The Three Stages of Madness: The Essence of Twelfth Night
Throughout history, madness has been used as a scapegoat to blame people for attempting to break the social standards in a society. In fact, ones who break those social constructs can never achieve a happy ending, as society deems them mad. In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, after Viola has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria and disguises herself as a boy, she, thus disguised becomes a messenger in the service of Orsino, the Duke, and a part of a love-triangle between herself, Orsino, and Olivia, another noblewoman. Over the course of the play, characters, such as Olivia and Malvolio, are driven to madness because of their love towards others. Feste, …show more content…
Olivia, while explaining her lack of interest in Orsino, says he “does know my mind, I cannot love him; / yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble… in voices well divulg’d, free, learn’d, and valiant, / and in dimension, and the shape of nature” (1.5.237-241). Despite Olivia’s praise of Orsino in which she calls him “divulg’d, free, learn’d, and valiant,” meaning rich, educated and virtuous, she acknowledges that she cannot love him. While Olivia’s original excuse is that her brother has died, and therefore she is in mourning, the truth is evident in that she does not love Orsino. Her lack of love for Orsino only becomes more pronounced as she grows to love Viola, a woman dressed as a young man and renamed Cesario who instead of being the object of Olivia’s love, should be the messenger of Orsino’s love to Olivia and vice versa. Olivia “drowns” in her love for Viola after she becomes obsessed with giving Viola her alleged ring, despite the fact that Viola blatantly declines it. She is insistent that her love is required. Nevertheless, this love can never flourish because homoerotic relationships in Early Modern England were not accepted socially, especially for a woman in
Throughout history, madness has been used as a scapegoat to blame people for attempting to break the social standards in a society. In fact, ones who break those social constructs can never achieve a happy ending, as society deems them mad. In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, after Viola has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria and disguises herself as a boy, she, thus disguised becomes a messenger in the service of Orsino, the Duke, and a part of a love-triangle between herself, Orsino, and Olivia, another noblewoman. Over the course of the play, characters, such as Olivia and Malvolio, are driven to madness because of their love towards others. Feste, …show more content…
Olivia, while explaining her lack of interest in Orsino, says he “does know my mind, I cannot love him; / yet I suppose him virtuous, know him noble… in voices well divulg’d, free, learn’d, and valiant, / and in dimension, and the shape of nature” (1.5.237-241). Despite Olivia’s praise of Orsino in which she calls him “divulg’d, free, learn’d, and valiant,” meaning rich, educated and virtuous, she acknowledges that she cannot love him. While Olivia’s original excuse is that her brother has died, and therefore she is in mourning, the truth is evident in that she does not love Orsino. Her lack of love for Orsino only becomes more pronounced as she grows to love Viola, a woman dressed as a young man and renamed Cesario who instead of being the object of Olivia’s love, should be the messenger of Orsino’s love to Olivia and vice versa. Olivia “drowns” in her love for Viola after she becomes obsessed with giving Viola her alleged ring, despite the fact that Viola blatantly declines it. She is insistent that her love is required. Nevertheless, this love can never flourish because homoerotic relationships in Early Modern England were not accepted socially, especially for a woman in