Examples Of Orsino In Twelfth Night

The Hidden Passion of Orsino
In the play Twelfth Night, the character Orsino is a man of deep passion who attempts, but is mostly unsuccessful, at hiding his passion. This is seen in many of his speeches, including his first speech of the play (1.1.1-15), his interaction with his court in the second act (2.4.1-6), and his impassioned speech when he thinks Cesario has married Olivia (5.1.110-124). In these speeches, his thinly veiled passion is seen in several formal elements of his speech, including inconsistent use of metered verse, highly varied sentence length, and extensive use of imagery.
The first indicator of Orsino’s passion and attempt to hide that passion is his use of metered verse. Orsino, being a nobleman, seems compelled to use
One example of this is his use of similes. This is seen in several places, such as when he says “…like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets,…” (1.1.5-6) or “…Like to th’Egyptian thief at point of death…” (5.1.111-112). Both of these similes produce a vivid mental image, taking something mundane and comparing it to something which engages other senses. For example, the first passage, which likens music to a wind, evokes the sight and smell of a bed of violets, recreating the sensations that the music evoked in Orsino. Another element that evokes imagery in Orsino’s speeches is his word choice, specifically his extensive use of adjectives and adverbs. Almost all of Orsino’s speeches include some sort of adjectives or adverbs which makes a more dynamic mental picture than if the word had been left unmodified. For example, in his act five speech, he says “....savage jealousy…” instead of just “jealousy” (5.1.112), and later says “…marble-breasted tyrant…” instead of just “tyrant” (5.1.117). In addition, instead of the word “song” in his discussion with his court about a particular song, he says, “…That old and antique song…” (2.4.3). He similarly enhances his speech with adverbs, such as in act five, when he says “…savors nobly.” (5.1.113) and “…tender dearly…” (5.1.119). There are many examples of extensive use of adjectives and adverbs in his speeches. Orsino uses various elements of speech, but especially word choice and similes, which contribute to the vivid imagery in his speeches. His extensive use of imagery helps to illustrate the pervasiveness of his passion, since he seems unable to verbalize almost any thought without using some sort of imagery. While other elements of his speech seem to indicate at least an attempt at control, Orsino’s extensive imagery suggests