The ways in which Shakespeare portrays the themes of love in Twelfth Night

The ways in which Shakespeare portrays the themes of love in Twelfth Night Twelfth Night is a comedy set in 'Illyria,' a Mediterranean country. However, amongst the well-timed comical scenes, Shakespeare has other emotional predicaments intertwined with a variety of characters. Such predicaments are due to misleading identities and different love themes throughout the play; including love between grieving siblings, and the counts and countess' of Illyria. The main plot of the Twelfth Night revolves round the three main characters, Viola, Orsino and Olivia who speak in rhyming couplets. Each of the main characters form a 'love triangle' which expresses the main love themes in the play including Elizabethan courtly love, real selfless love and overwhelming love. The love between each character that form the love triangle is such that the love and affection is directed one way around the triangle; Viola loves Orsino who believes he loves Olivia who also impetuously believes she loves Viola. Outside the love triangle are the minor characters who speak in pros and show a further variety of different love themes but expressed in a light-heartened manner. These include self love and love based on a mutual agreement. All the characters in the play are all connected through different love themes. Orsino's love for Olivia is also known as 'Elizabethan courtly love' familiar to

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Twelfth Night or What You Will

Twelfth Night or What You Will With close reference to the text, explain and discuss the tripartite relationship between Orsino, Olivia and Viola The main theme in "Twelfth Night" is love, the most apparent and complex form of love is between Orsino, Olivia and Viola. Orsino is in love with Olivia, "O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, methought she purged the air of pestilence" Viola falls in love with Orsino, Viola says in a soliloquy "Yet, a barful strife! Whoe've I woo, myself would be his wife". Olivia falls in love with Viola disguised as Cesario, "Even so quickly may one catch the plague? Methinks I feel this youth's perfections. Thus, creating the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia and Viola. There are many different forms of love in "Twelfth Night": Perceived love, real love, self love, friendship and family love. This love triangle is the most complicated love in Twelfth Night, Viola says in act 2, scene 2 "O time, thou must untangle this, not I; it is too hard a knot for me to untie" The most obvious character to evoke perceived love is Orsino, he is in love with love, not a particular person i.e. Olivia. Duke Orsino thinks he loves Olivia, but it soon becomes obvious that he loves her mainly for her beauty, not her mobility or soul; however he gradually falls in love with Viola after her inner qualities appear while she is disguised as Cesario. Orsino's

  • Word count: 1025
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What Views Of Love Are Exploited By Shakespeare In Twelfth Night

What Views Of Love Are Exploited By Shakespeare In Twelfth Night Introduction Twelfth Night is a play about misrule where people's roles are turned upside down for a day. In this play there is confusion and misunderstanding and trickery. These are the ingredients for a good comedy. In this essay I will be discussing what views of love there are and how Shakespeare exploits these views. I will also be discussing the effects of these views and how they are portrayed in this play. In this play Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are separated in a storm, which washes them both up at different points on the shores of Illyria. Believing each other to be dead, both attempt to survive by using their wits. Viola cross-dresses and enters the service of the lovesick Orsino, in love with Olivia, an heiress in mourning for the loss of her brother. Orsino's saucy young page Cesario (Viola) soon falls in love with his master. Unfortunately, whilst Viola falls in love with Orsino, Olivia falls in love with her alter ego, Cesario, whilst also being pursued at the same time by her pompous servant Malvolio. Olivia's house is also turned upside down by the antics of her drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch, and the whole crazy situation reaches boiling point when Sebastian reappears. Orsino's Love Orsino is very romantic and poetic in his love. Orsino only dreams of love and never acts with

  • Word count: 1035
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Twelfth Night - Fools

Twelfth Night Clowns, jesters, and Buffoons are usually regarded as fools. Their differences could be of how they dress, act or portrayed in society. In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Feste's role in this Illyrian comedy is significant because "Illyria is a country permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools, where identities are confused, 'uncivil rule' applauded...and no harm is done". "In Illyria therefore the fool is not so much a critic of his environment as a ringleader, a merry-companion, a Lord of Misrule. Being equally welcome above and below stairs." makes Feste significant as a character. In Twelfth Night, Feste plays the role of a humble clown employed by Olivia's father playing the licensed fool of their household. We learn this in Olivia's statement stating that Feste is "an allowed fool" meaning he is licensed, privileged critic to speak the truth of the people around him. We also learn in a statement by Curio to the Duke that Olivia's father employed Feste. Feste is more of the comic truth of the comedy. Although he does not make any profound remarks, he seems to be the wisest person within all the characters in the comedy. Viola remarks this by saying "This fellow's wise enough to play the fool". Since Feste is a licensed fool, his main role in Twelfth Night is to speak the truth. This is where the humour lies, his truthfulness. In one example he proves

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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What part does deception of one kind or another play in Twelfth Night?

What part does deception of one kind or another play in one of the core texts? Deception is present in Twelfth Night on a number of levels. To examine the role of deception in Twelfth Night in relation to the plot, we must consider what may have occurred if in fact there was no deception in the piece. Deception sets the whole story in motion, and is pivotal in creating the irony and comedy that abounds in Twelfth Night. It is through deceit and deception that the topsy-turvy web of comedy and confusion that entangles the characters of Twelfth Night is spun. The deception exhibited in the play can be divided into two groups. Firstly, let us consider cases of self-deception. Orsino is a classic sufferer, and continually pines away for his darling Olivia. The self absorbed Orsino believes himself to be in love with the Countess Olivia; however, it would appear that Orsino is more in love with the notion of being in love than anything else. In his opening lines he talks of his love, but it is not until seventeen lines later that he first mentions Olivia. He does not talk to Olivia, and is content to mope around his house in self-involved sorrow while he sends courtiers to woo her on his behalf. Ironically, Olivia is in a similar situation. She uses the unfortunate excuse of her brother's demise to hide herself away from the world, and shows no interest in relating to the

  • Word count: 1836
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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In-depth Commentary on Act 1 Scene 1 In Act1 Scene1, Count Orsino of Illyria is introduced

English Coursework. Explain how Shakespeare gains and holds the attention of the audience in Act 1of the Twelfth Night. Introduction Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is a play about love and feelings. It is placed in a festive atmosphere in which 3 couples are brought together happily. The play starts with the Duke of Illyria - Orsino, expressing his deep love for the Countess Olivia. Meanwhile, the shipwrecked twin Viola fears her brother is dead and decides to disguise herself as a man and enters the Duke's service as a messenger. The Duke then employs Viola, who takes the name of Caesario. Her job is to woo Olivia for him. Ironically, Caesario falls in love with the Duke, and Olivia falls in love with Caesario, who is really Viola disguised. In the midst of this love triangle are the tense situations and confusions among the characters. As always, like in every romantic comedy everyone ends up happy in the end, well almost everyone! The first act sets the scene because it shows us what has been going on in past between the characters. It also shows us the characters feelings towards each other. The first act is the base of the play because it shows us all the problems that the characters have. It introduces new characters and the roles that all the characters have. The Twelfth Night is Shakespeare's only play that has a double title. I think he gave it a double title

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Twelfth Night Review

TWELFTH NIGHT REVIEW Trevor Nunn's Twelfth Night is a performance of a Shakespearean comedy about twin siblings, Viola (Imogen Stubbs) and Sebastian (Steven Mackintosh), which are aboard a ship that is wrecked off the coast of the country of Illyria. Although both escape the disaster, they are separated, and each believes the other to be dead. Viola decides to disguise herself as a man under the name of Cesario, in order to protect herself, and goes to work as a servant in Count Orsino's (Toby Stephens) court. Orsino is madly in love with a young countess, Olivia (Helena Bonham Carter), who constantly refuses his love. Orsino sends Viola to woo Olivia in his name but Olivia immediately falls for Viola/Cesario, while, at the same time, Viola realizes that she is in love with Orsino. There is also a sub-plot, where Olivia's drunken uncle, Sir Toby Belch (Mel Smith); her maid, Maria (Imelda Staunton); Sir Toby's stupid -but rich- friend, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Richard E. Grant); and Olivia's clown, Feste (Ben Kingsley), play a trick on Olivia's bad-tempered steward, Malvolio (Nigel Hawthorne). This performance of Twelfth Night follows quite closely the actual play, although it includes as its opening scene the scene of the shipwreck, which is talked about in the actual play but never presented. Even though Twelfth Night is a comedy, in this film

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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That that is, is: A Study of Homoeroticism in Twelfth Night

That that is, is: A Study of Homoeroticism in Twelfth Night Twelfth Night is a major site for homoerotic discourse in queer studies. However, the play is largely concerned with the idea of love, like many of Shakespeare's comedies. In order to investigate his subject further, Shakespeare periodically uses homoeroticism in order to represent various forms of relationships. The pairings of Olivia and Cesario/Viola, Antonio and Sebastian, and Orsino and Cesario/Viola, demonstrate that same-sex erotic attraction is a major theme in the play. Viola's secretive cross-dressing causes Olivia to believe that both of them are participating in normal, heterosexual interactions, while in reality they interact in a homoerotic fashion. These complex, homoerotic representations serve to dramatize the socially constructed basis for determination of sexuality according to one's gender identity. I intend to establish that in this play Shakespeare dramatically criticises the idealized norms of heterosexuality (required by his society) through focussing his narrative on representations of homoerotic pairings and deconstructing dominant gender categories. Viola's transvestism spurs various relationships that fall within the bounds of homoeroticism. Through the secret of her disguise, her actions illustrate the flaws of socially constructed gender identities, defined by the socially perceived

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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Compare and Contrast Viola and Sebastian from "Twelfth Night"

Gary Cooper Compare and Contrast Viola and Sebastian For most critics, Viola is one of Shakespeare's most beloved feminine creations from his comedies. Surrounded by characters who express the extremes of emotionalism and melancholy — that is, Viola is caught between Duke Orsino's extreme melancholy and Lady Olivia's aggressive emotionalism — yet she represents the norm of behavior in this strange world of Illyria. Due to her circumstances, she is, first of all, a very practical and resourceful person. As a shipwrecked twin who has no one to protect her, seeing as her brother is supposedly drowned, she must resort to some means where by her safety is assured. She knows that a single woman in a foreign land would be in extremely dangerous. Consequently, she finds the sea captain, finds him suitable, and places her trust in him; then she disguises herself as a boy so that she will be safe and have a man's freedom to move about without protection. Viola is immediately seen to be quick-witted enough to evaluate her situation, of sound enough judgment to recognize the captain's integrity, resourceful enough to conceive of the disguise, and practical enough to carry out this design. Viola also has natural intelligence, wit, and a vast amount of charm. These qualities will help her obtain her position with Duke Orsino, and they are also the same qualities which cause Lady

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  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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The play Twelfth Night portrays a very good example of loyalty and sacrifice.

A common theme in many of Shakespeare's plays is the idea of loyalty. Good or evil, right or wrong, the central character in the play always has at least one person whom no matter what the circumstances never leaves their side or never denies the person what they want even if it is different than what they want or believe. The play Twelfth Night portrays a very good example of loyalty and sacrifice. Viola, or Cesario as she is known through most of the play, has found herself in an interesting predicament. A rather interesting 'love triangle' is created in the play and she finds herself in the middle of it as both a man and a woman. The interesting part is that she puts her own feelings aside in order to fulfill the wishes of her Lord and her love. For anyone who has been in love they can understand how difficult it must have been to pursue another woman for the man that you love. Viola is quoted as saying "I'll do my best to woo your lady: [aside] yet a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife" (Twelfth Night I.iv.40), she is admitting that she loves him. This is not going to stop her from pursuing Olivia on Orsino's behalf. In creating her character Shakespeare has in effect created someone who will put her own interests aside in order to be loyal to the Duke. This is the ultimate sacrifice. Loyalty in this case is something that is stopping the character from

  • Word count: 658
  • Level: AS and A Level
  • Subject: English
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