Explore the ways that Shakespeare shows different types of love in Twelfth Night.(TM)

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Explore the ways that Shakespeare shows different types of love in ‘Twelfth Night.’

In the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare covers four main types of love. Love is defined as a strong affection or liking for someone. The four types of love Shakespeare shows in this play are lust, true love, friendship love and familial love. Love is one of the most confusing emotions that humans possess. It is a diverse emotion and that is why it is used as a main theme in this play.

Lust, which is one of the most confusing types of love, is very commonly used in the play Twelfth Night. The meaning of lust is that one person is attracted to another person for their looks or money or any other aspect of that person. Shakespeare shows lust in the play between the characters Orsino and Olivia. Even though Orsino had not yet properly met Olivia, he still believed that he was madly in love with her. Lust is defined as an intense but temporary wanting of a person’s attention or love. Orsino only lusts after Olivia for a temporary period of time; he tries to capture the heart of Olivia throughout the play and lusts for her because he is attracted by her grieving for her family.

      ‘O then unfold the passion of my love,

       Surprise her with discourse of my dear faith.’ (I.iv.l.24)

He wants Viola to go and capture Olivia’s heart for him and tell her everything that he feels for her. He feels as though he loves Olivia more then ‘that love a woman can bear’. (II.iv.l.103). As the play moves forward Orsino actually meets Olivia. As she enters he refers to her as ‘heaven’ walking ‘on earth’. (V.i.l.93) This is the first time Orsino meets Olivia properly and already he is referring to her as a kind of goddess.  He soon begins to fall out of love with her as he hears that Olivia is married to Cesario. He decides that ‘henceforth’ they should ‘never meet’ again. (V.i.l.165) As his feelings for Olivia fade he begins to fall in love with Viola.

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Shakespeare also shows the idea of lust between Malvolio and Olivia. Malvolio does love Olivia, though he loves her because he wants ‘to be Count Malvolio’ (II.v.l.32). He wants to be of a higher ranking in society, a selfish desire of his. Malvolio dreams of having power over others and believes that Olivia is his way of gaining that authority over people. When Malvolio is tricked into believing that Olivia loves him, he truly believes it. He then does his best to try and impress her.

‘Remember who commended thy yellow stockings and wished to see thee ever ...

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