Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

The idea of courtly love based in Shakespeare's 'Twelfth night'

involved a woman being put on a pedestal and worshipped from a

distance like she was goddess who could not be attained. Only by very

long devotion and lots of trials could a man get this kind of woman.

The woman quite often appeared to be both cruel and fair. Courtly love

was a sexless kind of love and was more idealised. Therefore in

reality men much like Orsino almost certainly treasured the idea of

love more than anyone else. When people did marry in Shakespeare's

days it was predominantly for power and money.

Love today is a great deal different than courtly love. Men and women

are now treated equal and not only do men pursue women but women also

pursue men. Today people in love mostly marry each other because of

their personality as well as looks and not for money and power. Also

love today includes sex unlike courtly love. If a man kept pursuing a

woman today to marry him and she continued to refuse the man would

most probably give up on her, dissimilar to the courtly lover that

would keep on trying.

Shakespeare mocks the idea of courtly love in his play in his use of

language, the characters and how they go in and out of their roles of

courtly love.

I aim to look at the plays moral, philosophical and social

significance. Also I will analyse Shakespeare's stagecraft and appeal

to the audience and to look at the patterns and details of words.

In Act 2 Scene 4 Shakespeare pokes fun at courtly love. Orsino

requests music to sooth his melancholy love to Olivia. Shakespeare

shows Orsino suffering and in pain " in the sweet pangs of it". This

is an oxymoron "sweet pangs", it suggests that his pangs of pain are

good. As a courtly lover the man should be suffering as part of his

role, so Orsino thinks this is how love should be in his eyes.