Twelfth Night - the Effects of Love

The Effects of Love

Love acts upon people in mysterious ways. However, it is not always expected. Many people experience this unexpected love. One of many to experience this love was Olivia. Olivia was a rich countess who promised to spend many years mourning her brother. She did not expect to fall in love with Duke Orsino’s servant, Cesario. Upon their first encounter, Olivia instantly fell in love with him. She loved his feminine features and the way he complimented her. This love, however, made her become weak and desperate for Cesario’s attention. Act 3 of Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night” uses the words passion and murderous to convey that love causes one to become very weak and desperate.

Shakespeare uses the word passion to demonstrate how love causes one to become weak and desperate. Love is a very complicated emotion. Love can not only bring out the best in person but also the absolute worst. Love made Olivia become a weak and desperate person. In this soliloquy Olivia confesses, “I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride, nor wit nor reason can my passion hide”(Shakespeare Act 3). Olivia says that she cannot hide her passion for Cesario anymore. Olivia uses the word passion instead of the word love. Passion has a much stronger emotion behind it than the word love. The denotation of the word passion is an intense desire or enthusiasm for someone. Passion means an intense desire, which proves that Olivia was weak and desperate for Cesario’s love. When looking at the word passion, one can see that it has a positive connotation, but it can be perceived as negative. The word passion is derived from the Latin word passionem, which means suffering or enduring. Passion is seen as an intense desire, but this uncontrollable desire can make one desperate, like, Olivia. Shakespeare does not only use the word passion to prove that one can look desperate or weak, but he also uses the word murderous as well.

Shakespeare uses the word murderous to emphasize that love can cause someone to become very weak and desperate. Many words that one says can express their desperate and weak feelings. Olivia uses the word ‘murderous’ to convey her desperation for Cesario. Olivia at this point is so delicate, or weak and very needy for Cesario’s love and attention that even a “murderous guilt shows not itself more soon than love that would seem hid” (Shakespeare