Comparison Of Unrequited Love In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night

These days, many romantic poems, movies and books tell tales of one person loving another in which those feelings are not returned. We often see ourselves within the characters of these stories, which is what makes them so appealing. In our current era, unrequited love is still a greatly utilised theme in many books, such as “Dear John.” Nicholas Sparks writes, “I finally understood what true love meant…love meant that you care for another person’s happiness more than your own, no matter how painful the choices you face might be.” This quote very much relates to the characters in the play, “Twelfth Night” written by William Shakespeare. Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy with unrequited love being one of the main focal points of the play. Despite the fact that resolutions are sought resulting in the play ending happily, where after much confusion, lovers come together, Shakespeare heavily focuses on when love does not work out as one may wish and the heartache it can bring. He shows the lengths characters will go to, for the ones they love even though it may bring them pain. This idea is brought to life Trevor Nunn’s 1996 film adaption of Shakespeare’s, “Twelfth Night.” …show more content…
He does this through the character of Malvolio and his unrequited love for Olivia, and Antonio and his (some have suspected) romantic relationship with Sebastian. Both of these characters must watch the ones they love rejoice in love with other people. Malvolio is forced to face the fact that Olivia never really loved him, contrary to his previous beliefs. If it is so that the relationship between Antonio and Sebastian was indeed romantic, Antonio would have been forced to accept that love unfortunately cannot conquer all obstacles that may be in its path, such the social limitations that may have occurred during Elizabethan