“The romantic Comedic ending of Twelfth Night leaves us with a disturbing vision of a preculiarly volatile passion if we believe that love is an emotion felt within, merely expressed, made apparent, in public word and action.” – David Schalkwyk Is Love and Emotion? Page 110
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is a comedic portrayal of the trials and hardship of love, it tracks the journey of realization and allows the audience to discover the differences between passion and true love. In this essay I will discuss the different forms of love portrayed within Twelfth Night, focusing predominantly on Orsino, Viola and Olivia. I will explore how the nature of sexual identity plays a central role in this journey to find love and lastly I will explore how …show more content…
Several of Shakespeare’s plays and Sonnets are entwined with notions of love and passion, Twelfth Night is no exception, first performed in 1602 (Twelfth Night 18) has produced multiple adaptations, both on stage and in film as well as some very famous quotes that are used through multiple media arenas today, these being “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” (Shakespeare 2.5.129-131) and “Love sought is good, but giv’n unsought is better” (Shakespeare 3.1.147). Through humor, we see Shakespeare plow through the uncertainty that is love and sex.
Sex is portrayed within Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night through sexual tension, ambiguity and identity, for the sake of this essay I will discuss how sexual identity specifically is portrayed in this play. Sexual identity is predominantly seen in in relation to Viola/Cesario, while we as an audience are aware the entire time that she is in fact a women disguised a man, her brother to be precise, the other characters in the play only find this out in the final act of the play. While Viola never truly discloses her reason for disguising herself as a man,
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is a comedic portrayal of the trials and hardship of love, it tracks the journey of realization and allows the audience to discover the differences between passion and true love. In this essay I will discuss the different forms of love portrayed within Twelfth Night, focusing predominantly on Orsino, Viola and Olivia. I will explore how the nature of sexual identity plays a central role in this journey to find love and lastly I will explore how …show more content…
Several of Shakespeare’s plays and Sonnets are entwined with notions of love and passion, Twelfth Night is no exception, first performed in 1602 (Twelfth Night 18) has produced multiple adaptations, both on stage and in film as well as some very famous quotes that are used through multiple media arenas today, these being “Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” (Shakespeare 2.5.129-131) and “Love sought is good, but giv’n unsought is better” (Shakespeare 3.1.147). Through humor, we see Shakespeare plow through the uncertainty that is love and sex.
Sex is portrayed within Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night through sexual tension, ambiguity and identity, for the sake of this essay I will discuss how sexual identity specifically is portrayed in this play. Sexual identity is predominantly seen in in relation to Viola/Cesario, while we as an audience are aware the entire time that she is in fact a women disguised a man, her brother to be precise, the other characters in the play only find this out in the final act of the play. While Viola never truly discloses her reason for disguising herself as a man,