Love and Marriage in the Twelfth Night by Shakespeare

”(Shakespeare, p. This is an example of the themes of love and marriage that is portrayed throughout the play; it is full of love seeking and ‘heart’ hunting. The focus of the characters in the Twelfth Night is love and relationships, and these aspects rule in Illyria. Briefly, there are several love types found in the Twelfth Night, namely: brotherly love, romantic love/marriage, self-love and friendly love. Besides the classes, love is exploited by William Shakespeare’s play in all its aspects; from painful love to mad as a foolish and mad element, to instances where love is entirely pure. Viola’s disguise makes it possible for Orsino to relate to her. Similar to Orsino’s character is Olivia who is at the beginning portrayed as a person in love with misery and grief.

She locks herself out of the world and consequently suffers sorrow (Shakespeare, p. As fickle as Orsino, Olivia’ perspective of love is also transformed when she interacts with Cesario. Instantly she becomes in love with Viola and Cesario, and this friendly love makes Olivia and Orsino pine away from each other. She is torn in between loving Olivia and showing her love for Orsino. This is pure true love as she is sincere to Orsino and her love for him is consistent throughout the play. Compared to others. He loves steady, and the same is reciprocated by her brother. Sebastian, her brother, seems to assume the male personality of her sister. Maria and Sir Toby are comedians who have friendly love, where they are partners in crime.