Shakespeare's Twelfth Night plays on the foolishness of love. The characters are falling in love based on mistaken identity which is absolutely and utterly foolish. Olivia is falling in love with the "handsome" page boy Cesario because the way he is straightforward about wooing for Orsino. Cesario demonstrates what Olivia finds attractive by actually being a 'man'. Cesario is actually Viola, Sebastian's sister, in disguise. Viola quickly falls in love with Orsino. Orsino is still excessively in love with Olivia. Malvolio who is already in love with Olivia falls for a planted love letter by Maria. He thinks the letter was written by Olivia and foolishly dresses up in ridiculous yellow stockings. [Luckily, as the audience, we have the inside scoop into the confusing love of the cast. To me, this is what makes Twelfth Night and other comedies funny is that we know something the cast does not know so the 'trick' or the punch line is not on us.]
Falling in love? The characters of Twelfth Night do not think twice before falling into love. Falling means, "to pass into some physical, mental, or emotional condition". Olivia, Viola, Orsino, Malvoilio, and even Antonio quickly pass into an emotional condition of love. Love has been illustrated across time to cause foolishness. But, why? Similar to the concept of slapstick comedy or comedy in general, love plays tricks on the mind. Love literally makes people silly. Love blinds people to human reason because the emotions of love cloud any clear, sensible mental state. Shakespeare elucidates on the reality of humanity. The audience may laugh at the foolishness of the characters, but these characters are simply illustrations of the reality of love. We quickly fall in and out of love. We idolize physical beauty or swoon over a "hottie". We fall for comfort of companionship. We deny faults of our partners or try to fix flaws of character. The foolish love in Shakespeare highlights the foolish love college students experience on a daily basis, yet we seemingly ignore or deny the foolishness.
Shakespeare's Feste should probably start roaming around today! Feste says, "Would you have a love-song, or a song of good life?". Individuals often pass up opportunities and jump at supposed "soul-mates" foolishly when we are missing out on the "good life". Feste brings light to the reality of generations recklessly falling in love. Can we really ever stop foolishly falling in love?
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