To what extent does Shakespeare use comedy to explore the perceptions of love in Twelfth Night?
by
geenyw (student)
To what extent does Shakespeare use comedy to explore the perceptions of love?
BY GEORGINA WADSLEY
Twelfth night is a comedy play by Shakespeare which explores the nature of love between men and women and specifically about a love triangle and Violas disguise as a man which the audience finds very comedic. There are many different perceptions of love portrayed in the play, some that have aspects of comedy and some that are arguably quite tragic. The subplot brings comedy to the play and Twelfth Night would now fit into the modern genre of romantic comedy.
The love triangle is the main story in the play between the characters Orsino, Olivia and Viola. This is the cause of Violas disguise as the male protagonist creating much confusion from the love between the three leading characters. This confusion has a comedy effect because of dramatic irony as the audience knows a lot more about the characters than they do know about each other. In 1.4 Viola speaks aside ‘Yet, a barful strife! Whoe’er I woo, my self would be his wife.’ Viola, when disguised as a man will know how she would want to be wooed herself, would know how to woo Olivia. As Viola points out, Olivia is likely to become infatuated with Cesario who is wooing her rather than Orsino. This is very funny to the audience as Viola speaks directly to the audience as it sets up the plot, so they know that Olivia is likely to fall for Cesario, which is very comedic. Orsino’s unexplained love for Cesario is also funny result of the love triangle. Orsino has a bond with Cesario which he cannot explain, but the audience knows it is because she is really a woman. This is using dramatic irony again which allows the audience to connect with the characters emotionally; therefore the audience can laugh at the play more freely. In 5.1 Orsino reveals his relief that he can marry Viola: ‘ Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times Thou never shouldst love woman like to me.’ which shows that he was frustrated with the fact he had feelings for a male. At the time the play was written, homosexuality would not have been accepted; therefore it would be amusing for an audience at this time to see Orsino suffer and worry about the fact that he would be having these thoughts about Cesario, when the audience know that she is a woman. Olivia’s love for Cesario is perceivably the most amusing in the love triangle. This is mostly because Olivia’s love drives her to behave foolishly. In 1.5 upon meeting Cesario, Olivia says ‘Even so quickly may one catch the plague?’ showing her immediate love for him. In the same way that Orsino’s love for viola is amusing, Olivia’s love for Cesario is funny because the audience knows that Cesario is actually Viola. This is sort of a reversed version of Orsino’s situation with Viola. Because the audience knows that Cesario is a woman it is amusing as Olivia is unknowingly in love with a woman which would have been unaccepted at this time, therefore would be funny for Olivia to love a woman but not know. Dramatic irony plays a major role in the humour of the love triangle. Because the audience knows a lot more about the characters than they do themselves this is extremely amusing for the audience to watch the characters struggle and be frustrated. Shakespeare shows that love can be very complicated in Twelfth Night particularly through the love triangle and the reveal at the end is perhaps a symbol of how love can work out for the better. This play would have contrasted from the plays Shakespeare had written and showed just before this was staged which were called the problem plays as they were tragedies. The happy ending contrasts and Shakespeare could be showing his audience that not everything has to end badly and love can actually have a happy ending. The fact that the story is very close to becoming a tragedy as many of the characters do suffer in the play due to unrequited love means that the happy ending is more welcomed by the audience, making this a successfully comical play.
