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2016-11-26

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“Clown: Good Madonna, why mourn’st thou?
Olivia: Good  fool, for my brother’s death.
Clown: I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
Clown: The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your
Brother’s soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.” ( I: V, 21-27)

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People everywhere tend to exaggerate things. Whether done unknowingly like the image to the right, or done on purpose just for the fun of things, something represented as worse than it really is, is exaggerated. The man to the right is putting his hand into a box containing a plush animal. He doesn't know what is inside the box thus assumes the worse forming his facial features as he places his hand inside. Olivia is left clueless after her brothers death as she now has no males in her family and sir Toby is sent to look after her. It's understandable that she is sad as she has lost someone close. However, to seal herself away for 7 years and still be mourning months after his passing is unreasonable and extremely exaggerated. Loads of people feel a void in their hearts when someone close passes. But, tainting yourself with sickness and using it as a reason to stop living is purely excessive. The fool senses her dramatic behavior and points out her false state. She tells half of the truth as she'll always be sad because she no longer has a brother but, is definitely not putting her hand into something she has no knowledge of. She knows whats shes doing and has purposely set up defensive walls. Luckily the charming Cesario is able to break them down but, that's another assignment.

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The art of creating problems that were never there 

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The art of creating problems that were never there 

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Feste doesn't display too many melancholic traits other than a few speculations in his songs. However, being the licensed fool, he's able to speak freely, criticize, and ridicule other characters, drawing out their traits and only adding to their personalities. It's through him we get deeper insights as to what characters really feel. Such as how he describes Orsino and calls him inconsistent "Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal. (2.4.80-82)." However, who Feste spends the most time with is undoubtedly his mistress Olivia. Olivia had what was described as a huge depressive stage in her life after the death of her brother. We assume that because she loves her brother she is sealing herself away to respect or honor his passing. Though it's uncommon nowadays thus difficult to comprehend why she'd punish herself because of a relative's death, we accept it and call it her way of coping with pain. During Olivia's depressive state she can be called infected with the Melancholic disease, as she aimlessly sits in sorrow and plans to waste 7 years of her life doing so.
“Clown: Good Madonna, why mourn’st thou?
Olivia: Good  fool, for my brother’s death.
Clown: I think his soul is in hell, Madonna.
Olivia: I know his soul is in heaven, fool.
Clown: The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your
Brother’s soul, being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.”
( I: V, 21-27)
I like to believe that Feste knew she was faking only to reject Orsino with more logic than "I don't like you leave me alone." But I guess the only one who could really confirm that is a man that died 400 years ago, oh well.

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"Go hang yourselves all! You are idle, shallow

things. I am not of your element. You shall

know more hereafter."(3.4.113-115)

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Greek mythology states that there was once a beautiful boy named Narcissus who saw his reflection in a lake and became extremely infatuated with himself unable to stop looking. The boy became so obsessed he was unable to leave that spot and inevitably died there. After some time a beautiful flower grew on the spot he died and remained there the same way he did blooming towards the lake and  looking down at the water. The flower then gained its name Narcissus and is treated as a symbol of the personality disorder. Malvolio himself is a narcissist. He almost always puts others down and ruins others fun. Viewing himself as better than basically everyone throughout the entire play. Specifically, Toby and Andrew who he commonly insults stating they are foolish and he is not of their element. At one point he does seem to be caring for someone else, countess Olivia. However, it's not hard to see his love is all fake and he only wants her for social status, thinking little if not anything of Olivia herself. Whatever Malvolio does is for his own benefit, as he, is all he can see, in his small sad reserved world, full of disappointment.

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Viola's pure feelings for the duke are what bring him and his depressive narcissistic insights, into reality. While doing this she also frees herself from her own form of guilt and is finally able to express love to the man she adores as the woman she is. Now, why the duke was able to switch over his extreme love for Olivia over to Viola is debatable. However, even before revealed as a female Orsino seemed attracted to her male persona.
"Dear lad, believe it;
[…] Diana's lip
Is not more smooth and rubious, thy small pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound,
And all is semblative a woman's part. (1.4.32; 34-37)"
A luscious mouth and sweet voice is not something you'd ever dream of saying to a page of your own gender in the 1500's. This doesn't imply that Orsino is or was attracted to males, however, touches on the thought that you can love things about someone regardless of their sex.

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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 odor. 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, naught 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.

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A cigarette is a slower way of taking a bullet. You constantly blow away minutes of your life for the sake of a drug you fancy. Orsino endures being addicted to love in the same way. He feels that if Olivia doesn't return his feelings he will eventually die. This being a weak statement from the start because what he loves is unclear, he himself feels like he needs love to survive. This eats away at him, and though it's a comedy thus taken lightly. Being that infatuated with someone is a pain. He accomplishes absolutely nothing, as being adored and adoring someone is all that fills his thoughts. He is so passionate about love he'd gladly let his obsession take his life and influence everything of what he does in the play. Much like a drug, it's consumed his life, taking him to a lonesome place where he suffers alone.

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Thermochromic liquid crystals change color based on the temperature of their surroundings. Viola wants to reveal one side of her but can't because of her disguise. Much like the crystals she is stuck this way until subjected to "heat." Thus continues to suffer and hide the truth only mentioning it when convenient, or stating it by means of lies or half of the truth. (Her fathers daughter.)(Loving a maiden much like the duke.)

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"Viola: My father had a daughter loved a man, As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman, I should your lordship. Orsino: And what's her history? Viola: A blank, my lord. She never told her love, But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, Feed on her damask cheek: 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?"

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If you want to talk about someone who loves himself, the best person to take your words would be Malvolio. When writing Malvolio,  Shakespeare created yet another self-obsessed melancholic like Hamlet and Richard II. What these characters struggle with is joining in with the fun of others specifically Feste, Sir Toby, and Sir Andrew who Malvolio regards as a bunch of idiots who need to mend their ways “You must amend your drunkenness.”(2.5.65)

People who despise others almost always have those who despise them and in Malvolio's case, it tends to be anyone that's, not himself. Maria says that "sometimes he is a kind of puritan" (2.3.139) while Toby calls him "an overweening rogue!" (2.5.25)  and Andrew states he would beat him to pulp if he could, "'Slight, I could so beat the rogue!"(2.5.29) Even Olivia, the girl he wishes to marry for status describes Malvolio as melancholy and blames it on his narcissism. Malvolio being the person he is, always tends to fire back at remarks thrown his way.

"Go hang yourselves all! You are idle, shallow

things. I am not of your element. You shall

know more hereafter."(3.4.113-115)

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Viola is the second clearest example of Melancholy. While Orsino is Sick due to rejection and confusion, Viola spends her days in silence. Viola expresses herself as dying of melancholy because her love for Orsino can't be spoken of. Being the protagonist she is, she dresses up as a man (Cesario) to work under Duke Orsino. Eventually, the maiden develops feelings for the spectacular duke and eats herself away because of it. Viola makes it clear to readers she's in love with the duke hence her asides are quite forward when it comes to proclaiming her love "I'll do my best To woo your lady: Aside. Yet a barful strife! Whoe'er I woo, myself would be his wife. (1.4.44-46)" She loves him enough to send letters to the lady he adores while she herself is shoved aside by his blind eyes. After some time, she engages in conversation with him regarding love. Viola states the maiden "he" loves highly resembles the duke. Confused the duke goes on about how Cesario shouldn't love someone that old and a younger maiden is the way to go. Soon enough Orsino reverts to his depressive state and claims a girl could never comprehend the love he feels. Viola is left in shock, for every day her heart dies watching the duke love aimlessly when she would literally die for him. The heroine stops him in his tracks and says women can indeed comprehend his love, however, women aren't always as forward. She then tries to express her love and change his perspective using the following, however, it doesn't play out well due to Orsino's dense nature.
"Viola: My father had a daughter loved a man,
As it might be, perhaps, were I a woman,
I should your lordship.
Orsino: And what's her history?
Viola: A blank, my lord. She never told her love,
But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud,
Feed on her damask cheek: 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?"

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Looking specifically at Twelfth Night numerous characters suffer from this disease. Orsino demonstrates many symptoms, suffering from Olivia's redundant rejection to his head over heels heart. The moment Orsino lays his eyes on the countess he's immediately infatuated with her and convinces himself that if he does not have her hand in marriage and obtain her love he will rot away and die. This ignites his stage of depression. As he states "If music be the food of love, play on, Give me excess of it; that, surfeiting, The appetite may sicken, and so die." Meaning that if it's true music causes people to fall in love, then he asks for music and much of it, so that if music were to be "the food of love" he'd consume enough to sicken his appetite and cause his love for Olivia  to die. Orsino makes it sound as he'll sit his days away waiting for the moment in which Olivia will be able to return his love. Continuing his opening commenting on the connection between reality and imagination with "So full of shapes is fancy That it alone is high fantastical." Which later draws concern to whether it's the idea of love he's after, or really the countess he adores. Later on, Feste defines Orsino's half-hearted behavior, stating "Now, the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal. (2.4.80-82)." Here he calls Orsino inconsistent. Saying he'll pray to the god of sadness for him, and hope his tailor will make him an outfit that changes color, much like his mind. If Orsino wore a costume made of taffeta, his costume would match the way he thinks. Also hinting that his mind itself has grown depressed and confused due to his obsession with love, so you could say he's "sick" to his core.

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Abandoned, suffering, lonesome, meaningless, sorrow, and misery all feelings that lived under one roof during the 14th century, under the name, melancholy.

Talked about as more of an illness caused by ones suffering than the modern synonym depression. It was believed to have derived from an imbalance in the fluids that make up a human's body. Melancholy is deemed to arise from love. Specifically, that in which is narcissistic, or love that's unrequited. Being commonly spoken of in the 14th century, Shakespeare's works have overdosed on it. The primary plot of many of his works follow the sad depressive state more often than not. Including Twelfth night, Violas sickening unspoken love for her master, As you like it, Rosalind’s, Oliver’s, and Phebe’s speechless and exaggerated outbursts, Hamlet, hamlets mourning over his father and state of depression, alongside many others. Twelfth night uncovers the pain that follows love, while also touching on the exaggeration many people display when harboring feelings. All love that's unreturned, or selfish, typically results in a lot of pain. This pain forms Twelfth Night's love triangle, a triangle far more confusing than even the wild waters of the Bermuda itself.