Love in Twelfth Night - Essay topic: There are many different lovers and many types of love in this play. Who suffers most for love in Twelfth Night?

Essay by Charmz April 2008

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Twelfth night, written by Shakespeare, is a romantic comedy, and of course, it is obvious that many types of love appear in the play. Different types of love are portrayed in the play with some gender confusion and some confused lovers as well, and even more complex with the "love triangle". But if "who suffers most for love" had to be pinpointed, it would be Viola. Other characters such as Malvolio, Olivia and Orsino have also suffered from love, but not as much as Viola.

The question of who suffers most for love, means to find out the character that has suffered most just trying to obtain the love that he or she deserves. And in this play, it is evident that almost all the characters in the play seem to have suffered a lot for the love they want, I must say that Viola/Cesario has suffered the most compared with everyone else.

And in the essay, there is evidence of how she is trapped within her appearance in Illyria, disguised as a male, when she wants to boldly declare her love for another. And when she is being loved by someone else, she does not have the freedom to explain her unrequited love of Olivia. With all these obstacles, it is obvious that Viola has suffered most in the play.

Olivia fortunately survives a shipwreck and arrives in the land of Illyria. However she has lost her brother in the accident, thinking that he was dead and they were never going to meet again. She says, "And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in Elysium." (Act 1 scene 2, line 3 - 4) This shows she has already suffered from his brother's absence, wondering how to live without her brother. She mourns his death,