The love theme in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is confusing but at the same time entertaining. The love triangle involving Viola, disguised as Cesario, is in love with Orsino. Orsino is in love with Olivia. Olivia, however, loves Cesario. Orsino tries to woo Olivia with the language of love; however, his many attempts fail because the heart cannot be controlled. Orsino, a man in love with love itself, is on a mission to win the heart of his current object of affection, the Lady Olivia. She, however, has somewhat different plans as she envisions herself married to the lovely Cesario. Shakespeare’s beautiful sonnets 18 and 73 describe the changes in season and the passages of time that correlate with the play’s main theme and mood.In both sonnets and in the Twelfth Night introduce the issue of the effect of the weather. In Twelfth Night, a stormy sea has shipwrecked a vessel leaving the passengers scattered at sea. Viola, a Sea Captain, and some sailors believe that they are the only survivors of the wreck. The Captain believes that their being saved was only as fate would have it. Viola struggles with what to do with herself in a foreign country with no male companions. She, with the Captain’s help, disguises herself as a boy so that she can protect her identity, support herself, and not be taken advantage of. The Captain agrees with her plan and convinces Duke Orsino that Viola, disguised as Cesario, is one of his noblest men. When the play ends, Viola is revealed and happily lives with Duke Orsino. The change in weather from days of stormy to calm correlates with the weather in sonnets 18 and 73. Shakespeare begins with, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? / Thou art more lovely and temperate: / Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, / And summer’s lease hath too short a date . . .”(I-4). In sonnet 73, Shakespeare writes, “That time of year thou mayst in me ...
