William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, is a rich comedy delving into the
innate human desire for love. Shakespeare uses these characters merely
as vessels for a larger insight into society as a whole. No person wants
what they can truly have, but rather, what they cannot. Shakespeare
conveys a cryptic portrayal of romance where his characters are
masochists and shows how love can blind and act so impulsively to
satisfy an innate need. By ending of the play with three weddings Shakes
pear sends the comments that love has no boundaries.
When the reader is first introduced to Duke Orinso, he is accounting the
first time he laid eyes upon the lady Olivia. Through the use of language,
the Duke speaks of a love that he wishes he could be full of and die away,
“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, I, 1-3). The Dukes case
seems to be self indulgent, and gains enjoyment from being
overdramatic. From the on set of the play, he gives off the impression that
he knows he will never obtain the love of Olivia, but he enjoys wallowing
in self pity, and encouraging others to be sympathetic to his situation as
well. In a separate speech, the Duke refers to his desires for Olivia as “my
