Views on Love in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Views on Love in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night was written in the …… century, by the renowned author,

William Shakespeare as one of his comedic plays. It is now one of his

most famous works and has been made into several films. The story

explores the ups and downs of love and relationships, covering

everything from intimate ones, to sexual ones, to friendly ones.

In Act 1, Scene 1, the Duke Orsino, who is infatuated with Lady

Olivia, and will later become involved in a love triangle with her and

Viola (Cesario) is in a his palace mourning his love for Olivia.

Shakespeare makes sure to use plenty of metaphors and similes and

word-play with complicated sentences and words, to show us that Orsino

is of a higher class and is able to use proper English fluently. The

very first words out of Orsino's mouth are, "If music be the food of

love", which is a metaphor, describing love, namely his love for

Olivia, as a living thing which needs to be fed in order to survive,

which all know isn’t true. It also makes us immediately doubt that

this is real love because real love doesn't have to be like encourage

or helped to grow or be there of whatever, it just is, unconditional,

with no real explanation. And he shouldn’t need music or anything else

to 'feed' his love, and wouldn’t if it was real. "O, it came o'er my

ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets" is

another one of Orsino's similes, and compares the music to wind

blowing over flowers. It again shows that he can use similes, as a

form of higher class language clearly demonstrating his class, just as

the iambic pentameter in his speech does. Orsino t...

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...g to be getting her love anytime soon, he's substituted it

with music and has said that he wants "excess of it, surfeiting, The

appetite may sicken,". I think he's got everything money can buy and

he now just wants true love and he isn’t receiving it and he himself

doesn't really feel it, its just a shallow emotion, which he convinces

himself is love. It's like chocolate. With really rich chocolate with

a lot of taste, you only have to have like one piece or bar or

whatever, and that’s true love. Other chocolate that tastes really

good, but doesn't have so much taste that one bite is enough, you have

to keep having and having and that’s Orsiino;s infatuation with

oLoivia. Orsiono then talks directly to "the sprit love" he has to

feel misery to feel anything prove sits not love. He wasnts so much of

it fed so it dies.