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Twelfth Night is easily one of the funniest plays by Shakespeare. Many foremost Shakespearean critics agree to it including Harold Bloom. The whole tone of the play is set by the way it begins. The play begins with the conceit of Orsino which he maintains to the very end. The conceit is the self-indulgence of Orsino. He is intoxicated with himself yet it is him who Shakespeare chooses to say, “if music be the food of love, play on” and begin the play.
The beginning scene is set in the Duke Orsino’s palace where in his court Curio and other Lords are sitting with musicians. Orsino’s first dialogue is ironic because he is, perhaps deliberately, saying what he is literally going to do in case of Olivia. He asks his musicians to play a certain music which he heard earlier. He is contemplating on the nature of love which in the beginning remains very sweet but in excess it starts sickening.
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Shakespeare compares love with the nature of cadenced music and violets flower. The slow music which Orsino asks to be played again will soon sound sickening to him. The fragrance which comes out of a bank of violets is so fresh but soon becomes odour.
The spirit of love is also “quick and fresh” in the beginning but it can’t withstand its own capacity and finally its amount starts falling, the quality starts degrading. Orsino speaks of the fantasy which lies in human imagination and how unreliably it grows and dies.
In the end, we see that Orsino wasn’t even loving Olivia the way he keeps claiming throughout the play. It takes him a moment to take hands of Viola. In this very beginning of the play, Shakespeare gives us the idea of human love and its illusions.
The last Act of the play is comprised of one long scene. Everything which was so confusing throughout the play concludes almost abruptly. The last scene reveals the frail illusions which we bear in the name of love. Orsino starts threatening Cesario (Viola) of betrayal but the moment Sebastian arrives and the truth that they are actually twins is revealed, Cesario falls for Viola and accepts her as his wife. It feels like what he said in the very beginning actually fits him. He loves the idea of love, not the person for whom he expresses it. Olivia who earlier said that she won’t love anybody while mourning the death of her father and brother goes with Sebastian instantly. The long concluding scene disentangles the confusion of identity. The issue of Antonio remains unsolved but he stays on stage and witnesses the whole consequence of actions. It is a conventional happy ending.
Summary: Beginning and Conclusion Of The Twelfth Night. (2024, Feb 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/summary-beginning-and-conclusion-of-the-twelfth-night-essay
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