As well as this there are many subplots throughout the play, some of which are not romantic or comic at all. A good example of this is Malvolio, who is locked up in a mad house unfairly by other characters in the play. In the play, love means something different to each character;
For Orsino his love is a hopeless passion for Olivia and is a perfect example of Romantic, or Courtly, Love. Obstacles are the essence of romantic love. The beloved must be unobtainable. Olivia actually helps Orsino by refusing his offer. “If music be the food of love, play on.”
Romantic love is also sudden and inexplicable, for example when Olivia falls in love with Cesario. There is no reason for it- it is just a sudden, blind passion.
Though Viola's love for Orsino has a romantic obstacle, (her disguise as a boy), her feeling is genuine. In his romantic haze, Orsino worries only about himself and his own feelings. Viola's mature love unselfishly puts Orsino's feelings before her own. If Olivia is what he wants, Viola will try to win her for him.
“…She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud,
Feed on her damask cheek. She pined in thought
And with a green and yellow melancholy
She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?
We men may say more, swear more, but indeed,
Our shows are more than will; for still we prove
Much in our vows, but little in our love.”
-Viola
Sebastian, Viola’s brother whom she thinks is dead, and Antonio, a friend of Sir Toby, share a deep feeling for each other, which they call love. This love is not sexual. Today we would probably call this feeling friendship. It is a feeling of trust and a concern for the other person's well being born out of the difficult experiences they have shared. Sebastian also knows that Antonio risked death for his sake.
Lastly, there is the “self-love” that most of the characters in the play have, some in greater amounts than others. The play suggests that vanity frequently causes people to make fools of themselves. Malvolio, for example, loves nobody but himself. He wants to marry Olivia only to raise his social status. This “self-love” can also be dangerous, and presents the most obvious ‘dark side’ of the love in this play.
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” -Malvolio
Throughout the play Shakespeare uses a constant flow of dramatic irony to keep our readers guessing as to the outcomes of the various relationships and love triangles. One of these is the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia, and Viola-Cesario. (Cesario being her male disguise.) These relationships spark off different reactions from different characters, mostly jealousy, anger and hatred, which are very much a dark side of love.
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 happiness, 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 constantly. Various characters claim to suffer painfully from being in love, or, rather, from the sadness of unrequited love.
At one point, Orsino depicts love glumly as an "appetite" that he wants to satisfy and cannot; at another point, he calls his desires "fell and cruel hounds". Olivia, bluntly, describes love as a "plague" from which she suffers terribly.
These metaphors contain an element of violence, further painting the love-struck as victims of some random cruel joke. Even the less melodramatic Viola sighs unhappily, "My state is desperate for my master's love".
This desperation has the potential to result in violence—as in Act V, scene 1, when Orsino threatens to kill Cesario because he thinks that Cesario has forsaken him to become Olivia's lover. This is one of many examples of the dark side of love leading to serious violence.
In conclusion, Shakespeare explores the dark side of love by demonstrating the pain and anguish, which it causes, as well as through ambiguous relationships such as Sebastian and Antonio. The cross dressing is a powerful theatrical device to present women as men but retaining the personality of a woman in love.
