Twelfth Night or What You Will

While Viola is disguised as Cesario, Viola and Orsino become good friends and Viola see Orsino’s true personality and passion and Viola begins to fall in love with Orsino. Love is made more complicated when Orsino sends Cesario to Olivia to proclaim his love to herm because Viola is passionate with love and her words and because Viola knows what woman want, Viola manages to woo over Olivia, however Olivia was wooed by Viola’s words, not Orsino’s words. Thus putting Viola in a vast predicament, Viola loves Orsino, however Orsino loves Olivia, whom loves Viola, if Viola was to reveal her true identity she may lose her head by Orsino for her deception or lose the chance of ever proclaiming her passionate love towards Orsino. Viola does proclaim her love for Orsino to the audience several times thought witty language and soliloquies, “Yet, a barful stife! Whoe’ve I woo, myself would be his wife”, “My father had a daughter loved a man, as it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should love your lordship”

The audience gets confirmation about Orsino being in love with love, rather than Olivia because when Viola reveals her identity Orsino falls in love with Viola and switches his love for Olivia to Viola and Orsino forgives Viola for her duty on him and announces that she shall be his master’s mistress, “Your master quits you; and for your service done him, so much against the mettle of your sex, so far beneath your soft and tender breeding, and since you call’d me master for so long, here is my hand. You shall from this time be your master’s mistress”.

When Orsino sends Cesario back to Olivia a second time, once there Olivia states that she loves him, “Cesario, by the roses of the spring, by maid-hood, honour, truth and everything, I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride, nor wit nor reason can my passion hide”. This confirms that Olivia is passionately in love with Cesario, despite all his pride, however Cesario replies “By innocence I swear, and by my youth, I have one heart, one bosom and one truth, and that no woman has; nor never none shall mistress be of it, save I alone. And so adieu, good madam”. Cesario comes close to revealing his true self, Viola to Olivia, in act 3, scene 1 Viola says to Olivia “That you do think you are not what you are”, “Then think you are; I am not what I am” Viola means you think you are in love with a man, but you are not. “I am not what I am” meaning I am a woman. Viola tells Olivia that she could never love her or any other woman because she only has one love, Orsino.

“Twelfth Night” consists of many love triangles, however many of the characters who are tangled up in the web of love are blind to see that their emotions and feelings toward each other characters are false. Shakespeare uses Orsino, Olivia and Viola to evoke to the audience that love is complex and love makes even the noblest of people do foolish things. At the end of the play only one person leaves with a grudge and negative attitude, Malvolio, in act 5, scene 1 Malvolio says “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you”. Sebastian married Olivia and Orsino marries Viola. The protagonist in “Twelfth Night” is the only character to evoke true, passionate love. William Shakespeare’s overall message is love makes people behave and act foolishly and there are many different types of love but love ultimately triumphs, despite all obstacles Orsino, Olivia and Viola face, people in love eventually unite through persistence. Thus, “Twelfth Night” is the true definition of love.