The presentation of love throughout Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is as a concept that brings a lot of upset and hurt to the characters. As a romantic comedy, this plot is immediately juxtaposed with the genre as you would expect there to be a greater amount of joy and happiness in a comedy. Many of the characters consider love to be something which is imposed upon them; something that they do not wish to have to endure because of its inevitable heartbreak.
It is Orsino’s opening line, “If music be the food of love, play on” (Twelfth Night 1. 1. 1) that sets ...
