Themes Of Love In Twelfth Night

Comedy, in the Elizabethan era, often includes themes of wit, mistaken identities, love, and tragedy, all tied up with a happy ending. These themes are prevalent in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, a comical story that explores the pangs of unrequited love and the confusion of gender. Love is a powerful emotion, and throughout the play love causes suffering happiness, and disorder, which rings true to the definition the ancient Greeks gave to love, “the madness of the gods.” The play also demonstrates the blurred lines of gender identity which ties into the modern day debate of sexuality and gender identity questioning. Suffering for love and the fluidity of gender are the prevalent themes explored throughout the play and intertwined with

Viola causes gender confusion in the play by cross dressing as a man. First, Olivia falls in love with Cesario and is attracted to her feminine features. Orsino also notices Cesario’s androgynous features by commenting, “that say thou art a man: Diana’s lip/ is not more smooth and rubious” (I,iv). Orsino describes Cesario’s features in a provocative manner in this scene which demonstrates how he thinks of Cesario in a sensual way. These instances demonstrate that gender is a blurred concept and love does not depend on gender. Viola is able to deceive her peers that she is a male because gender is not a fixed state in society, it can be fluid. When all is revealed, Orsino says to Viola, “Give me thy hand; / And let me see thee in thy woman’s weeds” (V, i). Orsino jumps at the chance to propose to Viola. He quickly switches from being in love with Olivia only moments before, to now being in love with Viola. Orsino knows Cesario’s true identity, but still refers to Viola as “boy” and “Cesario” until the end of the play. Once Viola retrieves her woman’s clothes back, Orsino states that they will get married. Orsino also comments that while Viola is still in men’s clothing she will be seen as a man but “while in other habits you are seen, Orsino’s mistress, and his fancy’s queen.” This shows how clothing plays a significant role in the perception of one’s gender. Even though Viola is a woman, she is not recognized as so until she is dressed as one. Gender can be blurred through cross dressing. Olivia pursues Cesario as her object of attraction which shows how love is not based upon gender. Olivia falls in love with Cesario and cannot tell that he is actually a woman, showing that gender is not bound by set features, it can be misconstrued. Throughout the play, the characters demonstrates how gender can be blurred and that it is not set in