Love And Disguise In The Twelfth Night Essay

The art of adore suggests that this complex sensation whoremasternot be easily defined it must instead be conceptualized within the confines of language and images. unmatched writer that mastered this presentation of experience is William Shakespeare. Through his sonnets and plays, he immortalized the concept of love for readers of all generations. His funniness Twelfth Night in particular presents love as an elusive object which throws out many another(prenominal) tricks along its path. Through the artful use of language and disguise, this play presents love as a fishy yet sentimental quest. The first words in this play are spoken by a man in love If music be the food of love, play on/Give me repletion of it, that surfeiting, /The appetite may sicken and so die (I,i,1-3). Duke Orsino is lovesick for Lady Olivia, who, unfortunately, has gone to great lengths to subdue his pursuit. He uses a metaphor comparing himself to a hart hunted by loves cruel hounds (I, i, 22). This u se of negatively connoted language reveals to the reader how much pain and suffering the Duke feels due to this unreciprocated love. The plot becomes ironic when the shipwrecked genus Viola chooses to disguise herself as a eunuch, a serving boy, in the polarity of Orsino in order to quietly pass the time until she can find out if her twin chum has survived the same disaster at sea. In doing so, she finds that she has fallen in love with him but cannot express it because she is masquerading as a man. Her job is to woo Olivia, who is continuing to disguise herself in her mourning garb to thwart Orsino, which creates a further complication in that Olivia herself falls for the man that she thinks Viola is Cesario. Thus, a triangle forms Viola loves Orsino who loves Olivia who loves Viola (as Cesario). Clearly the point that love is confusing is well-taken. Yet, this play has more to say about the complexities of love. Olivia marvels at the vigorous onset of her feelings How now/Even so quickly may one catch the plague? (I, v, 206-207). Again, love is presented here as an illness to be avoided. TO make matters worse, Malvolio, Olivias grumpy servant, carries a secret love for his mistress. When Olivias uncle and his friend, who also loves Olivia, find out, they set him up for embarrassment. The love letter he finds compels him to make romanticist gestures toward Olivia, who has him banished for madness. The further irony is that the choices of love interests in this play defy reason. Orsino emphatically asserts that nothing and nobody can bide the beating of so strong a passion/ as love doth give my nucleus (II, iv, 72-73) for a adult female that has constantly spurned him. Olivia, on the other hand, has fallen in love with a mantled woman I love thee so, that maugre all thy pride,/Nor wit nor reason can my passion blur/ (III, i, 121-122). Viola, disguised as a man, loves a man, and Malvolio has made the unfortunate mistake of loving a woman out of his class . Of course Andrew has been convinced to love Olivia as well, out of toby jugs malevolent and outrageous needs. The role that disguises play in the love situations above cannot be ignored. With the possible exception of the Duke, nobody is who they reckon to be on the outside. Typically, Olivia would not fall for another female, but the traits in the person she perceives to be a male jive with her own desire for independence and autonomy. Likewise, Viola knows that she cannot formally announce her love for the Duke because she is disguised as a male. However, he is drawn to her because he must somehow sense her femininity. Olivia is pretending to whitewash be in mourning for her brothers death by hiding herself under a veil, though the period for mourning has long since passed. Further, when Sebastian, Violas twin brother enters the picture, Olivia naturally gravitates to him, resulting in hilarious results. Oddly, he accepts her proposal of marriage only minutes after coming in border with her.This just goes to show that the characters in this play are not serious about love era they are disguised. It is characterized as a painful, cancerous emotion, yet they still seek it. When the characters finally are competent to express their emotions as their true selves, the love seems more substantial. The marriage of Sebastian and Olivia is false until she realize that she hasnt unify Cesario, but really Sebastian. Likewise, the moment that the Duke discovers that Cesario is really the woman Viola, he offers his hand to her. What appears to be a ingenious ending is itself disguised. The reader must wonder what has compelled these individuals to profess their undying love then change their minds so quickly. If love is as painful as they might suggest, why pursue it in the first come? The idea of the happy ending is shadowed in the forced marriage by bet of Toby and Maria, and the angry outburst of the wronged Malvolio. The marriages of the play are reduced to a farce, which the clown can only bone marrow up with a song.ReferenceShakespeare, William. Twelfth Night. Mineola, NY Dover, 1996.