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 cross-gartered…Let it appear in thy smiling; thy smile becomes thy well.’ (II.v.l.144)
Here, Malvolio is willing to dress foolishly and smile continuously before Olivia, so that she will recognise him, though she never does. Olivia does not see Malvolio as anything more then her servant as she is more interested in Cesario.
True love is described as genuine and sincere. This is another main type of love which is shown throughout the play. Shakespeare shows the aspect of true love through the character Viola and her love for Orsino. Although she is disguised as a man, Cesario, she hopes to win ‘her masters’ (II.ii.l.36) love. Viola begins to show her feelings for Orsino in Act I Scene iv,
‘Yet , a barful strife!
Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife.’ (I.iv.l.41)
Later in the play this statement becomes true as Viola reveals herself a woman. Though she has revealed her feelings to the audience she is still hiding her feelings from Orsino. This love she feels can also be classified as hidden love. Viola begins to show her jealous side as she is asked, by Orsino, to deliver a message of his feelings to Olivia. Viola feels that taking this message to Olivia has many obstacles as she would like to be ‘his wife’ (I.iv.l.42), but she puts Orsino’s feelings before her own and therefore attempts to court Olivia for him. Viola hints at her feelings for Orsino throughout the play.
‘A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm I’ th’ bud,
Feed on her damask cheek. She pin’d in thought’ (II.iv.l.112)
This speech is very ironic as Orsino does not realise here that Viola is actually talking about her own feelings for him. Shakespeare uses the metaphor ‘like a worm I’th’ bud’ to show how Viola feels. It explains that concealing her feelings is destroying her like a bud that destroys a rose. Although it is destroying her she mentions that she is still ‘smiling at grief’ (II.iv.l.116) because she loves truly and deeply and is willing to sacrifice herself for love. Orsino carried on speaking of his love for Olivia making Viola want to tell Orsino that she herself is in love with him. In the final scene Viola reveals herself as a woman. Orsino tells Viola that from now on she shall be her ‘master’s mistress.’ (V.i.l.319) As she was disguised as a man, Viola and Orsino had a very good friendship, which meant the switch to husband and wife was made very easy.
The third type of love shown in the play is friendship love, which is the love shared between friends. It grows from a feeling of respect towards each other. This type of love is shown between many of the characters. One friendship shown is the friendship between Antonio and Sebastian. After saving him from a shipwreck, Antonio feels close to Sebastian so much that he wants to serve him and always be with him. Antonio says to Sebastian,
‘If you will not murder me for my love, let me be your servant.’ (II.ii.l.34)
This is Antonio’s way of saying to Sebastian that if he leaves him it will kill him, so he would like to honour Sebastian for saving him by becoming his slave. Antonio demonstrates a great care for Sebastian’s wellbeing.
Another friendship which is shown in this play is that between Orsino and Viola before they become husband and wife, whilst Viola is disguised as Cesario. As they barely new each other at first Orsino quickly began telling Cesario about his love for Olivia. He even had Cesario courting Olivia for him not long after they met. This shows that Orsino had a great deal of trust for Cesario from the beginning and they immediately had a close connection.
The friendship between Viola and the Sea Captain was not mentioned a lot, but they had a very deep bond between one another. They survived the shipwreck together and the Sea Captain promised to keep Viola's idea about pretending to be a man a secret. He told her that when his ‘tongue blabs’ (I.iii.l.63) then she can put out his eyes. If he had opened his mouth the entire play would have changed.
The final friendship, and definitely the strangest, is between Sir Toby and Sir Andrew. This is a strange friendship due to the differences in which the characters show. Sir Andrew is despicable whereas Sir Toby is more amusing and almost sympathetic. Their contrast in character is shown in the way that Sir Andrew is full of illusions about how he is better then people as he is a member of the nobility, and the way that Sir Toby is well aware of his worthlessness. They are close friends but sometimes Sir Toby doesn't show it. He sets Sir Andrew up, and likes to get him into trouble. An example is persuading Sir Andrew to challenge Cesario to a dual, even though he is not a great swordsman and is unaware of Cesario's ability. On the other hand, Sir Andrew appreciates Sir Toby's company because he always lifts his spirits and makes him feel like a true knight.
The final type of love shown in Twelfth Night is familial love. Familial love is not shown in the play as greatly as the other main types of love but is still a very significant type of love in the play. This is demonstrated by Viola over the death of her twin brother. She truly mourns the death of Sebastian, and takes on his appearance not only to help her survive in this foreign land, but also so that she may keep some aspect of her brother close to her. Viola’s love for Sebastian is shown mainly at the beginning of the play, in Act I Scene ii. Her first thoughts after the shipwreck are of her brother. She refuses to believe that he is ‘drown’d’ (I.ii.l.5).
Familial love is also shown through the character of Olivia as she mourns for her brother. She makes a declaration of her lost brothers' death by saying she will have no visitors, she turns people away claiming that it is for her ‘brother’s death’ (I.v.l.65) that she wants no visitors. She refuses to think about the idea of love and marriage as she loved her brother very much and all her emotion is going to her brother.
Love plays a major role in Twelfth Night, and Shakespeare addresses the ideas of lust, true love, friendship love and familial love in very clever and interesting way. In this play Shakespeare shows love as more then just love shared between two people romantically, but also shows it as the love between friends and family.