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Deborah Christensen
Emily Tuttle
English 240-01
October 20, 2011
The Nature of Love and Selfishness in Shakespeares Twelfth Night
The central relationships that end in three marriages between Orsino and Viola, Sebastian
and Olivia, and Toby and Maria each demonstrate various aspects of the nature of love and the
role of selfishness in love in William Shakespeares Twelfth Night. In the upper plot romances,
the combination of selfish and selfless characters, over emotional characters, and physical beauty
cause pretty shallow relationships that, to the characters, are true romanticized love, while in the
lower plot a mutual admiration and attraction of wit, untied to selfishness, emotion, or beauty
results in what appears to be a somewhat shallow marriage of convenience.
The play begins, and centers around Orsinos fascination with the idea of love. The first
lines of the play, If music be the food of love, play on,/ Give me excess of it that, surfeiting, /
The appetite may sicken and so die are part of a lengthy monologue about how fantastic love is,
however they parallel, and to a limited extent, foreshadow, Orsinos character in that by the end
of the play, even though he has gone on for the majority of it telling Olivia how much he loves
her, he spites her when he finds out she loves someone else and dumps her when someone else
turns up for him (Shakespeare 1.1.1-3). It could thus be argued, that by the end of the play,
Orsinos appetite for Olivia had reached such an excess that it sickened and died. This fickleness
in Orsinos character partially explains his selfishness in his relationship with Olivia. In
describing to Cesario (again with pronounced romantic sappiness) how love affects him he says,
For such as I am, all true lovers are,/ Unstaid and skittish in all motions else/ Save in the
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constant image of the creature/ That is beloved (2.4.17-20). Not only does he refer to Olivia as a
creature affirming that it is not Olivia he is obsessed with, he confirms that it is the idea of love
he is obsessed with by comparing himself to all true lovers and expounding on how love
affects him rather than the object of his purported affection. Orsinos self obsession and
romanticization of love is furthered by his assurance that There is no womans sides/ Can bide
the beating of so strong a passion/ As love doth give my heart; no womans heart/So big, to hold
so much. They lack retention (2.4.93-96). Thus Orsino not only disregards whether Olivia does
return his feelings, but verifies that his love is so strong that he knows she is incapable of it. In
addition to his disregard for whether Olivia actually loves him, throughout the play he shows a
disregard for Olivias feelings in general. When Valentine tells him that she is grieving the death
of her brother, Orsinos response is, O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame/ To pay this dept
of love but to a brother,/ How will she love when the rich golden shaft/Hath killed the flock of all
affections else (1.1. 32-35). He has no pity for Olivias grief, but instead views it as evidence of
the power of love and how her ability to love will affect him. At the end of the play, when Olivia
makes clear that she loves Cesario, Orsinos selfishness and capriciousness is most evident as he
threatens to kill Cesario To spite a Ravens heart within a dove (5.1.130). He cares so little
about Olivias feelings that he threatens to kill the man she loves, because it is not him.
Violas character is a complimentary opposite to Orsinos. She thinks her brother is dead
and has escaped a near drowning at the beginning of the play, and gives no indication that she
shares Orsinos sappy romantic view of love. She is almost entirely unselfish, entirely devoted to
Orsino and capable of the level of love Orsino claims to feel. She asks Orsino (as Cesario in
reference to herself), Say that some lady, as perhaps there is,/ Hath for your love as great a pang
of heart/ As you have for Olivia. (2.4.89-91). Violas requital of Orsinos love makes her
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arguably the perfect match for Orsino as all he cares about is love. This conversation with Orsino
also emphasizes Violas selflessness in her concern for Olivias feelings which is further
indicated in her soliloquy after she realizes Olivia is in love with her. She says, As I am man,/
My state is desperate for my masters love./ As I am woman, now, alas the day,/What thriftless
sighs shall poor Olivia breathe! (2.2.36-39). Violas absolute loyalty to Orsino is tested as she
must woo Olivia for him (in sharp contrast to Orsinos reaction to Olivia loving someone else).
She explains this inner conflict before she goes to Olivias saying, Ill do my best/ To woo your
lady [aside] yet a barful strife - / Whoeer I woo, myself would be his wife. (1.4.40-41).
Violas complete selflessness in wanting for Orsino only what he wants could be negated in that
she wishes a barful strife or that obstacles would arise in gaining Olivia, and the actresss
interpretation of the line appraising Olivias beauty, Excellently done, if God did all (1.5.224)
could be resentful. However, Violas absolute devotion to Orsino is obvious when he threatens to
kill Cesario to keep him from Olivia, and Viola responds that she most jocund, apt, and
willingly/ To do you rest a thousand deaths would die (5.1.131-132). She is so devoted to
Orsino that she is willing to die to make him happy, even if he finds that happiness in another
woman.
That Orsino and Viola are a perfect match is cemented when Orsino declares, I shall
have share in this most happy wreck/ Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times/ Thou never
shouldst love woman like to me (5.1.269-270). Orsino is selfish and obsessed with love to the
point that hell be in love with whoever can be in love with him back, and Viola fits that mold
perfectly. In addition, her selflessness perfectly complements Orsinos selfishness and in the
happily ever after mood of this comedy it is clear that Viola will be happily catering to Orsinos
every whim for their married life, however, as Orsino does not want anything but love, that will
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not be very difficult life for Viola either. Of course, Orsino does tell Viola that she will be her
masters mistress (5.1.325) however, how this will work within their relationship is not clear
given the dynamic between the two throughout the rest of the play.
Almost opposite of this relationship, is the marriage between Olivia and Sebastian. While
Olivia is more slightly more practical than Orsino, (her outrageous seven year mourning period
for her brothers death could be construed as either melodramatic emotion, or a clever way to
appeal to Orsinos over emotion and thereby justify continuing to spurn his advances) she is
certainly the selfish one in her relationship with Cesario/Sebastian. While she does not threaten
to kill the lover of her crush, Olivia does ask Sebastian to, Plight me the full assurance of your
faith,/ That my most jealous and too doubtful soul/ May live at peace (4.3.26-27). Like Orsino,
Olivias selfishness is indicated by her quick infatuation with Cesario when he tells her how he
would woo her. He says he would Make me a willow cabin at your gate/And call upon my soul
within the house (1.5.237-239). That she is as attracted to the male version of Viola as Orsino is
to the female version speaks to the similarity between them. The selfishness of both characters
attracts them to the Violas absolute devotion and selflessness. When Olivia falls for Cesario, she
says, I do I know not what, and fear to find/ Mine eye too great a flatterer for my mind (1.5
296-297). While it is assumed that Orsino cares to some extent what the object of his affection
looks like, (he talks about Olivias beauty and all mens decrease in attraction as women grow
older), physical beauty seems much more significant to Olivia and Sebastian than to Orsino and
Viola. Unlike Orsino, Olivia has not made up her mind to be in love, she struggles to reconcile
what her mind tells her (not to be in love) and what her eyes tell her (that Cesario is attractive).
When Sebastian shows up in Illyria, he is as concerned about physical appearance as
Olivia, so it is lucky for them that both are attractive. He does not go on for pages about Olivias
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beauty (like Orsino) but rather immediately stops questioning whether he is going to go along
with his mad delusion mere moments after he sees her for the first time. When Olivia asks him to
betroth himself to her he says to himself, What relish is in this? How runs the stream?/ Or I am
mad, or else this is a dream./ Let fancy still my sense in Lethe steep./ If it be thus to dream, still
let me sleep (4.1.60-63). Where moments before Sebastian had been wanting to get out of what
he assumed a hallucination, a beautiful woman asks him to marry her and he fully accepts the
possibility of insanity. This indicates to a limited extent that, like Viola, Sebastian is selfless in
that he is willing to give up his sanity for Olivia.
Unlike the upper echelon, the marriage in the lower plot between Maria and Sir Toby
begins with no preconceived notions of romantic, slavish love. Indeed, Maria and Tobys first
interaction in the play is of Maria scolding Toby who responds with puns. Maria tells him Your
cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions to your ill hours to which he replies Why let her
except, before excepted (1.3.3-7) (a reference to a Latin legal phrase) immediately casting a
light, playful mood on this romance, rather than the overt emotion and idealization of the upper
plot. Their conversation quickly shifts to Marias sexuality as Sir Toby tells Andrew Aguecheek
to front her, board her, woo her assail her (all with both nautical-as they are on an island, and
as sexual implications) (1.3.53-54). Maria goes along with the sex jokes (to flirt with Toby to
show that she can keep up with his wit). Continuing to tease Sir Andrew she says, I pray you,
bring your hand to th buttery-bar, and let it drink which in some productions the actress puts
his hand on her chest, an explicitly sexual gesture. More directly for every production she tells
Andrew, Its dry sir meaning both that her buttery-bar metaphor did not have a double
meaning (though it could), and that dry hands were a sign of impotence (1.3.65-69). The rest of
Toby and Marias interactions are involved in pranking Malvolio, however some subtle
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comments indicate their mutual attraction. When Toby and Andrew are drunkenly singing Toby
sings Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone at which Maria interjects, Nay good Sir
Toby both trying to get him to be quiet with the romantic implication that she does not want
him to leave her (2.3.93-94). Soon afterward she calls him Sweet Sir Toby implying some
level of affection (2.3.121). Toby is much more direct than Maria in his admiration of her. He
tells Andrew, Shes a beagle true bread, and one that adores me. What o that? showing that
he is aware of her love and her worthiness (2.3.165-166). The most explicit exclamation Toby
makes of his love for Maria is when she tells him to follow her to see Malvolio made a fool of
and he says he will follow her To the gates of Tartar, [Hell] thou most excellent devil of wit
(2.5.193-194). The relaxed and subtle nature of the romance between Maria and Sir Toby is
underlined by the casual way that Feste says, In recompense [of writing the letter to Malvolio]
he hath married her (5.1.362-364). In Maria and Tobys relationship neither is selfish nor
idealistic; they simply admire one anothers wit and decide that they like each other.
The role of selfishness and other forms of shallowness in romantically portrayed, overtly
emotional relationships (in which the wooer likes to employ verse) creates an ideal background
for a much more fun, (if less sentimental) relationship in the lower plot. While from a modern
perspective the relationship between Maria and Toby seems far superior to those between
Sebastian and Olivia, who barely know each other, and Orsino who is a wimp and Viola who is a
doormat, it is likely that the latter relationships would have had a greater appeal to Shakespeares
upper echelon audiences, while the groundlings would have preferred to watch Maria and Toby.
The significance of Viola and Sebastians selflessness is reflected in the alternative title As You
Will because their love is based out of the fact that they are each willing to do whatever Orsino
and Olivia ask of them.