Twelfth Night By William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night Essay How would it feel to be in the center of a four-person love triangle? That is how Olivia, a character in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night felt. In Twelfth Night four men have fallen in love with Olivia, a wealthy, beautiful, countess in Illyria. Malvolio, Olivia's steward, Sir Andrew, a friend of Olivia's uncle, Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, and Sebastian, brother to a character named Viola, are all competing for Olivia's love throughout the play. Too add more confusion, Viola dresses up as a man throughout the whole play. When her twin brother arrives in Illyria, Viola and Sebastian look almost identical and they confuse the other characters. While four men are in love with Olivia, Olivia is head over heals in love with Cesario, who the audience knows as Viola. Throughout the play, each of the
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare develops a conflict between love and Olivia in order to show that desire for Olivia will end up causing many conflicts throughout the play. The conflicts cause misunderstanding which in result, cause confusion. In addition to the other three men, Duke Orsino was the first to fall in love with Olivia. In the beginning of the play, The Duke hires a servant to persuade Olivia to love the Duke. The servant Viola dresses up as a man and the Duke has no idea who she really is. The Duke is madly in love with Olivia and will do anything in his power to get her love. The Duke wants to love Olivia so much that he gets sicks of it when he says, "If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting so die" (I.i.1-3). The Duke is so in love with Olivia, that he would sacrifice his health just to so he can feel even more in love with Olivia. The conflict between Olivia