MovieChat Forums > Twelfth Night or What You Will (1996) Discussion > New theory on Orsino and Cesario/Viola

New theory on Orsino and Cesario/Viola

posted 17 years ago by silverduckday
2 replies | jump to latest

Hi people, just wanted to share with you my new theory for the old orsino and cesario/viola love story!!

Reading through the old threads there seems to be a few different ideas on just what was going on between them!!!LOL!!

Anyway my theory is this (bare w me whilst i explain!!). Orsino IS becoming increasingly attracted to Viola/Cesario throughout the whole play (even when he thinks viola is a man). This is made quite apparent in the film, but also i believe it's there in the original play too. Orsino is a good man who is not nearly as fickle and uncaring in love as people believe!!

Anyway i reckon that Orsino really doesn't want to fall in love with cesario, who he thinks is a man, and so is in denial about it all! Therefore he uses the defence mechanism of Olivia to help aid his denial. Basically he keeps going on and on about his love for olivia so he doesn't really have to focus on his love for cesario/viola.

However i think that when he realises that cesario is actually a women, it's suddenly ok for him to realise and express his feelings for cesario/viola, as he has no reason to deny them anymore. He Subsequently no longer needs to hide behind his so called love for Olivia! Therefore his feelings don't so much suddenly switch from one to the other, as he already does love viola/cesario, only now just now lets himself acknowledge it. His feelings for olivia however are suddenly cast aside, he seems to have his temper tantrum, then is ok! But this i reckon is because he's finally realised he has no hope with her, that she wasn't the sort of person he wanted anyway and because his recent acknowledgement of his true love more than out shadows it. Also he was more in love with the idea of being in love, rather than deeply in love with Olivia.

So i reckon this goes to show that the Duke's love for viola is relatively constant, not just suddenly come upon so the audience gets their happy ending!!!

As to orsino being homosexual, I don't buy that at all. Though I have said Orsino is falling in love with who he thinks is a man, it is actually a woman. Therefore i think that it's a case of true love - we can't help who we fall for, even regardless of gender. Orsino is falling in love with Viola/Cesario because it is "meant to be" and as nature (and the audience) knows Cesario is a really a women, viola, the duke's sexuality is not really an issue from the audiences point of view. It is however from the Duke's!!!

Some people have said that in Shakespeare's day it was more common for men to have "relations" with boys, maybe agruing why would the duke have any problems with falling for a boy? I can't comment on how true this point is, however i reckon that even if it was more acceptable for the duke to love a man, the duke himself would not want to. As the duke seems so obsessed with the notion of love, he would, i believe, ultimately want the happy ending of love (when he's bored of wallowing in the misery of love). This would be marriage and possibly even a family (as a duke i'm sure he would need heirs). Also he seems to very much want the attention and sympathies of others (hence his wallowing) and this requires him constantly bragging and exclaiming his love for a beutiful women, so falling in love with a man would hardly suit him!!!

Anyway this has turned out to be a very long post - my apologies - but i hope i've put it in enough detail and explained my arguments well enough! Interested now to see what you all think of my theories!!! (this brought about by just being so swept away by the awesomeness of this film - have been analysing it ever since!!!)

[–] trojan_mccoy 17 years ago

Yeah, I can understand that. Also, it's funny to see a similar situation being played out in Blackadder, which undoubtedly was inspired by this play.

Just 'cos the guy's got a library card doesn't make him *beep* Yoda.

[–] rosian 17 years ago

This is exactly how I see it. I think Cesario must seem very feminine even if the Duke has no suspicion it's a woman, and also we know he has an all-male household and perhaps he'd have fallen for any women of suitable rank? I think you are spot on about heirs - I think the Duke's passion for Olivia had a lot to do with dynastic reasons - a suitable wife of his class, for children etc, and the passion grows as she persistently refuses him because he is proud and doesn't like to feel he isn't good enough for Olivia. It's particularly noticeable how frantic he gets after the seminal scene in the stable when he all but kisses Cesario (and I read somewhere that in one production of the play he actually does). It's hard to say now that he's still in love with Olivia. It's more like trying to find a way out of his anxiety that he seems to be in love with a boy and can't believe it's happening to him. Olivia's become a refuge!

I agree he isn't homosexual, so doesn't emotionally accept he could love Cesario in that way - interesting to wonder what would have happened if there was no twin to save the day?

I think he sees his future as having Cesario for always as his confidante along with a suitable, attractive wife, and perhaps this means he has never had many close friends - the people around him are subservient, courtiers rather than friends, not to be trusted with his innermost thoughts. He's hungry for a real friend, lonely, frustrated with longings he can't fulfil for love, a wife, an heir - he has to think of his country's future. Cesario fills the role of confidante, of suitable rank and complete devotion to him alone.

Just imagine if Olivia'd agreed to marry Orsino just to keep Cesario near her. What luck Sebastian turns up just in time to sort everything out. It then means they end up a close foursome - Olivia has Cesario for sister, the Duke has Olivia for sister. No-one has lost Cesario. Olivia and the Duke no longer fighting over Cesario. Everyone happy! And if ever the Duke or Olivia want to see Cesario again, all they have to do is persuade Viola to put on some of Sebastian's clothes and the fake moustache and act the part! Should be a fun future?