Twelfth Night, or What You Will Love Quotes

When Orsino speaks of feeding his "love" for Olivia with music in the play's famous opening lines, the Duke aligns erotic desire with a kind of gluttonous craving for food. Desire isn't something to be fulfilled or satiated in a healthy, loving way. Rather, the Duke says he must kill off his "appetite" for love by bingeing and "sickening." Yuck. This not only alerts us to Orsino's disturbing (and somewhat ridiculous) ideas about love, but also shows us how erotic desire is linked to violence and self-indulgence in Twelfth Night.

Critics often note that this is one of the most telling speeches Orsino delivers in the play. When a servant invites the Duke to go hunting, Orsino responds with a speech about the way he felt when he first laid eyes on Olivia. Orsino plays off of Curio's invitation to hunt for "hart" (male deer) and also draws on the myth of Acteon, a hunter who was transformed into a deer when he stumbled across Diana bathing. According to the myth, Diana further punished Acteon by setting the hunter's own hounds upon him.

OK, so what? Well, it's important to note that in the Duke's version of the Acteon myth, he becomes the hunted "hart" (a pun on "heart") and his desires are like the "cruel hounds" that chase him/his heart. Notice anything weird about this scenario? Basically, Duke Orsino reveals that he (or his desire) chases after himself in this bizarre little fantasy that has absolutely nothing to do with Olivia (the woman he claims to love). Olivia is pretty much an irrelevant excuse for Duke Orsino to listen to moody music and conjure up erotic fantasies about himself. What to make of this? Well, aside from the fact that Orsino is totally self-absorbed, this is good evidence that the Duke isn't so much in love with Olivia as he is in love with the idea of love.

Here again, Orsino reveals a skewed vision of desire. The first thing to note is that Orsino has a hard time wrapping his brain around the idea that Olivia isn't interested in him. He is also completely dismissive of the notion that Olivia could love so intensely a (dead) brother. Of course, Orsino does recognize Olivia's capacity for "love," but he mistakenly believes that she will somehow channel all of her energy into a relationship with him.

It's also interesting to note that the Duke uses another violent metaphor to describe the act of falling in love as a kind of violent piercing of the flesh (by Cupid's arrow or, "golden shaft"). Just for fun, we can also compare this passage to other moments in the play where love is associated with hunting, which can also involve the use of arrows. See 1.1.2 (discussed above) and also where Olivia compares herself to an animal, or "prey" (3.1.8).

For first-time readers or play-goers, Viola's sudden announcement that she's smitten with Duke Orsino may come as a shock. (We know we were surprised by this the first time we read Twelfth Night.) How could Viola fall for Orsino so quickly when she's only been working for him for three days? Also, what does Viola see in this guy anyway? After all, Orsino comes off as a moody, self-centered guy who lounges around and spouts off about deer hunting metaphors and flowers all day. It's easy to dismiss the question by saying that Viola's love for Orsino is totally unrealistic but is nevertheless important to the plot. But we think we can do much better than this. Does Viola fall for Orsino because he's a kind of passionate poet? Does this make her just as silly and foolish as Orsino, Olivia, and Malvolio? Viola's a sharp girl. Does the play seem to suggest that love and desire transform even the brightest and shrewdest people into sappy fools? What do you think?

Olivia seems surprised that she has fallen in love with "Cesario," who has been sent to woo her on behalf of Duke Orsino. (Remember, she has sworn off men for seven years while she mourns for her dead brother.) Here, Olivia's comparison of falling in love to catching the bubonic "plague" (a serious problem in 16th-century England) is not unlike other passages we've seen that align desire with illness and injury. (There's also a bawdy reference to venereal disease, which was rampant in Shakespeare's London.)

Note: The Bubonic Plague is also associated with the theater in Twelfth Night, so be sure to check out "Quotes" for "Art and Culture" if you want to think about this some more.

There's no denying the intimacy of the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian, particularly when Antonio proclaims his devotion and willingness to risk his life to be with his beloved friend. Antonio says that he is driven by "desire," "jealousy," and "love" to follow Sebastian to Illyria, where Antonio is a wanted man. Just as Duke Orsino compares the experience of erotic love to a physically piercing "shaft" (see 1.1.4 above), Antonio suggests that his desire for Sebastian is "more sharp than filed steel" (an arrow, spear, sword – whatever). This language not only gets at the sense that Antonio's love causes him physical suffering and heartache, but it also consistent with the imagery of sexual penetration we see elsewhere.

While it's not clear if Antonio and Sebastian are lovers or just very close friends (though, one doesn't necessarily preclude the other), Antonio's affection is consistent with the kinds of erotic (both hetero- and homoerotic) desire we see throughout Twelfth Night. Note: "Homoerotic" just refers to erotic emotions that are directed toward a person of the same sex. It can be helpful to note that homoerotic relationships and strong male friendships are quite common in Shakespeare's work. See especially the relationship between Antonio and Bassanio in The Merchant of Venice and the relationship between the Poet and the young man in the Sonnets.

History Snack: Elizabethans didn't see sexual orientation in black and white terms. While plenty of people (especially 16th-century Puritans) were opposed to same-sex couplings, the concept of "homosexual" identity vs. "heterosexual" identity didn't even exist. Nor did it play a role in forming one's identity in the way that sexual orientation does today. In Impersonations: The Performance of Gender in Shakespeare's England, Stephen Orgel writes the following: "As proliferating studies in the history of sexuality have shown, the binary division between of sexual appetites into normative heterosexual and deviant homosexual is a very recent invention; neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality existed as categories for the Renaissance mind" (59).

We've seen how deeply devoted Antonio is to Sebastian. Here, however, it's pretty clear that Sebastian doesn't feel as strongly about Antonio. (Prior to this scene, Sebastian tries to ditch Antonio before travelling to Illyria and then jumps at the chance to hook up with Olivia.) Here, as Sebastian muses about the strangeness of Olivia's love for him, Antonio is quite literally an afterthought. Sebastian's question, "Where's Antonio, then?" seems to be pinned on at the very end of a lengthy thought about Olivia and merits only half a line. What's worse, Sebastian only wonders where Antonio is (the poor guy was arrested back in Act 3, Scene 4) because he wants someone to give him some advice about his new girlfriend. Ouch.

Malvolio's unrealistic fantasy about marrying Olivia is not so much about erotic desire as it is about Malvolio's social aspirations. Here, he imagines himself leaving Olivia's bed, not being in it for any length of time. He also seems to get excited about the idea of wearing fancy clothes and bossing around his servants and Sir Toby. Hmm…this seems to make him just as self-absorbed as, say, Duke Orsino. For more on Malvolio's attempts at social climbing, check out "Society and Class." You know you want to.

It's pretty striking that Duke Orsino calls Viola "Cesario," even after they are engaged and Viola's identity is revealed. Clearly, the Duke is not quite used to the idea that his "boy" is actually a girl. This passage also raises the question of whether or not Orsino is attracted to "Cesario" or "Viola" or both.

Wow. This play is really interested in pairing off heterosexual couples, including Sir Toby Belch and Maria. The announcement seems to come out of nowhere, but if we think about it, it makes sense. Toby and Maria constantly engage in sexually-charged banter and Toby more than once tells us that he thinks Maria's wit and shrewdness are attractive.