“Twelfth Night” has love as a central theme throughout the play. The play has three types of love: self-love, true love, and friendship. Many characters in the play are confused through love triangles throughout play. Some characters are unable to differentiate between true love and untrue love. In the current world, many people cannot distinguish between someone true to them and faking love. Many films, YouTube videos, Instagram videos, and TikTok channels try to play along the theme of love and bring out the differences in true love, friendship, and untrue emotions. In the play, true love can be seen in many characters. The best example of sincere love is Viola’s feelings for Orsino. The romantic attraction starts as a friendship, and then it grows into real emotions when Viola tries to win Orsino’s heart. Another true love exists between Viola and Sebastian, who are siblings. Both siblings mourn their deaths and still love one another (Lowman, 2019). People can relate to sibling love in the contemporary world, and some can start true love from friendship.
Malvolio expresses self-love when he sees himself as a noble person that is well suited to marry Olivia. Equally, Olivia shows self-love when she considers herself the most beautiful and no man deserves her. Another character is Sir Toby Belch, who seems selfish to the extent of caring for himself and letting others seem less of a human. Self-love is portrayed in many current films because many people have embraced it. The current generation has leaders who express self-love and are careless of other people’s welfare. In learning institutions, as portrayed in many TikoTok videos, many students go to the extreme of not caring for their roommates and friends so long as it does not affect their ventures. Self-love has led to the loss of lives, and others have entered into a deep depression. Cesario and Orsino portray friendship since they share secrets when they are together. The Sea captain and Viola are deeply engulfed in friendship after surviving the shipwreck.
The play portrays love as a significant cause of pain among its characters. Love entails having deep emotions, and it requires someone to change themselves. The global population has engaged in love either within the family setup and by showing it to others. The play shows relevance in showing pain is affiliated with pain because when someone loses someone they love, they feel it. For instance, in the movie “Squid Game,” the characters feel hurt when someone they were used to finally dies. In the play “William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night,” Malvolio changes his outfit when he thinks that Olivia has sent him a letter, causing some suffering when he does not get love. Equally, when Cesario refuses to recognize Antonio’s love for Sebastian, he feels intense pain (Lowman, 2019). The same pain is shown in “The Big Bang Theory” movie when Leonard gets assumed by his girlfriend Penny. In the contemporary world, many people do not face rejection from someone they purport to love positively.
Social standing and class struggle makes William Shakespeare’s play seem relevant to the current generation. Malvolio desires to marry Olivia to become part of the noble class. Sir Andrew also hopes to marry Olivia to get social standing, but his desires cannot be met because he is gross. Furthermore, when Olivia proposes to Sebastian, he accepts the proposal because Olivia is wealthy and beautiful. Many people get married to the wrong person because it makes them respectable in the societal setup.
Reference
Lowman, D. (2019). Review of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (directed by Carl Cofield) at the Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut. Shakespeare, 15(4), 437-438. Web.