woman of his desires. Olivia, is spending too much time with Cesario, and challenges him to a duel. As he put it, Olivia was doing "more favors to the Count's servingman than ever.
The plot deepens as Cesario proceeds to woo Olivia for the Duke. It is only the second time that Cesario appears at Olivia’s home when Olivia openly declares her love for Cesario. Throughout this time, Sir Andrew has been nursing a hope to win Olivia’s love. When he plans to give up hope of her love, Sir Toby suggests that Sir Andrew fight with Cesario to impress Olivia. Cesario, however, refuses to fight. At the same time, Viola’s brother, Sebastian, who is also shipwrecked, makes his way to safe lodging in Illyria with Antonio the sea captain. After the fight between Cesario and Sir Andrew begins, Antonio intervenes to save Cesario, whom he takes for Sebastian. But the Duke’s officers promptly arrest Antonio for a past offense. Then, Olivia later comes upon Sir Andrew and Sebastian bickering at her home. Olivia, thinking Sebastian is Cesario, leads Sebastian to marriage in a nearby chapel. Finally, Cesario inevitably reveals that he is Viola and Sebastian recognizes her as his sister. The Duke reciprocates Viola’s love offerings and proposes to her. Olivia assures Malvolio...
As prescient and insightful as this evaluation may seem after considering the outcome of Twelfth Night’s romantic pairings, it reads as a very shallow perspective rather than any sort of wisdom – to the Duke, love is never permanent, lasting, or constant (just like the nature of the tides, it always changes). Duke Orsino has no concern whatsoever for Olivia’s feelings of grief after the loss of her brother – she is merely an object of his desires at the moment, and as his eventual courtship with Viola proves, he is extremely fickle in his affections. (Even before Viola’s disguise became apparent, Orsino showed some signs of attraction to the male Cesario – this raises a few questions about exactly how far his romantic indecisiveness
Viola, as Cesario, manages to win the favour of Orsino He truly believes that she is a he. Orsino, still convinced of my majesty, believes that he can win the love of a woman, via a proxy. By having Viola merely read the words he has prepared, he thinks that Olivia will fall immediately in love with him. But while Orsino had his head in the clouds about his love, Viola is attempting to conceal from him, her love for him.
Love is an essential human desire. Once it is caught, dramatic, unexpected changes in ones life occur. Protecting the people one loves is a natural instinct that cannot be controlled. William Shakespeare demonstrates this in Twelfth Night through the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian. Furthermore, Viola continues to ensure the happiness of Orsino is met even if that means sacrificing the happiness of herself. Also, love is evident when one pays attention to, and dedicates himself to the small details in other peoples lives. William Shakespeare demonstrates in Twelfth Night the nature of true love through loyal friendship, bold romance and secretive love.
Twelfth Night consists of a large number of love triangles, however many characters are too indulged in love that they are blind to the untrue, and the weakness of their relationship, they are deceived by themselves and many people around them ( ex. Malvolio is tricked by Sir Andrew, Feste ,Sir Toby and Maria),but there are certain incidents where the love is true and two characters feel very strongly about one another. In the play, Viola and Orsino have the most significant relationship. The way they interact with each other causes the complexity on which the play is all about, their relationship turns from strangers to friends then lovers .In the First Act Viola is not honest with Orsino because she disguises herself as a male servant named Cesario in order to get closer to the duke. Orsino. Orsino quickly trusts Cesario and sends him to Olivia to declare Orsinos Love for her, the girl he most dearly loves. This quick bond is the fast example of their relationship. At the beginning of the play, Viola thinks her brother (Sebastian) is dead (after they’re deadly boat crash, where they get separated) when actually he is alive and thinks she is dead, Viola always seems to have a part missing from her which shows her bond with Sebastian is strong, and a part of her but in a brotherly/sisterly way rather than a proper relationship like viola and orsino, At the end of the play they meet and both fall in love , Viola with Orsino and Sebastian with Olivia.
After Duke Orsino asks Cesario (disguised Viola) to make Olivia love him, although she had stated that she would not marry for seven years due to her sadness from her brother’s death, Cesario tells him “I’ll do my best to woo your lady.” Then Viola tells the audience “(Aside) yet, a barful strife—Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife,” meaning that she has to convince another woman to love the man she loves. The exchange of words in this scene exemplifies dramatic irony since the reader now knows that a love road that connects Duke Orsino, Viola, and Olivia has formed while Orsino is clueless about the situation. Situational irony can also be withdrawn from this conversation because it is shocking that Viola is in love with Orsino. Viola’s sudden love for Orsino illustrates a universal truth about life that sometimes people fall in love too quickly without thinking far ahead.
The perfect lives that make up the routine of the Illyrian citizens portrays a society in which enjoyment, and personal gain are held in utmost priority. Shakespeares mocks the passivity of the Illyrian lifestyle to explain to the audience that excess of such festivity has negative side effects such as ego and lack of true love. He expresses that the pursuit of expression and truth in itself invokes enjoyment. Sir Aguecheek mirrors the uncertainty of a person through lack of self-confidence and the desire to openly reveal his true self when lamenting “Is it a world to hide virtues in?” (1.3.131). While uncovering aesthetic and emotional mysteries, the Illyrians find that disport restrains them from actual enjoyment and love. The play follows the audience to motivate them towards dissemination of feelings and expression of passion as a “locus of growth and self discovery” (Logan 223) and to obtain true happiness by ridding themselves of excessive, meaningless fun.
Unlike the other characters in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night", Viola's feelings of love are genuine. She is not mistaken about Orsino's true nature and loves him for who he really is, while the other characters in the play seem to be in love with an illusion. Viola's love for Orsino does not alter during the play, nor is it transferred to another person.
When Viola talks about her “sister” who fell in love with a man but “let concealment, like a worm I’ th’ bud, feed on her damask cheek” (PG 75). In this quote, I believe Olivia describes how she has fallen for Orsino akin to the way Orsino has fallen for Olivia. However she knows that she must mask this feeling of love because Orsino has fallen for Olivia, thus a relationship between Viola and Orsino wouldn’t work out due to their love not being mutual. She tries to communicate this notion to Orsino by saying “Hath for your love as great a pang of heart as you have for Olivia. You cannot love her; You tell her so. Must she not be answered?” (PG 73). By putting Orsino in the power position in this scenario, Viola resonate with Orsino by showing him that love is a two way street, while giving the audience a glimpse into how Viola approches love. She believes that true love is only possible when both people share the same feeling of love. Due to this belief, Viola waits for Orsino to profess his love to her before she insists on marrying him because she needs to know that Orsino “Hath for your love as great a pang of heart” for her, as she has for Orsino. This approach on love works out for Viola at the end of the play as Orsino declares his desire to marry her. This makes
Excerpt #9 Sebastian is consoling Olivia after she realizes that the “Cesario” that she fell in love with is, in fact, Viola disguised in the final scene of the play in Act Five. When Sebastian says, “But nature to her bias drew in that”, he is telling Olivia that since she fell in love with Olivia, he could find his presumed dead sister. He’s also being grateful for nature itself for having both Olivia realize that she was about to marry someone of the same sex and Sebastian find his sister. The last few lines are Sebastian explaining to Olivia that if she would’ve married the person she loved, she would have ended up marrying a maiden. After that, he says, “Nor are you therein, by my life, deceived.
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
In the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare employs a plot filled with contradictions to portray love as an insurmountable force, and with the use of symbols insinuating deception, along with dolefully forthright metaphors and similes, Shakespeare further demonstrates that deception and suffering are the true fueling entities of this puissant force known as love. The extreme actions of Olivia and Sebastian exemplify the power of love and depict how this force can blind an individual to the point where their actions display high levels...
There is a certain degree of expectation with the genre of comedy that despite whatever difficulties appear within the play, by the end these will be resolved and the play will have a traditional happy-ending with a marriage or a celebration in the final scene. The “Twelfth Night” is no exception to this rule. Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they “have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as it should be, is marriage.”(Schwartz 5140). There is a resolution of harmony to a certain extent and an endorsement of romantic love yet despite the happiness evident in the last scene, there are many elements in the play that causes the audience to wonder whether the happiness is forced or genuine. The words of a departing Malvolio, “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack you.”(Twelfth Night 5.1.365) leads to a conflict being unresolved. The marriage of Olivia and Sebastian also leads the audience to question whether Shakespeare has pushed the limitations of comedy to far, as Olivia marries Sebastian who she believes to Cesario and whose identity is only revealed after. The appearance of Antonio in the last scene also casts a sombre ambience over events; he is not united with the one he loves though he was willing to sacrifice his life for what he believed to Sebastian’s safety. The last discourse of the play from Festes once again returns to the melancholic mood that was apparent in the opening and it is this mood that remains with the audience.