Williamson 3
Maureen Williamson
Mr. Derrick
English 205
November 3, 2014
Love in the Twelfth Night
The Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare is a romantic comedy that teaches its readers about love in different forms with different intentions. Although the end is a happy one with many lovers being brought together by marriage, Shakespeare also includes many plot twists and situations that show that love can be portrayed in many diverse forms. Every major character in the Twelfth Night experiences some form of love. For example, The Duke is in love with Olivia, Viola falls in love with the Duke, all the while Olivia is falling in love with Cesario (Viola). The many love triangles come together in the end all while teaching the readers about the different kinds of love.
The most obvious form of love depicted in the Twelfth Night, is sincere love, portrayed by Viola.
Viola is willing to do anything for the Duke, even including disguising herself as a man with the intention to win another girls love for the Duke. This shows her sincerity. However, she acknowledges the fact that "whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife." (1197, 42). This separately shows Violas love for The Duke since she is willing "to do you rest, a thousand deaths would die" (1244, 130) . But through the use of a plot twist, this wooing is repaid with love for Viola rather than the Duke. Though Viola tolerated many hardships, she eventually won the Duke, showing that sincere love is worthwhile.
Another form of love portrayed by Shakespeare is self, narcissistic love greatly depicted by Malvolio. Malvolio has a large ego and thinks of himself highly, highly enough to think that he could be with Olivia. He shows that he wants "to be...