Essay: Twelfth Night: Shakespeare’s Love Triangle Explores Love vs. Infatuation

The comedic play Twelfth Night, written by William Shakespeare, a woman
named Viola shipwrecks on an island and disguises herself as a man in order to work
for the Duke Orsino. Orsino hires Viola as a love messenger to Countess Olivia. Olivia,
clearly not interested in Orsino, falls in love with Viola who throughout the story is
disguised as Cesario. However, Viola falls in love with Orsino which creates an intense
love triangle. Toward the end of the story, Viola’s twin brother Sebastian who was
presumed to be dead is mistaken for Viola and marries Olivia. Meanwhile, Orsino
marries Viola after feeling left out, ending the play on a happy note. Throughout the text,
Viola shows that she is truly in love with Orsino by putting Orsino’s needs before her
own. In contrast to Viola, we see that Orsino continuously exaggerates love and only
values beauty. He does not do much to win Olivia over, which explains how the
resolution of the play ends with Viola marrying Orsino. Shakespeare explores the topic
of love versus infatuation through the characters Viola and Orsino. Viola’s character
suggests that true love doesn’t come easy, and Orsino’s character suggests that if you
are dedicated to your love, then you’ll be able to have your happily ever after.
Throughout the comedy, Viola’s love and dedication for Orsino develops from
innocent to extreme as she goes from a small crush on him to an extreme love. In the
beginning of the story, Viola is characterized as a hard-working messenger, someone
very respected by Orsino. Her love for the Duke becomes known when Orsino sends
her to try and persuade Olivia to fall in love with him. On the outside, Viola is very calm
and willing to go and complete her assignment, “I’ll do my best, To woo your lady [Aside]
Yet a barful strife!,Whoe’er I woo, myself would be his wife”(Twelfth Night, Act I, scene
IV, lines 44-46). Viola agrees to the task quickly to satisfy Orsino, and then to herself
rethinks her choices a little too late. She is troubled. She tells herself that making Olivia
fall in love with Orsino will be hard for her because she has already fallen for him. Her
devotion towards Orsino has caused a very onerous situation for herself; her task is to
convince Olivia that Orsino would be a perfect suitor and a possible husband, even
though Viola herself is developing feelings. This shows the first mild example of Viola
expressing her love for Orsino by putting his needs before her own. Viola knows that
Orsino would be more content with a wife like Olivia because he talks about loving her
so often. Even though it would break her heart, Viola would do anything to let him be
happy even if it meant that Orsino would be married to someone else.
The story transitions to where Viola’s love becomes more extreme. In the final act
all of the characters are brought into Olivia’s castle from different situations. Where each
character discusses what has been going on in an attempt to clear up the confusion of
the love triangle and Viola’s mistaken identity. Before they are able to clear up the
situation, Olivia enters her castle, newly married to Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. Olivia
tells Viola, who is disguised as Cesario, that she doesn’t “keep promise”. Viola becomes
confused about what she’s talking about because she had no idea that her brother was
alive. Orsino realizes that this entire time Olivia has been in love with Cesario and had
no interest in him, which was obvious to the audience but not to him. The duke gets
very angry at Cesario and becomes violent when he threatens to kill her. To this Viola
responds with “And I, most jocund, apt, and willingly, To do you rest, a thousand deaths
would die”(Twelfth Night, Act V, scene I, lines 134-137). This shows the example of the
extreme dedication and love that Viola has for Orsino. Despite Orsino becoming violent
and extreme when he threatens to kill Viola, Viola shows that she is so in love with him
that she is blinded by his actions. Viola voluntarily agrees to being killed; she says that
she’s most “jocund” or cheerful. She would be happy to die for him if it meant that he
would be calm and satisfied. From the beginning to end of the story Viola remains loyal
and true to her love. Even if her love is extreme and the situations become tough on
her, Viola did not give up on her wish to make Orsino happy.
In contrast to Viola, Orsino claims to be head over heels in love with Olivia.
However, he does not show the dedication that one would show if they were truly in
love. From the first the given information is that Orsino has kept his eye out for Olivia for
a long time. He uses the excuse of Olivia’s brother’s death as the reason as to why
Olivia hasn’t fallen for him. However, this is because he did not put in the effort to try
and win Olivia’s love by sending someone else. Before Orsino sent off Viola to go and
talk to Olivia he tells her “I have unclasped To thee the book even of my secret soul.
Therefore, good youth, address thy gait unto her; Be not denied access, stand at her
doors, And tell them there thy fixed foot shall grow Till thou have audience”(Twelfth
Night, Act I, scene IV, lines 14-19). Orsino here exaggerates his love when he says that
he has “unclasped To thee the book even of my secret soul”, meaning that he told Viola
about how he truly feels about Olivia. He sounds determined to have Olivia listen to his
message of love when he tells Viola to not stop until “thou have audience”. Even though
Orsino sounds determined to get his message sent to Olivia, we start to wonder how
determined he is. He sent someone else to deliver his messages for him, instead of
truly speaking from the heart and delivering them himself. Even so, it can be argued that
Orsino possibly did not want to show his feelings and ruin his reputation. However,
throughout the story Countess Olivia, though in secret, tried every possible way to talk
to Viola even though she knew it could possibly ruin her reputation as someone of the
higher class. Ultimately, Orsino sounds determined enough through his words and
expressions but does not take action to win Olivia’s heart.
By the end of the play Orsino had done little to show any form of effort toward his
relationship with Olivia. When Orsino found out that Olivia liked Viola he became very
angry because he had felt betrayed by Viola and because his fantasy would have been
over. When Sebastian cleared up the situation saying that he was mistaken for his
sister. When Orsino found out that Viola was really a woman he decided not to fight for
Olivia. He moved on pretty quickly onto Viola asking her to “Give me thy hand, And let
me see thee in thy woman’s weeds”(Twelfth Night, Act V, scene I, lines 285-286). He
asked Viola to put on feminine clothing in order to see whether she is pretty enough to
be his wife. Orsino was only chasing Olivia in the first place because of her royal title
and her beauty because of the way that he asked Viola to dress feminine before asking
her to be his wife. Due to this, he may have only wanted to marry Olivia for his own
benefit. He wanted to be able to show off to everyone that he was able to obtain the
“prize” that is a beautiful and powerful countess. This other example also shows his lack
of effort, his preference to beauty and his agreement to defeat. He seemed to be very
angry at first thinking that he had no other option but to be alone. Even so, he didn’t try
to fight for Olivia, and didn’t threaten Sebastian. Instead, when he was informed of
Viola’s gender he decided that she was beautiful enough to be his wife and so he
married Viola.
To conclude, Twelfth Night suggests that determination can help you win over
your love. Orsino could have won over Olivia, if he had been more determined and
showed more devotion towards her. Viola’s character shows that her determination
helped her win her true love because even when Orsino tried to kill her for a mistaken
betrayal she still put his needs before her own. Ultimately, the play suggests that in
order to win true love and have a happily ever after, it is best to show determination and
devotion to the loved one. If there is no determination then it’s simply desire and not real
love.