Personal Response(Twelfth Night)

O time, thou must untangle this, not I!/It is too hard a knot for me to untie! (2.2.39-40) The book Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare contains some interesting quotations that may seem unreasonable in this present era, but was totally normal when this book was written. In that time period people use to leave certain things to fate, such as William Shakespeare. This is an ideal demonstration of his belief in fate.

Viola's realization of Lady Olivia has just fallen in love with her causes her to say these lines.

This now fulfils a love triangle. The Duke loves Olivia, Olivia loves Cesario and Viola loves the Duke. This is the major problem Viola was referring to. I believe she had no other choice than to keep quiet about it since it would jeopardize her identity. I would probably do the same thing If I was in this "knot". I wouldn't want to be recognized as a liar by everyone.

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I can relate this to a book I read. There was a boy named Marcus Lovette Jr. He disliked his neighbor, a ginger boy named Austin. In addition to this Austin disliked Harry which was suppose to be Marcus' best friend but it later turns out that Harry didn't really like his supposed best friend because of an incident that occurred between them last year. This is not a love triangle though it reflects the same idea behind the "Love Triangle" we have in this book.

To sum up my opinion, I'd say I would've done the same thing instead of blowing my cover.

I think she left this to fate to untie because she believed she had no other ideal option and also the large impact of the belief in fate during that time period. Although I think the Duke should understand this issue if Viola tells him everything from the beginning knowing Orsino's character. Shakespeare has quoted these two lines like a poem also showing his belief towards fate in an exquisite manner.