Orsino Character Analysis in Twelfth Night

The Duke and ruler of Illyria. At the beginning of the play Orsino is obsessed by his unrequited love for Olivia . However, in the final scene, when Orsino discovers that Cesario is in fact the woman, Viola—and that Olivia has already married Viola's twin brother, Sebastian—he quickly proposes to Viola. Because the language and gestures he uses to talk about love are so melodramatic, and because he switches from Olivia to Viola so quickly, Orsino seems more in love with the idea of love and his own role as a spurned lover, than to actually be in love. His constant self-indulgent complaints about his lovesickness also display his extreme self-centeredness. Critics have also noted that, in the final scene, he seems to be attracted to Cesario as Cesario—that is, to Viola in her male persona.

Orsino Quotes in Twelfth Night

The Twelfth Night quotes below are all either spoken by Orsino or refer to Orsino. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.

Related Characters: Orsino (speaker)

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 1.1.1-3

Explanation and Analysis:

The play opens with Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, listening to music and lamenting about love. Twelfth Night is a play about excess, as during Shakespeare's time, people would celebrate Christmas for twelve nights, partying and drinking. It is also a play about the overbearing nature of love and the madness that comes from it. From the very first line of the play, Orsino's language is over the top. He desires so much love that it makes him melancholy, even sick. As he sits in his court, he stops the music playing in the background, claiming it makes him too sad Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum d

So full of shapes is fancy
That it alone is high fantastical.

Related Characters: Orsino (speaker)

Related Symbols: Hallucination

Page Number and Citation: 1.1.14-15

Explanation and Analysis:

In his first speech, Orsino laments the melancholy nature of love. He notes that love can manifest itself in many different ways, making it magical. Thus, he argues, love "alone" is the only true form of imagination. This moment gives readers an insight into Orsino's views on love, and also foreshadows the "shapes" and disguises characters will take on throughout Twelfth Night. Orsino's speech is dramatic and excessive. While he enjoys talking about love,we will learn that his feelings are actually quite fickle. He loves the idea of love as well as performing the act of being melancholy and heartbroken. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita d

Thy small pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound,
And all is semblative a woman's part.

Related Characters: Orsino (speaker), Viola (Cesario)

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 1.4.35-37

Explanation and Analysis:

Viola has disguised herself as a young pageboy named Cesario, and now resides in Orsino's court. Orsino has begun to rely on Cesario for advice and information on Olivia. He asks her to go to Olivia's home and woo her for him using any means necessary. In this moment Orsino tells Cesario that she may be able to persuade Olivia because she resembles and sounds like a woman, suggesting that Olivia may be more comfortable in the presence of a prepubescent boy than Orsino himself. Here Shakespeare notes the confusing nature of Viola's disguise and how it plays to the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque

Make me a willow cabin at your gate
And call upon my soul within the house;
Write loyal cantons of contemned love
And sing them loud even in the dead of night;
Halloo your name to the reverberate hills
And make the babbling gossip of the air
Cry out 'Olivia!' O, You should not rest
Between the elements of air and earth
But you should pity me.

Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Olivia, Orsino

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 1.5.271-279

Explanation and Analysis:

In an attempt to get Olivia to fall in love with Orsino, Cesario (Viola) describes what he would do if he loved Olivia as much as Orsino. In a beautiful speech he tells her that he would write endless poems of his love, sing them through the night and scream her name so loudly that the air would echo the sound of "Olivia." In her speech, Viola-As-Cesario does something Orsino cannot; she says the right thing to make Olivia fall in love. Juxtaposed against Orsino's cliche speeches on love and lust, Viola's are much more creative and subtle. She performs Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nos

Let still the woman take
An elder than herself: so wears she to him,
So sways she level in her husband's heart:
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and worn,
Than women's are.

Related Characters: Orsino (speaker), Viola (Cesario)

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 2.4.34-40

Explanation and Analysis:

Cesario (Viola) and Orsino sit listening to music, and Orsino asks Casario if he has ever been in love. Cesario says yes. Not knowing that under the disguise Viola is confessing her love for him, Orsino tells Viola-as-Cesario that whoever this woman is, she is not worthy of his love because she is older than he is. Orsino encourages Cesario to instead marry someone younger than himelf. The reasoning he gives for this is that men are more wavering with love, they become less attracted to older women, and their feelings change and are "unfirm." Orsino points out that men Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus

Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal.

Related Characters: Feste (speaker), Orsino

Related Literary Devices:

Page Number and Citation: 2.4.80-82

Explanation and Analysis:

Feste sings a song to Orsino, and when Orsino asks him to leave, Feste sings this final segment, in which he mocks Orsino's melancholy nature. He calls upon Saturn, the Roman god associated with "melancholy," o protect him. He tells Orsino that he hopes he can find a tailor that can make him clothing that changes color, because his mind is "opal," an iridescent, cloudy stone, and he never seems to know what he wants. Because of his position as the fool, Feste has the ultimate freedom to poke fun at the masters without getting in trouble. Here he comments Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor aspe

Viola: My father had a daughter loved a man,
As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,
I should your lordship.
Orsino: And what's her history?
Viola: A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek: she pined in thought,
And with a green and yellow melancholy
She sat like patience on a monument,
Smiling at grief. Was not this love indeed?

Related Characters: Viola (Cesario) (speaker), Orsino (speaker)

Related Symbols: Costumes

Page Number and Citation: 2.4.118-127

Explanation and Analysis:

The self-absorbed Orsino tells Cesario (Viola) that no woman could ever love a man as much as he loves Olivia. Cesario disagrees. She then tells him her own story (of the love she has for Orsino) in a roundabout way, pretending it is the story of her sister. Orsino is blinded once again by Viola's disguise, unaware of the irony of the situation. She is confessing her love for him, but is shielded by the mask of Cesario. Her own love also mimics Orsino's in its strength and melancholy—but it's also suggested that, contrary to Orsino's sexist declaration about women's Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Qui

Give me thy hand
And let me see thee in thy woman's weeds.

Related Characters: Orsino (speaker), Viola (Cesario)

Related Symbols: Costumes

Page Number and Citation: 5.1.285-286

Explanation and Analysis:

After finally identifying herself as a woman of noble blood to Orsino, Viola tells the court that she will return to the captain of her ship who will rightly identify her and return her clothes to her. Orsino then takes her hand and asks to see her in her "woman's weeds," or women's clothing. Here we see how fickle or performative Orsino's love for Olivia truly is. The moment Viola reveals herself and identifies herself as not only a woman but a high class woman, he falls in love with her. This could simply be a result of the fact Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia

Orsino Character Timeline in Twelfth Night

The timeline below shows where the character Orsino appears in Twelfth Night. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Duke Orsino lounges in his palace in Illyria, alternately praising and lamenting the nature of love. First,... (full context)

Valentine, another attendant, returns from Olivia's palace, where Orsino has sent him. He reports that Olivia is deep in mourning for her brother, who... (full context)

...who was born in Illyria, explains to Viola that Illyria is governed by a Duke Orsino, a bachelor who is in love with a noblewoman named Olivia. Olivia, herself the orphaned... (full context)

At Orsino's palace, Viola, now disguised as the page boy Cesario, chats with Valentine. Valentine tells Cesario... (full context)

Orsino enters and asks to speak with Cesario privately. Orsino then tells Cesario he has Orsino's... (full context)

...she demands to know: who wrote Cesario's "text" (1.5.208)? Cesario confesses that it was indeed Orsino. Exasperated, Olivia says that she has already heard all he has to say. Cesario asks... (full context)

...without producing an heir to keep such beauty alive after her death. Cesario adds that Orsino loves Olivia so deeply that she should yield to him. Olivia asks Cesario to describe... (full context)

...gentleman by birth, although conditions have reduced him. Olivia replies that Cesario should return to Orsino, tell him that Olivia cannot love him and must not to send any further messengers—except,... (full context)

...Olivia summons Malvolio and gives him a ring, which, she lies, Cesario left behind on Orsino's behalf. She commands Malvolio to chase down Cesario, return the ring, and instruct him to... (full context)

..."Cesario," and that by taking on her disguise she has created an impossible love triangle: Orsino loves Olivia, Olivia loves Viola/Cesario, and Viola loves Orsino. Because Orsino takes Viola for a... (full context)

The next day, Orsino lounges in his palace as usual, attended by Cesario, Curio, and other servants and musicians.... (full context)

Orsino tells Cesario that, if he is ever in love, he must remember and imitate Orsino's... (full context)

Curio returns with Feste. Orsino instructs him to sing what he sang the previous night, a melodramatic lover's lament. After... (full context)

Orsino instructs Cesario to go woo Olivia once again on his behalf. Cesario suggests that Orsino... (full context)

Cesario arrives at Olivia's palace (following Orsino's instructions in 2.4). Outside he finds Feste, who clowns a bit and mocks both Olivia... (full context)

When they are alone, Cesario says that he is Olivia's servant: he is Orsino's servant and Orsino belongs to Olivia. So, by extension, he does too. Olivia says she... (full context)

...she is so in love, she cannot help herself. Cesario reminds Olivia that his master, Orsino, is suffering just as she is. Olivia gives Cesario a locket containing her picture and... (full context)

...begging for Olivia's help. As Fabian tries to get Feste to let him read it, Orsino arrives with Cesario and several others. After exchanging some casual banter with Feste, Orsino sends... (full context)

While Orsino waits, the officers barge in with Antonio. Cesario defends Antonio—noting that Antonio saved him from... (full context)

...Cesario has been. Has he broken his marriage promises to her already? Cesario is confused. Orsino, who now thinks that Cesario has wooed Olivia in secret, grows enraged. He tells Olivia... (full context)

As Orsino is leaving, Sir Andrew enters, bleeding and calling for a surgeon. He accuses Cesario of... (full context)

...in, apologizing to Olivia, begging her pardon for having hurt her kinsman. Everyone is astonished. Orsino exclaims that Sebastian and Cesario are identical: "one face, one voice, one habit, and two... (full context)

Sebastian turns to Olivia to explain: all that time, she wanted to marry a woman. Orsino reassures Olivia, telling her that the twins have noble blood. He then turns to Viola... (full context)

Waiting for them to return, Olivia asks Orsino to think of her as a sister and offers to host a wedding feast for... (full context)

Orsino says that when the Captain has given his account, he and Viola and Olivia and... (full context)

Orsino Character Analysis

Orsino Quotes in Twelfth Night

Act 1, scene 1 Quotes

Act 1, scene 4 Quotes

Act 1, scene 5 Quotes

Act 2, scene 4 Quotes

Act 5, scene 1 Quotes

Orsino Character Timeline in Twelfth Night