Artificialism Twelfth Night

The opening scene in act one of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is an important moment in the reading of the play because it directs the audience in how to interpret the themes and characters that are being presented. The themes of self knowledge, romantic love, and realism and the artificial are introduced in this passage to advise us of their deceptive and sometimes unstable nature as they reveal themselves during the course of the play. The characters in this passage, Duke Orsino and Olivia primarily, are also introduced in such a way that the audience will have expectations and predispositions toward them as the play progresses.

The language Duke Orsino uses in this scene to describe his romantic love and devotion for Olivia attempts to express his passionate affections, but rather invalidates and discredits his feelings

In the end of Orsino’s opening speech - “Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy/That it alone is high fantastical.” (I.i.14-15), it is interesting to note Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘fancy’, which he often uses to describe deceptive or illusory love. The love that Orsino depicts is imaginative and fantastical, it is by his own whimsical design. This is especially considering Olivia is not even privy to this relationship, let alone an active part in it. It is evident from the phrase “O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,/Methought she purg’d the air of pestilence!” (I.i.18-19) that Orsino’s love for Olivia is based on a physical attraction rather than an informed, intimate one in which Orsino’s feelings are validated by spending enough time with her to develop a deep connection. Orsino’s illusory love provides a weak foundation on which he tries to build a relationship during the course of the play, which as we see, fails to earn Olivia’s affections. To find ‘true’ and realistic love in the play, Orsino needs to be cured of his artificial