Twelfth Night

People tend to judge others based on many aspects. Sometimes they may try to force people to act upon certain rules that define their place in society. They often try to meet expectations that society has made for them based on gender and social status. William Shakespeare reinforces these ideas in his play Twelfth Night, which introduces many meaningful messages about situations that still occur in society today. He clearly develops important themes worthy of analysis. A few of these strong themes are about stereotypes and society’s expectations and rules, which he proves to be irrelevant most of the time. Many situations in the play falsify commonly held stereotypes about gender and social status by showing how they are sometimes invalid. He also shows how these stereotypes can affect the way people behave towards and judge others.

“If music be the food of love, play on” (1.1 1) In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare shows love in various different forms. Love is defined as “a strong affection or liking for someone,” and we can see love being portrayed in different ways throughout the play. Some of these forms of love include true love, self-love and a love for money. "Twelfth Night" has many love triangles. Many of the characters are caught up in the web of love and are blind to realize that their emotions toward other characters are sometimes untrue.

Most of the major characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night experience some form of love or marriage. Whether it’s unrequited like with Antonio and Malvolio, or it is something seemingly unattainable like with Duke Orsino. Regardless, it is clear that love is prevalent as one of the central themes Shakespeare seems to emphasize in Twelfth Night. With that, we see him communicate different interpretations and feelings regarding the subject. He does this with the medium of melodramatic characters. In this essay, I will elaborate on the opinions of love that Shakespeare communicates through one of the leading characters:

In William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night, love as the cause of suffering is one of the most prominent theme of the story. Even though this play ends in love and wedded bliss, Shakespeare also shows us that love can also cause pain. The characters often view love as a curse, something that is thrust upon you and you cannot easily or willing escape. Examples include Malvolio’s love for Olivia, the love triangle between Olivia, Duke Orsino, and Viola as Cesario, and Antonio’s crush on Sebastian. There are countless occasions where unrequited love for another results in heartbreak and sorrow.

love when actually they just loved the idea of it. One such a man is

through his vanity is easily fooled into thinking it is he who she loves although

Duke Orsino, being one of the most dynamic characters in Twelfth Night, has varying positions on the topic of love throughout the play. In the first act of the play, he views

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain. Many of the characters seem to view love as a kind of curse, a feeling that attacks its victims suddenly and disruptively. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the pangs of unrequited love. At one point, Orsino depicts love dolefully as an “appetite” that he wants to satisfy and cannot, at another point; he calls his desires “fell and cruel hounds”. Olivia more bluntly describes love as a

I believe that excessively relying on others is another lesson to be learned in Twelfth Night. Relying on others excessively is a lesson to be learned in Twelfth Night because Orsino never went to confront people that he loved. He said to Cesario “Thou know’st no less but all. I have unclasped / To thee the book even of my secret soul. / Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her; / Be not denied access, stand at her doors, / And tell them there thy fixed foot shall grow / Till thou have audience. (I.iv.13-18)”. Eventually when he asked Viola to woo Olivia for him she fell in love with Cesario instead. Leaving him without the love of his life for the time being. Moreover, relying on others excessively is a lesson to be learned because

At first glance, twins may seem identical, but many would argue that they behave differently with uniquely hardwired brains. In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, two main characters Viola-Cesario and Sebastian are lost in a shipwreck, but later reunite with each other and along their journey, confuse many other characters while mixing one another up. Viola-Cesario and Sebastian are twins who look very similar in appearance, but nevertheless they are actually two opposite characters with different attitudes and characteristics which shape their unique behavior. For instance, Sebastian and Viola-Cesario behave differently from each other since Sebastian is an aggressive person and Viola-Cesario is a peaceful person. However, considering

In response to the statement above, my answer is that Feste could sometimes be considered the actual fool whereas sometimes people think of him as the ‘paid fool’. Malvolio could be the hidden fool in Twelfth Night as he is the butt of most of the characters jokes and is there for the audience's entertainment in my eyes. So in response I agree to an extent with the statement ‘Malvolio is the real fool of Twelfth Night’. The word fool has many meanings.

In Shakespeare’s play, an illustration of love and obsession is revealed even though the ending is contradictory. The facet of infatuation is usually exhibited as precipitous and inevitable; love utilizes an outward attack method that is equivalent to an ailment. Individuals who are in love are acutely arduous to liberate or even alleviate. Many people struggle immensely with love; however, it is not easy to distinguish if someone is suffering or not. Twelfth Night’s Orsino depicts love as an “appetite” that needs to be appeased. Also, love is described as an epidemic by Olivia. The character of Viola groans “my state is desperate for my master’s love” (line 35). If one is hurt by love, then he/she becomes overcome with a feeling of desperation.

When analyzing a pair of twins, people will recognize that they seem very identical, but many would argue that their brains function differently and that they behave differently than each other as well. In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, two main characters Viola-Cesario and Sebastian are lost in a shipwreck, but later reunite with each other and along their journey they confuse many other characters as they mix one another up. Viola-Cesario and Sebastian are twins who look very similar in appearance, but nevertheless they are actually two opposite characters when it comes to their attitudes and characteristics as they think and behave differently from one another. For instance, Sebastian and Viola-Cesario behave differently from each other since Sebastian is an aggressive person and Viola-Cesario is a peaceful person. However, considering the fact that Viola-Cesario and Sebastian are twins, they still look very similar to each other because Viola-Cesario looks exactly like Sebastian when she disguises herself as Cesario. Furthermore, Sebastian and Viola-Cesario both find love in the play, but they fall in love differently because Sebastian is infatuated by Olivia and Viola truly falls in love with Orsino.

In Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, there are quite a few characters that don't seem as important and generally irrelevant to the overall message of the story. Although it may seem that way while glancing at what the characters say and their frequency in the play, they are all deeply relevant. One in particular is the fool. The fool is one of the most impactful characters of them all by influencing other characters.

In Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare love is misunderstood more than anything in the play. Shakespeare wrote in the play three different types of love in the play. In the Twelfth Night Shakespeare included Love, Lust, and Brotherly love. Shakespeare chose Love because it is one of the most diverse emotions there are. Love can be taken many different ways, and it can make you do crazy things. Shakespeare saw how a person could easily mix Love and Lust, so he used that to his advantage, and wrote on the topic to show his own point of view. Shakespeare says that love is hard to find and he shows it through Duke Orsino, Olivia, and Malvolio