“If music is the food of love, play on”, remarks Orsino which heralds the beginning of an extremely dramatic and philosophical scene. The Duke’s opening words showcase his longing, pining, and desiring for Olivia’s love. The fact that Orsino is immersed in the world of love with Olivia, even after her constant rejection showcases his eccentricity about Orsino’s love, which might be with the idea of love and not for the lady. Matters of love, desire, emotions, rejections also evolve from the scene, giving the audience a framework of the events that follow making the play extremely dramatic. Shakespeare makes the use of positive archaic diction and gory imagery, characterisation, interactions of character, the theme of love and exaggeration.
Shakespeare uses positive diction juxtaposed with gory imagery to portray the attributes of Orsino’s love for Olivia. Orsino can be seen wresting in love, “sweet sound”, calling music extremely melodious and divine. This shows how deep in love Orsino is where even music is very soothing, and every sound seems like silk against the skin. A Duke having a dukedom to take care of is not capable of spending his precious time, on expressing his love. This portrays irony between an actual Duke and the one portrayed here. This makes the exposition highly dramatic as the difference between reality and imagination can be perceived by the audience. The beauty of love overwhelms Orsino, because he calls it a “fancy” and “fantastical”, making him call to love as a fascination of art for beautiful images. The audience is brought to the knowledge that Orsino is actually in love with the idea and not the lady. The irony behind the truth and what is seen is conveyed by this dialogue. Since this only seldom happened in the Elizabethan era, the audience finds this attribute of the play extremely dramatic. Shakespeare uses zoomorphic imagery “turned into a hart” to convey the effect of love on Orsino, this portrays Orsino to be deeply in love with Olivia or the idea of love. This is extremely dramatic for the audience as love was perceived as something very gentle and sober whereas, a hart was a wild animal. This contrast between softness and wildness makes this dramatic as well, showing the wrong interpretation of love by Orsino. This makes the exposition exceptionally dramatic keeping the audience intrigued in the play.
