Twelfth night - Analyse the different types of love introduced by Shakespeare in act one.

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‘Analyse the different types of love introduced by Shakespeare in act one’

In the play ‘Twelfth Night,’ Shakespeare discovers and exemplifies the sentiment of love with precise detail. Throughout act 1, Shakespeare examines two different types of love: Self-love and selfish love.
     ‘Twelfth Night’ so far consists of various love triangles, though many of the characters that are tangled up in the web of love are sightless to see that their emotions and feelings toward other characters are untrue. Firstly, we can see that Orsino is in love with Olivia deeply as he pesters her and she recognizes that she wants nothing to do with him, but we see that Orsino cannot handle rejection as he continues on talking of the
‘sweet sound’ and the charming ‘odour’ he senses. We can identify the hyperbole used of his language showing that he is in love with the sensation of the theme of love, rather than with the particular woman.

This suggestion is reinforced by the fact that he does not mention Olivia by name until line twenty. Orsino’s first scene is significant in establishing his love for Olivia, and it appears as if it is a rather self indulgent emotion which has little to do with her as and individual and instead shows an image of her ‘purging the air of pestilence.’ Orsino already demonstrates his self-love as we cannot grasp whether he in love with Olivia for certain, Olivia seems to be his love at first sight, ‘That instant that I was turned into hart’. He uses conventional language, even clichéd, influenced by love sonnets. Furthermore, we can see that he brings out the imagery of flowers, scents out trying to illustrate how romantic he is, and how he is a victim of love, ‘love consumes you’. He seems to enjoy being the victim of this love. We can assume that Orsino shows self-centred love as he deems himself only, he loves Olivia from a distance, but cannot go to her directly to ‘Woo’ her, as a substitute he sends his messenger to comfort her, it is here we distinguish his true selfish love, ‘Therefore good youth, address thy gait unto her’. This is evident as this shows how selfish he is, as Orsino does not show any affection for Olivia, as he cannot comfort her and does not show that he is a sensitive man. Concluding this we can see how Orsino is showing selfish love as he is not considerate and caring and does not define being in love with Olivia. From this we cannot gather whether Orsino seems to be in love with Olivia, or whether he loves the idea. In addition to this, we can even suggest maybe Orsino is in love with himself.      

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Olivia also demonstrates selfish love in act 1 as the love for her dead brother is taken to excess. She goes through a long time of mourning, ‘Good fool, for my brothers death’. We can witness that she uses ‘mourning’ as a device to separate herself from other men, and she uses this as a barrier so that none can speak to her. This is her only way she finds she is isolated from Orsino and Sir Andrew Aguecheek. In a Shakespeare production Olivia wears, black as in those days this dull colour signified a tragedy, which occurred, and the ...

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