What is the most famous line in Twelfth Night?
“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.”
What is Shakespeare trying to say in Twelfth Night?
Love as a Cause of Suffering. Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy, and romantic love is the play’s main focus. Despite the fact that the play offers a happy ending, in which the various lovers find one another and achieve wedded bliss, Shakespeare shows that love can cause pain.
What are the opening lines of the Twelfth Night?
The opening lines of Twelfth Night, in which a moping Orsino, attended by his servants and musicians, says, “If music be the food of love, play on,” establish how love has conquered Orsino (I.i. 1 ). His speech on this subject is rather complicated, as he employs a metaphor to try to establish some control over love.
What does Orsino’s opening speech mean?
He basically says it’s just like appetite—what tastes good for a while then begins to be “not so sweet now as it was before.” He doesn’t compare love to any higher emotion or even hint that it has a spiritual dimension or the possibility of constancy.
What is the last line of Twelfth Night?
If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.
What is Twelfth Night famous for?
The title of Twelfth Night refers to the twelfth night of Christmas, also referred to as the eve of Epiphany, a day that commemorates the visit of the Magi to the baby Jesus and is often celebrated with a temporary suspension of rules and social orders.
What is dramatic irony in Twelfth Night?
Dramatic irony encompasses the love triangle between Cesario (Viola), Orsino and Olivia to involve the audience and create humor. After Orsino sees how young and attractive Cesario is, he sends her to win over Olivia without knowing the reality of the situation.
What are the two central themes of Twelfth Night?
The main themes in Twelfth Night are: love. appearance and reality.
What is the significance of the opening scene of Twelfth Night?
The opening scene of the play introduces Orsino, Duke of Illyria, listening to music and talking about his love for Olivia. Valentine brings a message from Olivia’s household that she does not want to hear from him because she is in mourning for seven years following the death of her brother.
What does dying fall mean?
But enough of the etymology lesson. The phrase dying fall literally means “fading cadence” in this context. Orsino also could be noting that the music meant to sate his love is instead being drowned by it.
What does Surfeiting mean in Twelfth Night?
surfeit. indulge (one’s appetite) to satiety.
Was Twelfth Night a happy ending?
Despite problems of confused identities and sexualities, the play ends with marriage for the major characters because they “have learned enough about their own foolishness to accept it wisely, and their reward, as it should be, is marriage.”(Schwartz 5140).