Viola and Duke Orsino’s Idea on Love
Duke Orsino perspective on love as portrayed in the Twelfth Night play by Shakespeare is contradictory. In his speeches, he illustrates love as a predator, meaning he views love as cruel. On the other side, he is courting Olivia and sending messengers to her patiently waiting for her to reciprocate his love. Duke seems to be new and ignorant to the emotion of love. He does not hold any knowledge to the importance of love as seen later in his insincere switch from loving Olivia to Viola. Duke is self- centered, and when the only view that he maintains constant in his speeches is about how love is a disease and cruel.
Duke appears to be more in love with the idea of love rather than falling in love. When Duke Orsino expresses his fantasies about Olivia, it becomes clear that his desire is getting the societal status of being in love ( Walsh, 2016). Duke character portrays confidence which makes him believe that he is capable of doing anything. He is so confident that he can’t be a victim of anything, including love. After knowing that Olivia does not wish to be with any man for seven years, Duke Keeps his optimism that Olivia will love him back eventually. He does not give up on his pursuit for Olivia since he is confident that she will return the love emotion.
On the hand, throughout the play, Viola shows her loyalty in matters of love. She maintains consistency in loving Orsino and seems to understand love in a different perspective from the other characters (Gale, 2016). Viola believes that love is unforced and passionate. She disguises herself as a man and works in Orsino’s house, trying to give him hints that she was a woman. She hopes that Duke Orsino will fall in love with her. However, Viola does not do anything to compel Duke to love her. Viola describes her love for Duke in a way that shows genuine love and shows she is mature and more conversant with love than Duke.
Another instance that illustrates Viola’s view of love as strong affection is shown in her mourning for her brother, Sebastian (Schalkwyk 2010). She expresses her sorrow for the death of her brother and the hope that he was still alive by some miracle. Viola love for her brother and Duke brings into the picture how her idea of love was that love should be expressed indeed and should be genuine. She sincerely loves Duke and helps bring out a better character from him. The way Duke loves Viola at the end shows that he does not probably believe in self- love as he likes to let people think.
Viola and Duke Orsino’s idea of love is different. Duke advocates for self –love and he continuously withdraws himself from genuinely pursuing love. He only courts Olivia formally through sending gifts and other people to her. The way Duke Character is portrayed in the play shows the perspective of untrue love. Viola views love as pure and passionate emotion. She understands how essential it is to be loyal to love and be true in the expression of pure love.
Reference
Ceresa, C. (2017). Matias Pineiro’s Viola and the Resonant Drift of Love. Latin American Theatre Review, 50(2), 87-102.
Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for William Shakespeare’s” Twelfth Night”. Gale, Cengage Learning.
Schalkwyk, D. (2010). Is love an emotion? Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. symplokē, 18(1-2), 99-130.
Walsh, F. (2016). Vertiginous Loss, Love and Belonging on the National Stage In Queer Performance and Contemporary Ireland (pp. 120-142). Palgrave Macmillan, London.