Excessive Behaviors in Twelfth Night

                In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, there are certain characters who display excessive behaviors. Count Orsino demonstrates excessive love, Olivia displays excessive grief and Sir Toby shows excessive drinking. All of these characters act in a way that is more than normal for the average being, and it makes their characters very annoying.

                Count Orsino claims to be madly in love with Olivia. Instead of simply stating his love for her and trying to gain her love in return, he sulks in his home listening to music and day dreaming. “If music be the food of love, play on;/ Give me excess of it, that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken and so die. / That strain again!”(1.1.1-4). He is acting like a fool by spending all his time thinking about Olivia when she does not feel the same way for him. His surplus of love is annoying to witness.

                Another character who demonstrates excessive behavior is Olivia. Her brother has recently died and understandably she is in mourning. Any normal person would be upset and may spend time mourning. Olivia takes this to the next level. She decides to cover her face and not show it to anyone for seven years. “The element itself, till seven years’ heat, / shall not behold her face at ample view” (1.2.25-26). Seven years for the death of her brother. It is admirable that she is willing to do this for her brother but it is extreme. She is overreacting and it is annoying to witness her unnecessary behavior.

                Sir Toby also demonstrates excessive behavior. He enjoys drinking to an excess. This makes him an annoying character that has no respect for others. These characters all display excessive behaviors that are entertaining in the play, but in reality they would be very annoying people to spend time with. Their behaviors show that they are very self interested and car about themselves over anyone else.   

Shallow Love in Twelfth Night

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, there are many different characters who claim to be madly in love with another character. The love displayed in this play is very manipulated by shallow physical attractions. There are three people who change their affections quickly due to physical motives; Olivia, Orsino and Sebastian. This fast change of love proves that love in this play is shallow.

Olivia’s love is superficial because she claims to love Cesario, but when she finds Sebastian, her feelings change.  She shifts her love from Cesario to Sebastian within a matter of minutes. Even though she believes that Sebastian is Cesario, someone who is truly in love should be able to tell who they love.     

Orsino’s love for Olivia is also shallow. His love switches quickly to Viola when he figures out that she is a woman. This is comical and hypocritical of him because at the beginning of the play he claims that his love comes from within and women are incapable of loving that way.  His switch of love is awkward because he thought that she was a boy for so long and now he is going to marry her. This proves that Orsino’s love for Olivia is shallow because he goes back on his word to love her and switches to Viola. Sebastian’s love for Olivia is also shallow. He marries her simply because she is wealthy and beautiful.

                The love displayed in Twelfth Night, is not true love but rather shallow love. Olivia, Orsino and Sebastian all exhibit this superficial theme by either falling in love quickly or changing their affections quickly. This shallow love makes one question the realistic quality of this play. If love is so quickly shifted, how can it be true?