Twelfth Night · Chapter
Scene I explained
Duke Orsino, surrounded by musicians, indulges in the music of love, expressing his desire for excess to sicken his appetite.
What happens
Duke Orsino, surrounded by musicians, indulges in the music of love, expressing his desire for excess to sicken his appetite. Curio suggests hunting, but Orsino compares his love for Olivia to being hunted by his own desires. Valentine returns with news that Olivia will mourn her brother for seven years, refusing to be seen. Orsino marvels at her devotion and resolves to dwell on love.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
Orsino's opening speech establishes love as an overwhelming, consuming force that he both craves and wishes to escape.
Mourning and Melancholy
Olivia's extended mourning for her brother introduces a parallel theme of grief that shapes her actions and isolation.
Characters to notice
- Duke Orsino
Orsino is introduced as a lovesick nobleman, using music to feed his passion and comparing his desires to hounds pursuing him.
- Curio
Curio attempts to engage Orsino in hunting, but his suggestion is turned into a metaphor for Orsino's unrequited love.
- Valentine
Valentine returns from Olivia's house with news of her vow to mourn her brother for seven years.
Key passages
“If music be the food of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die.”
If music nourishes love, keep playing; give me so much that I become sick of it and my desire dies.
Orsino's paradoxical wish to kill his love through overindulgence sets the tone for his emotional volatility.
“O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first, Methought she purged the air of pestilence! That instant was I turn’d into a hart; And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds, E’er since pursue me.”
When I first saw Olivia, she seemed to cleanse the air of disease; I was instantly transformed into a deer, and my desires have been chasing me like savage hounds ever since.
Orsino uses the myth of Actaeon to express how his love for Olivia has made him a victim of his own passions.
“The element itself, till seven years’ heat, Shall not behold her face at ample view; But, like a cloistress, she will veiled walk And water once a day her chamber round With eye-offending brine.”
For seven years, the open air will not see her face fully; she will walk veiled like a nun and daily water her room with salty tears.
Valentine reports Olivia's extreme vow of mourning, emphasizing her commitment to grief and seclusion.