Twelfth Night Essay

Twelfth Night Essay
By: Sarah Bricker

Love is usually seen as the cause of happiness, but love may also be the cause of suffering. In this play there are many different kinds of love. Love between friends, lovers, and family members. There are examples of suffering in Viola and her brother Sebastian relationship, Orsino and Viola/Cesario’s relationship and Maria and Sir Toby’s relationship. Viola and Sebastian show that love is a cause of suffering though their love represented in a family situation at the start of the play. Viola and Sebastian are siblings and then she loses her brother and believes he has died. “Viola: And what should I do in Illyria? My brother he is in
Elysium. Perchance he is not drown'd: what think you, sailors?” This quote is from Viola, this quote shows that she wants to believe anything but that her brother died because of her love for him, she does not want to accept the fact that he may be dead and suffer the consequences of his death on her behalf. “Viola: O my poor brother! And so perchance may he be.” This quote is from Viola when she finds out that she was saved and believes her brother has drowned.
After Viola believes that her brother is dead she begins to be very upset and mourn her brother because of how much she loves him. This shows that love is a cause of suffering. The relationship between Orsino and Viola/Cesario also somewhat show that love can be a cause of suffering. Orsino keeps declaring his love for Olivia but Viola/Cesario has feelings for
Orsino and thinks that Orsino should not be going after Olivia he should be going after her.
Since Viola is disguised as a man, Cesario, she cannot declare her love for him. “Viola: A blank, my lord. She never told her love, but let concealment, like a worn i’ the bud, feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought, and with a green and yellow melancholy she sat like patience on a monument, smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed? We men may say more, swear more, but indeed our shows are more than will; for still we prove much in our vows, but little in our love” This quote is said from Viola, she was telling a story about someone who bottled up her love for someone

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