Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night has always been my favorite of all Shakespeare's plays. I love the comedy and the romance intertwined to create entertaining confusion. Though a comedy in many ways, it is the subtle romance embedded in the play that won me over when I first read it. The idea that Viola is dressed up as a man, in love with the Count, whom believes her to be a man, is very comedic and entertaining, but at the same time the reader can actually feel sorry for her that she needs to hide behind this costume and not be able to admit her true feelings. My favorite scene is in Act 2, Scene 5 when she and Orsino are going back and forth talking about the "lady" that Cesario was in love with, though she describes Orsino's features. Viola is trying so hard to get the message across that it is Orsino whom she adores. She talks about a sister of hers that was in love with a man, a love as true as ever. "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?" (112-115) - this quote has always made me relate most to Viola's character, in how her situation is someone comical but at the same time, she has true and deep emotions that the Count is too blind to see.