Although the actual plot for “Twelfth Night” is not the most original of Shakespeare’s ideas, the classic poetry and memorable characters makes it one of his most successful pieces to date. The exploration of love and romance are at the heart of this play. Almost every type of love is expressed, Sibling relationships, Genuine love, Self-love leading to complete blind love. Love is also closely associated with madness and the characters seem to go to ultimate extremes to obtain the love they desire. At the core of the play, is the love triangle between Olivia, Viola and Orsino adding suspense, comedy and drama.

The first character introduced into the play is Duke Orsino. Many productions of the play will have melancholy music being played to add a dismal, dreary opening effect to the scene as Orsino’s mind drifts on the thoughts of love. H

Orsino describes his love for Olivia as infinite although we see that Orsino has a changeable personality. This is reinforced by Feste when he talks about his “changeable taffeta.” The colour change of the taffeta material being compared to Orsino’s shifting personality. We also see this change in his mood at the start of the play when he abruptly interrupts the musician and says

It seems as though Orsino, rather than actually being in love with Olivia is in love with the thought of loving.

Some topics in this essay:
Me’ Orsino, , Olivia Orsino’s, Cesario Orsino, Duke Orsino, Shakespearean Viola, Orsino Olivia, Viola Orsino, love olivia, pursue me’, genuine love, “twelfth night”, orsino talks, promise olivia, exaggerative language,