Shakespeare presented various types of love through throughout Twelfth Night. His focus is not on the common heterosexual form of love, but delves into other variations of its meaning. One of the types of love is unrequited love, which has many forms. Orsino’s desire for Olivia, but her complete rejection of him; Malvolio’s love for Olivia; and Viola’s affection for Orsino. Even without knowing Olivia, Orsino has shown his unrequited love within the first few lines of the play: “If music be the food of love, play on, / Give me excess of it; that surfeiting, / The appetite may sicken, and so die.” The second is when Malvolio reads Olivia’s “letter” (really Maria’s), and the prank that Maria, Toby, and Andrew play on him. Malvolio’s love for Olivia is now fully shown, even though for doing so, he is deemed “insane” and sent to the prison. The third is Viola’s love for Orsino. In Act 2, Scene 4, Viola is as close to revealing her love as she can get: Orsino: “My life upon it, young though thou art, thine eye / Hath strayed upon some favor that it loves. / Hath it not, boy?” Viola: “A little, by your favor.” Orsino: “What sort of woman is it?” Viola: “Of your complexion.” Orsino: “She is not worth thee, then. What years, i' faith.” Viola: “About your years, my lord.” Shakespeare seems to be alluding to the fact that not all love is “at first sight,” but rather that some love just will not be returned. These relationships may work at first, but Shakespeare did not have any of them end in true love.
Another type of love is the “familial” one found between Sebastian and Viola, only in Act 5, Scene 1. They are twin brother and sister, and Viola thinks he is dead. But when he arrives during this scene, they discuss on how they came to Illyria, as well as their past. At this point, Viola reveals herself (originally disguised as Cesario). This meeting sure is a joyous familial reunion. Even after a long period of time, and the misguided realization that the other is dead, Viola and Sebastian may have lost hope, but still loved each other in this way. It is the type of love that even in death, does not change.
A third type of love is “brotherly” love, mainly between Antonio and Sebastian. This is the type of friendship where one would go anywhere, or do anything for the other. In this case, Antonio went with Sebastian to a place (Illyria) where he knew he would be arrested, due to Antonio’s prior war against Orsino and his men. Even knowing what would happen did not deter him from going with his “brother” to explore the town. Shakespeare is saying that the love between two men does not necessarily have to be a sexual relationship, but still had the same passion and bond.
My own view of love is simply what I have learned throughout my years. Even though this time has seemingly been lengthy, in terms of love, I have not matured enough to fully experience the many types of love that Shakespeare suggested, such as unrequited love. I have experienced brotherly love, not only with my brother, but also with friends and extended family. To me, this type of love is when someone goes out of their way to help or support another. The familial love that I have experienced will be tested as I break those bonds to go off to college. Although I will not be with the family daily, the bonds that we share will mentally support me when I am away. (609)
