Orsino, Duke or Count of Illyria

Though his title in the play is disputed, Orsino is the ruler of Illyria, with some
naval experience behind him. He is lovesick for the Lady Olivia, who will not
return his affections; Viola is taken into his service, as the boy Cesario, and is
quickly taken into his confidence and tries to woo Olivia for him. However,
Orsino's affections shift by the end of the play; he drops his self-indulgent
behavior, and develops affection for Viola.

Character analysis: Duke Orsino (Twelfth Night)

In this essay we are going to focus in one of the characters of
Shakespeares comedy Twelfth Night: Duke Orsino.
Orsino is the first character that we see on stage in Twelfth Night. He is a
Duke, and he is in love with a girl called Olivia. Olivia is mourning the loss of her
brother. In Elizabethan society, women had to obey their fathers in choosing their
future husbands, but we have to realize that Olivia is free to choose her man,
because he has no father and no brother. This is a clear innovation which
Shakespeare uses to make Olivia feel free, which will be very useful as a literary
device to make the plot of the comedy more complicated, and to make Orsino
insist to get her favour.
In the beginning of the play (Act 1, scene i) we see Duke Orsino
listening to his court, which is playing music. He first asks for more music to fill
himself with love to feel totally depressed. In this scene music must be interpreted
as our emotions; so Orsino wants to find a cure to his depression, and maybe
through an excess of love (music) he can kill it.
"If music be the food of love play on, give me excess of it, that
surfeiting, The appetite may sicken and so die ......"
It appears form this quote that Orsino is in love with the idea of being
in love. His speech is full of melodramatic words which show that he is over
indulgent of love. His feelings of love for Olivia are so intense that he seems
overwhelmed by his thoughts of her. As Orsino feels so fanatical about pursuing
Olivia, you could claim that he is obsessed with her. The Duke is drawn to an
emotion which he believes is love. (Love in Twelfth Night).

In this first parliament he uses the conditional, because he doesnt know

what is going to happen to him, the situation is uncertain. We can remark that
Shakespeare establishes a relation between love and music, what makes us see
how the author describes Orsino from sensorial metaphors, which relate him to
reality (Fors). In this scene, and in relation to this, we can read how Orsino talks
about music and about the odour of violets (which, from my point of view, relates
to the name of two of the main feminine characters of the comedy: Olivia and
Viola).
As Orsino continues to wax rhetorical and hysterical about being in
love, it rapidly becomes apparent that he is playing a game with himself, which he
will continue throughout the play. He is not IN love, but in love with love. Olivia
is unattainable and she has told him so repeatedly. Yet Orsino persists in making
himself suffer, listening to sad love songs, writing to her (Twelfth Night:
Love). From my point of view, Orsino is trying to make himself suffer because he
only concentrates on himself, as we can read when he talks about himself with the
repetition of words like me, I, mine
Again, the comedy takes place in a far away place for the Elizabethan
audience (Illyria, in the Mediterranean). This helped the audience to locate the
comedy in any time. This region is located in a place which basically represents
the culture of ancient Greece and Rome, which was the model to follow in the
Renaissance.
We have to talk about love, the main theme of the play. We are involved
in a love triangle in which Orsino loves Olivia. Olivia falls in love with Viola,
who has changed to Cesario (a Dukes servant), but Viola is in love with Orsino.
Here we have a diagram:

Twelfth Night consists of many love triangles, however many of the

characters who are tangled up in the web of love are blind to see that their
emotions and feelings toward other characters are untrue. () There are certain
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instances in the play where the emotion of love is true, and the two people
involved feel very strongly toward one another. Viola's love for Orsino is a great
example of true love. Although she is pretending to be a man and is virtually
unknown in Illyria, she hopes to win the Duke's heart. (Language and Dramatic
conventions).
We have to bear in mind that on stage, and taking into account that in
Elizabethan theatre there were not women actresses, we only find boys on stage.
So, although the audience (or the reader) changes the couples all the way round,
there are always homosexual relationships both physical (between actors) or
during the performance (in the text). In my opinion, that was done by Shakespeare
to introduce homosexual relationships on stage avoiding censorship through a
very intelligent way.
Speaking of the theatre as a site of social struggle and of the sexually
ambivalent boy player as one of a sex-gender system in crisis, some critics
imagine Londons playhouses as dangerously sexualized sites. () Yet their
rehearsal of Puritan polemics not only tends to confuse theatrical representation
with real-life behaviours (much like Viola) but to consider the boy player as a site
of sexualized discourse rather than as a boy in performance. (Hodgdon)
The main theme of the comedy is love. Although what we could call
true love is what predominates in the play, there are also references to self love
and to friendship. We find that Malvolio sees himself as a man women would
want to marry with (self love). The most important friendship relation that we see
between two characters is that of Orsino and Cesario. Viola arrives at the Dukes
court to serve him disguised as Cesario, only to be near Orsino, who gives him all
his confidence. This helps Viola to know how the Duke behaves and to meet him
better (friendship). Finally, this close friend relation makes easier the marriage
between Orsino and Viola at the end of the play.
She (Viola) decides to take on this identity (as Cesario) because she has
more freedom in society in her Cesario mask, which is evident when she is readily
accepted by Orsino, whereas, in her female identity she would not. (Twelfth
Night - Language and Dramatic Conventions). This decision makes Viola
understand the different views of life being man or being woman. As Cesario she
has to court Olivia for the Duke, but as a woman, as Viola herself, she has to court
Orsino and to convince him that she has to forget Olivia.
From a formal aspect, we have to stress the importance of ambiguity in
the comedy. As we have said before, the explicit homosexual relations introduced
by Shakespeare, as well as the ambiguity used by the author in some passages of
the comedy, makes the play an interesting text to study from relating it to
censorship. Especially taking into account that the skill of Shakespeare to avoid
that censorship and to introduce double meanings is admirable.
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Orsinos love for Olivia functions as a frame for the whole comedy,
which starts with the Duke proclaiming his love for Olivia and ends marrying
Viola. This makes the audience feel that they had seen a entire story with a
concrete beginning and a concrete ending. We have to say that the structure of the
play uses an innovation: for the first time Shakespeare uses a device in which two
actions are happening at the same time: the love triangle between Orsino, Olivia
and Viola/Cesario (main plot) and the trick that Malvolio suffers (subplot).
Jensen helps us understand the structure in relation to the comic actions:
What Twelfth Night shares is an abundance of such comic events submused to
the requirements of the plays major action but generating an energy that makes
them almost independent episodes. The comic passages make the main action to
be more fluent and entertaining to the audience, as well as for the up-to-date
reader. The certainty for the audience that Sebastian is not dead is only shared
with the writer, and this situation makes us feel in a superior level than the rest of
the characters and to anticipate a final scene in which everything will be put in
order.
Twelfth Night begins and ends with music. The first affective sounds of
the play are not verbal but instrumental. After the theatre trumpets and perhaps
the knocking of the stage have warned the audience of the players readiness, the
musicians strike up behind or above the empty platform. (Thomson) Music and
songs frame the whole play, and music is present from the very beginning in a sad
scene as well as in some comic passages.
To sum up, we can say that Twelfth Night is a very entertaining comedy
in which we can laugh at some of the typical attitudes towards love and other
relations that people have with each other, at the same time that we can how
Shakespeare deals with ambiguity. Regarding Orsino, we could say that he is an
example of how a high social rank person in a comedy should be described,
basically through his speech and his way of expressing himself.

Summary Act 3
SCENE 1
Cesario is on his way to meet with Olivia only to bump into Feste whom he recognizes as the
fool who had sang for Orsino. A conversation ensues, and Feste proves to have such a sharp wit
that Cesario cant help but to admire Feste, who is, by and by, sent to inform Olivia of Cesarios
arrival. Anon, Cesario is welcomed by Sir Toby and Sir Andrew who tell him that he may go
directly in to meet with Olivia. He is about to when Olivia herself appears. The rest are dismissed
and Olivia and Cesario hold their conference. Again Cesario speaks highly of the Duke and his
intentions for Olivia, and again Olivia rejects the offered love. Olivia then asks for Cesarios
name and, having been told, apologizes for the ring, for the confusion that it may have caused.
She then assures Cesario that if she were to take a husband, then she would take someone
considerably older and more mature than Cesario. Content, Cesario assures Olivia that he would
not be returning to plead again on Orsinos behalf and turns to leave only to be detained. It is
then when Olivia openly declares her love for Cesario.
SCENE 2
Sir Andrew, who has noted Olivias affection for Cesario, is dissuaded from going home by
Fabian and Sir Toby. The half-wit that he is, Sir Andrew is led to believe that Olivia made a show
of liking Cesario to inspire Sir Andrews spirit, that although Sir Andrew had failed to act on cue
and put Cesario in his place, that it isnt too late to impress Olivia by issuing Cesario a formal
challenge this instant. Inspired, Sir Andrew sequesters himself to write his challenge.
Fabian wonders if the joke will go too far if Sir Toby actually delivers the challenge, but Sir
Toby avows that he will, arguing that Sir Andrew is too much of a coward to actually follow
through on the challenge. Anon, Maria appears and urges them to join her and observe Malvolio
make a complete fool himself.
SCENE 3

When Sebastian gives up trying to deter Antonio from following him, Antonio explains that his
devotion is motivated by his concern for Sebastians safety as Sebastian could not possibly
anticipate the dangers Illyria poses to the newcomer. Grateful, Sebastian thanks Antonio and
suggests that since they are both in town that they should make the most of it and do some
sightseeing. Antonio demurs, however, saying how that it would best for him to lay low on
account of his exploits in a naval battle that has singled him out as a marked man to the Duke of
Illyria. With that, Antonio hands Sebastian his purse--in case Sebastian would like to indulge in
some shopping--and tells Sebastian that when his day is done to repair to the Elephant, an inn
where Antonio will establish their lodgings.
SCENE 4
Olivia has sent for Cesario. Melancholy, she summons for Malvolio, who is wont to be staid, to
attend on her. Cross gartered and in yellow stockings, Malvolio appears, smiling most garishly.
Maria warns Olivia that Malvolio may have lost his wits, and, by and by, what with his strange
pronouncements in reference to the letter, not to mention his ridiculous attire, Olivia believes that
the summer heat may have gotten to Malvolio and that he is indeed, as Maria claims, mad. She
orders her servants, and in particular her uncle, to attend to Malvolio.
Delusioned, Malvolio thinks that Olivia has summoned her servants, and in particular her uncle
Toby, to attend to him so that Malvolio might disparage those with whom he was either an equal
or an inferior to, and thereby establish his new superior status. To that end, he haughtily shuns
and dismisses Fabian, Maria, and Sir Toby who try gently to disilllusion him from his illusions.
When Malvolio haughtily walks away, Sir Toby argues that since Olivia has determined
Malvolio to be mad, that it would warrant treating Malvolio as a madman and binding and
sequestering him until the fun wears off, at which point Malvolio would be made aware of the
joke. The plan is more or less agreed to when Sir Andrew emerges with his written challenge. Sir
Toby reads it and Fabian praises it. Cesario, accompanied by Olivia, is spotted walking nearby.
Sir Toby directs Sir Andrew to hide and wait and when Cesario has parted company with Olivia
to then draw his sword and upbraid the youngster. As Andrew hides and waits, Toby tells Fabian
of his real plan: Each duelist will be told of the others fighting abilities in such exaggerated

terms that both will balk when actually made to oppose one another. As to the letter, it will not be
delivered in case of legal liabilities.
And thus, with Fabians help, Sir Toby manages to bring Cesario and Sir Andrew, who have been
made mutually and mortally afraid of one another, to oppose one another at sword point when
Antonio intercedes on Cesarios behalf. Officers arrive to break up the possible fight, however-officers who arrest Antonio in the name of Orsino the Duke of Illyria. Antonio, hoping to buy
back his freedom, asks Cesario for his purse, the one he had given Sebastian before repairing to
the Elephant earlier. Confused and yet grateful for Antonios intercession, Cesario offers half of
what he has which isnt much, causing Antonio to be incredulous at the lack of reciprocal good
will. He rebukes Cesario, mentioning him by name, i.e. Sebastian, as he is led away by the
officers.
While Cesario repairs to Orsinos court, in a state of disbelief, wondering if her brother-Sebastian--is indeed alive, as per Antonios words, Fabian, Toby, and Andrew conclude that
Cesario is a scurvy rascal and is deserving of a beating on account of how he deserted his friend,
Antonio.