Twelfth Night

“If music be the food of love, play on;

Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

That strain again! it had a dying fall:

O, it came o'er my ear like the sweet sound,

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more:

'Tis not so sweet now as it was before.

O spirit of love! how quick and fresh art thou,

That, notwithstanding thy capacity

Receiveth as the sea, nought enters there,

Of what validity and pitch soe'er,

But falls into abatement and low price,

Even in a minute: so full of shapes is fancy

That it alone is high fantastical.” 

Orsino delivers this speech at the start of the play. It suggests the theme of love that is so prevalent in Twelfth Night and the motif of music, which is a frequent presence in the play. As the play opens, we see that Orsino is obsessed with love, and he is perhaps in love with being in love more than he is in real love with Olivia, his professed beloved.

“O, she that hath a heart of that fine frame

To pay this debt of love but to a brother,

How will she love, when the rich golden shaft

Hath kill'd the flock of all affections else

That live in her; when liver, brain and heart,

These sovereign thrones, are all supplied, and fill'd

Her sweet perfections with one self king!

Away before me to sweet beds of flowers:

Love-thoughts lie rich when canopied with bowers.” 

Orsino says this after a messenger tells him Olivia will not be seen for the next seven years, as she mourns her brother. It shows Orsino’s blind determination to pursue her despite her rejecting his advances, which continues throughout much of the play. For Orsino, Olivia’s rejection only fuels his interest, which may cause the audience to wonder if he would feel as strongly for Olivia if she accepted his suit.

“True, madam: and, to comfort you with chance,

Assure yourself, after our ship did split,

When you and those poor number saved with you

Hung on our driving boat, I saw your brother,

Most provident in peril, bind himself,

Courage and hope both teaching him the practise,

To a strong mast that lived upon the sea;

Where, like Arion on the dolphin's back,

I saw him hold acquaintance with the waves

So long as I could see.

The captain describes seeing Sebastian during the shipwreck to Viola. He suggests that Sebastian may still be alive, foreshadowing his eventual presence that drives the play’s later events and ultimate resolution. Until then, however, Viola believes that her brother is dead.