Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Comparing and contrasting characters in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

Good Essays
540 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing and contrasting characters in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night Essay

Duke Orsino and Olivia, both bound by strong emotions and acts of self-indulgence, have many traits, and emotions shared between each other. Orsino and Olivia are worth discussing together, because they have similar personalities, traits, and attributes. Both seem to be buffeted by strong emotions, but both ultimately seem to be self-indulgent individuals who enjoy melodrama and self-involvement more than anything. When we first meet them, Orsino is pining away for love of Olivia, while Olivia pines away for her dead brother. They show no interest in relating to the outside world, preferring to lock themselves up with their sorrows and complain around their homes.

Viola's arrival begins to break both characters out of their self-involved shells, but neither undergoes a constant change. Orsino reacts with Viola in a way that he never has acted to Olivia, thinning his self-involvement and making him more likable. Yet he persists in his belief that he is in love with Olivia until the final scene, in spite of the fact that he never once speaks to her during the course of the play. Olivia, meanwhile, sets aside her grief when Cesario (Viola) comes to see her. But Olivia takes up her own desires of loveing, in which she pines away, with a self-indulgence that mirrors Orsino's--for a man who is really a woman.

In immediate expression of Orsino's personality, Shakespeare begins the Twelfth Night with Orsino pining his love for Olivia. He does so by introducing Orsino saying;

If music be the food of love, play on

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting

The appetite may sicken, and so die.(Act I,1,1-3)

It is clearly implied that Orsino is a man of many emotions but us as the readers aren't so sure about his other traits. As the Play continues the readers begin to see a more clear picture of Orsino as a person. Even though he has more interest in Viola than with Olivia his conscience never accepts the fact that he isn't in love with Olivia.

Olivia also shares many of these traits because she too is a person bound by strong emotions. As Olivia is introduced to the readers Shakespeare gives the readers a strong idea of her personality. She is pining away for her brother and decides to mourn for an extremely long time. But just the next day she is in love with another man (Viola)! Does this tell the readers that she is not a strong willed person? Or that she just desperately desires to be loved.

As we look at Orsino and Olivia in this Play, their minds are only set on two things. Orsino is focused on his love with Olivia and later on with his love with Viola. Never do we see him not talking about loving someone. He probably cant use the bathroom without desiring the love of Olivia. Olivia on the other hand pines for her brother and then deeply desires Cesario! We never see her not talking about her brother or Ceasrio.The similarity between Orsino and Olivia does not diminish with the end of the play, since by marrying Viola and Sebastian, in reality, Orsino and Olivia are essentially marrying female and male versions of the same person.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    . Throughout the entire play, there are various scenes that include love being expressed from person to person. One of the main characters in Twelfth Night or What you Will, Duke Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, is in love. In Act 1, Scene 1, the first paragraph the Duke states “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.” Another example of love in Shakespeare’s play is how Sir Toby loves Maria. He doesn't love…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dr Boyce Craftman Analysis

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Dr. Boyce Watkins debates with Michael Eric Dyson on whether or not hip hop artists should be held accountable for their words. Both off these men already know, all of the artist should be held accountable, however if we can put the artist to task to stop making that kind of idiotic music, will we have the power to stop that machine that has rob us blind but still put out recording artists slaves that get plenty but they are selfish and it good and bad to an extent? Dr. Watkins points out, that the fact of us and others being bombarded with these negative images of the young Black Male in the mass media, appears to be taking a heavy toll in terms of the self-image of far too many young Black people and in the way these young people are perceived in the minds of the…

    • 1562 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Twelfth Night is a comedic play written by Shakespeare centered around two twins, Viola and Sebastian. Viola who disguises herself as a eunuch named Cesario falls in love with Duke Orsino, who is in love with the Countess Olivia. When Cesario meets with Olivia, Olivia begins to fall in love with him thinking that she is a boy. Meanwhile, Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house, is tricked by other characters into thinking that Olivia has fallen in love with him. The characters often declare their love for one another through monologues. Throughout the story, Shakespeare effectively uses dramatic speeches to demonstrate love as being uncertain through the characters; Viola, Orsino, and Malvolio.…

    • 245 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    For hundreds of years people from all over the world have seen the works of William Shakespeare performed by thousands of actors. Twelfth Night or What you Will is but one of the many comedies written by William Shakespeare that have been produced in many formats, from theater, television and even several feature films. So many different productions of the same works have opened the door to directors adding their own twist to the original script to make it their own. One play can be performed countless different ways, from very conservative or to unconventional depending on the director’s interpretation and intentions. So all writings are open for creative interpretation thus being for this paper I am going to focus on the directorial staging of this play and how the staging and direction brought the focus of the subplot of Antonio and Sebastian into a homoerotic relationship opposed to other renditions of Twelfth Night that were homosocial. Directors have creatively reconstructed these plays pulling from the era, the popular ideology of the community and political correctness at the times the different styles and interpretations so that Shakespeare can be adapted to the current times.…

    • 2073 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Shakespeare's uniquely constructed comedy, Twelfth Night, there are several paradoxes within the characters. Misinterpretations as well as false presentation of reality are both common occurrences within the characters. Nearly the entire cast of characters use or fall victim to some form of deceit. Both Andrew and Viola present themselves as people they are not, and Orsino and Malvolio are fooled themselves about who they are and where they want and can be. Also, on a historical note, both Olivia and Feste the clown step (by default or self-attainment) out of the socially imposed stereotypes of their biologically born person. The reasons for Shakespeare's contradictions of characters are unknown; however, it can be hypothesized, knowing the man and his style that he was poking fun at elements of the society, in which he resided, as well as the ridiculousness of higher class citizens and the ritual absurdity of the lives they lived.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The marriage of Orsino and Viola also resolved another issue within the play- Orsino's unrequited love for Olivia. We were first made clear of this love in Act 1 Scene 2 when the captain explained that 'he did seek the love of fair Olivia'. As well as this, in Act 2 Scene 4 we hear from Orsino himself that his love for Olivia is 'more noble than the world' portraying the idea that his love is true, and not just due to her status or wealth, however Olivia claims 'I think not of him' due to the fact that she is in love with Cesario. Despite this love that Orsino has for Olivia, he quickly directs that love to Viola in Act 5…

    • 1214 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play begins with a striking example of self-deception, initially amusing for the audience, in Orsino's declaration that he loves Olivia. Orsino's sense of superiority ('my love, more noble than the world' - II.4.80) leads him to the assumption that he has a ‘true place’ in Olivia's favour…

    • 1503 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orsino can be seen at the beginning of the play pining in a melancholic mood for his inamorata, the gorgeous and virtuous Countess Olivia. She spurned every single one of his advances without much thought or hesitation, and it is these rejections that lead Orsino to lament the fact that "there is no woman's sides can bide the beating of so strong a passion, and no woman's heart so big to hold so much as they lack retention". His grumpiness does not stop there as he continued to wax lyrical over the differing perceptions both genders have of love. He egoistically declared, "Make no compare between that love a woman can bear me, and that I owe Olivia". As was the case in the opening scene, Orsino's metaphorical relation of love to food is noteworthy. He deems his love as an appetite; he is "as hungry as the sea and can digest as much". Paradoxically, he had espoused the exact opposite view earlier in the play, stating that men…

    • 949 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Born on approximately April 23, 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, William Shakespeare is considered by many to have been the greatest writer the English language has ever known. His literary legacy included 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and five major poems. Among his many plays is the notable, Twelfth Night, a romantic comedy, placed in a festive atmosphere in which three couples are brought together happily. The play opens with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, expressing his deep love for the Countess Olivia. Meanwhile, the shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a man and endeavors to enter the Duke's service. Although she has rejected his suit, the Duke then employs Viola, who takes the name of Cesario, to woo Olivia for him. As the play continues, Cesario falls in love with the Duke, and Olivia falls in love with Cesario, who is really Viola disguised. Maria, Olivia's servant woman, desires to seek revenge on Malvolio, Olivia's steward. "To the delight of Sir Toby, Olivia's uncle, and his friend Sir Andrew, Maria comes up with a plot to drop love letters supposedly written by Olivia in Malvolio's path. When she does, they observe him, along with Fabian, another servant, as Malvolio falls for the bait. Believing that Olivia loves him, he makes a fool of himself" (Napierkowski 3). The plot deepens as Cesario proceeds to woo Olivia for the Duke. It is only the second time that Cesario appears at Olivia's home when Olivia openly declares her love for Cesario. Throughout this time, Sir Andrew has been nursing a hope to win Olivia's love. When he plans to give up hope of her love, Sir Toby suggests that Sir Andrew fight with Cesario to impress Olivia. Cesario, however, refuses to fight. At the same time, Viola's brother, Sebastian, who is also shipwrecked, makes his way to safe lodging in Illyria with Antonio the sea captain. After the fight between Cesario and Sir Andrew begins, Antonio intervenes to save Cesario, whom he takes for Sebastian. But the Duke's officers…

    • 2191 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Olivia’s deluded love for ‘Cesario’ is also an infatuation engendered at first sight rather than love based on understanding of character (she convicts herself when she readily substitutes Sebastian for ‘Cesario’). Her case illustrates the rashness that love often causes; she is ready to “bestow” on Cesario anything but her chastity (“...That honour saved upon asking give?”) and makes unabashed advances to a pageboy lower in status. The high-flown language and impetuosity of Orsino and Olivia convey a love that is exaggerated and unsound.…

    • 1770 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet are two normal people, from two different families that are enemies, who aren’t allowed to date each other. This big conflict between two families get into a street fight, and all of a sudden the two star crossed lovers fall deeply in love. These two characters have different personalities and relationships with friends and families, but by the end, they end up both relating each other.…

    • 1245 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Twelfth Night Essay

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Self-love is one's self indulgence disguised as love in order to fulfill or satisfy one's egotism. In Twelfth Night, self-love is represented by the characters of Olivia, Orsino and Malvolio. Olivia embodies self-love which is clearly depicted in the scene where she mourns for her dead brother and she locks herself in her own world, refusing to speak to any guests until Viola comes along to deliver Orsino's message of love. After delivering her message, Olivia approaches Viola by sending her a diamond ring (Act I Scene V). This indicates the Olivia was indulging herself in the thought of love for her brother since she completely forgets about him at the first appearance of Viola disguised as Cesario. Also, in this scene, two motifs are shown in delivering messages - Viola and the diamond ring. They…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Nothing that is so is so,” states the fool Feste while looking at Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, a double for Cesario (IV.i.9). This singular quotes embodies the idea that gender identity is fictional in Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare, and that homoerotic desires are natural to the human body and mentality. Throughout this play, many characters are introduced to having homoerotic desires: Orsino for Viola dressed as Cesario, Sebastian for Antonio, and Olivia for Viola dressed as Cesario. Most provocative is the homoerotic desire between Maria and Olivia. Olivia, the lady of her house, is the employer of lady-in-waiting Maria, who serves Olivia with her best intentions in mind. Olivia feels a dutiful comfort with Maria, proven through…

    • 554 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Shakespeare wrote his comedies, he didn't write them to be funny. He wrote them with a pattern. The comedies have many similarities, such as characterization, theme, plot, and language, hidden in them that one would not see without analyzing the plays. For example, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and Much Ado About Nothing all have much in common.…

    • 894 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orsino seems to be a man who is in love with the idea of being in love. The play begins with Orsino saying, “If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! it had a dying fall: O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound, That breathes upon a bank of violets, Stealing and giving odour!” (Act I, Scene I) Orsino is very fixated with love, willing to do whatever it takes to satisfy his own needs. He is so willing he even attempts to find love in a woman in which he knows doesn’t feel the same about him. Orsino fights to have Olivia love him back, in fact the more Olivia rejects him the more it seems Orsino tries t pursue her. Orsino doesn’t care that she has no love for him back, he just wants to find love, and that’s the selfishness within…

    • 868 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays