Taylor Mitchell
Prof. Borris
TA John Allaster
ENGL 215
1 November 2015
Love as a Compromise of the Reasoning Mind; Irrationality in Twelfth Night Shakespeare’s “Twelfth night,” rife with folly and madness, rests precariously on the character’s emotional tendencies. Logic proves fleeting when the opportunity of love emerges: the characters turn “unstaid and skittish in all motions else” (II.iv.17), abandoning reason and centralizing their actions around emotion. The irrational treatment of love advances the plot forward as the lover’s act capriciously, heightening the comedic action of the play and diminishing the plotline into chaos. The irrational qualities of emotion are displayed to reveal the potential for destruction, as “journey’s end
