Unrequited Love Twelfth Night

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Love can symbolize happiness, but it often brings sadness as well. Happy love has people proclaiming, “Tempests are kind, and salt waves fresh in love!” (III.iv.404). When people realize that “She loves another” (IV.ii.83), love’s pain shows. This four-letter word associates with mixed emotions that add suspense and allow the author to create an intricate plot with an array of feelings. In the 17th century romantic comedy, Twelfth Night, or What You Will, William Shakespeare plays with the many ways that love hurts people, mostly through unrequited love and the way people feel when the person of their interest does not return their affection, furthermore Shakespeare also puts across the idea that rejection leads to finding a lifelong partner, thereby it helps people grow into a more knowledgeable person and it creates a range of moods that shape …show more content…

For instance, Orsino expresses this right from the beginning of the play when he says, “If music be the food of love, play on” (I.i.1). When Shakespeare starts off like this, he conveys a predominant theme that establishes the plot. Love powers many people’s actions, even if those actions seem insane. When those people finally notice that the person they love will never love them back, it causes pain. That pain, though, only makes them stronger and when they overcome it, they move on to find real love. The experience of love throughout life transforms people and motivates them to find a suitor. Although Orsino does not immediately recognize that real love lies in his future, the wise Fool understands it early on as he foreshadows, “Journeys end in lovers meeting” (II.iii.44). Shakespeare uses the idea of happy endings to move the story along as a comedy. The comedic aspect shows his readers that as they go through situations in life, they must keep in mind that often times the conclusion turns out

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