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Desire and Love
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Twelfth Night, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
During the Renaissance, melancholy was believed to be a sickness rather like modern depression, resulting from an imbalance in the fluids making up the human body. Melancholy was thought to arise from love: primarily narcissistic self-love or unrequited romantic love. Several characters in Twelfth Night suffer from some version of love-melancholy. Orsino exhibits many symptoms of the disease (including lethargy, inactivity, and interest in music and poetry). Dressed up as Cesario, Viola describes herself as dying of melancholy, because she is unable to act on her love for Orsino. Olivia also describes Malvolio as melancholy and blames it on his narcissism.
Through its emphasis on melancholy, Twelfth Night reveals the painfulness of love. At the same time, just as the play satirizes the way in which its more excessive characters act in proclaiming their love, it also satirizes some instances of melancholy and mourning that are exaggerated or insincere. For instance, while Viola seems to experience profound pain at her inability to be with Orsino, Orsino is cured of the intense lovesickness he experienced for Olivia as soon as he learns that Viola is available.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme…
Melancholy ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Melancholy appears in each scene of Twelfth Night. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
How often theme appears:
scene length:
Scene
Act 1, scene 1
1.1
Act 1, scene 2
1.2
Act 1, scene 3
1.3
Act 1, scene 4
1.4
Act 1, scene 5
1.5
Act 2, scene 1
2.1
Act 2, scene 2
2.2
Act 2, scene 3
2.3
Act 2, scene 4
2.4
Act 2, scene 5
2.5
Act 3, scene 1
3.1
Act 3, scene 2
3.2
Act 3, scene 3
3.3
Act 3, scene 4
3.4
Act 4, scene 1
4.1
Act 4, scene 2
4.2
Act 4, scene 3
4.3
Act 5, scene 1
5.1
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Melancholy Quotes in Twelfth Night
Below you will find the important quotes in Twelfth Night related to the theme of Melancholy.
Act 1, scene 1 Quotes
If music be the food of love, play on,
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting,
The appetite may sicken, and so die.
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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.
That it alone is high fantastical.
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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
Act 1, scene 3 Quotes
I am a great eater of beef, and I believe that does harm to my wit.
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Act 1 Scene 3 introduces us to Maria, a clever lady-in-waiting of Olivia's, Sir Toby Belch, Olivia's uncle and a drunkard, and Sir Andrew, a rich, foolish man who hopes to marry Olivia. During this scene Sir Andrew and Maria enter into a verbal warfare, teasing and taunting each other's sexual appeal. After being outmatched by Maria's wit, Sir Andrew has a moment alone with Toby. Toby is shocked that Maria has outsmarted them both and Sir Andrew replies with this line. Calling himself an "eater of beef" is Sir Andrew's way of calling himself dimwitted. During Shakespeare's time it 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
I would I had bestowed that time in the tongues, that I have in fencing, dancing and bear-baiting: O, had I but followed the arts!
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After a failed attempt to woo Olivia, Sir Andrew tells Toby that he is going to leave Illyria. Toby asks him why, saying "Pourquoi," and Sir Andrew replies with this quote. Sir Andrew doesn't understand the meaning of the french word, and laments that he wished he had focused more on the arts. He has spent his time fencing and training dogs to kill bears for sport instead of learning the language of love or studying literature. Thus, he blames himself for his own inability to get Olivia to marry him. Here art, flourishing language, and impressive creative gestures are 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 volupta
Act 1, scene 5 Quotes
Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
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Maria and Feste the fool have just finished speaking with each other. He pokes fun at her, and she calls him a troublemaker and exits. Feste is left alone on stage and tries to think up more funny, witty things to say. He then reflects on the made-up philosopher Quinapulus, saying that it is better to be witty and a fool than to simply be a foolish person.Feste is a crucial character in Twelfth Night. As the fool in the court, he has privileged information about and access toboth the masters and the servants. He is allowed to poke fun 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
Act 2, scene 4 Quotes
Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal.
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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?
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?
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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
