General Characterization in Twelfth Night Twelfth Night- William Shakespeare

Essay by pabhayHigh School, 11th gradeA-, April 2009

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Duke Orsino:-According to me, the Duke is a very unique and different character. The duke is in love and the lovely music of a languid and melancholy nature match the mood and personality of Duke Orsino. The Duke is not in love with any one particular person (of course, he loves Lady Olivia); but most of all, the Duke is in love with love itself. The Duke's character is set in his first speech. As soon as he starts listening to the sentimental music, he grows tired of it and dismisses the musicians. The Duke then evokes the metaphor of the sea, which he says he loves. The sea is vast, as is the capacity of the Duke's love, but the sea is also unstable and keeps changing its appearance just like the Duke. At the end of the play, the Duke shifts his love from Olivia to Viola within a moment, but, we should not be surprised by this.

Feste describes Orsino's love as an opal, a gem which constantly changes its color according to the nature of light.

Olivia:-Olivia makes her appearance at the end of Act I. She is beautiful and poised. She has decided to mourn for her brother's death for seven years. Her desire to remain "cloistered like a nun" for seven years shows that she is a person of extreme sentimental values. She possesses a commanding presence as she immediately reprimands Feste, for his lack of seriousness at a time when she was mourning her brother's death. But, she also appreciates the clown for his humor especially when it is directed at the stiff and dull Malvolio. She is also intelligent; she is proficient in her verbal skills and she also disapproves her uncle's drunkenness and belching. While she acknowledges that the...