Variety of love in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night"

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,0, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, language: English, abstract: Many modern critics, among them T.S. Eliot and Hugh Grady, focus on Shakespeare's role as avant-gardist and precursor of modern literature. Thus, most of their critical notices are concerned with Shakespeare's influence on literature, theatre, and language. One particularly frequently chosen subject is the assessment of his various contributions to English culture and, concomitantly, the examination of new standards Shakespeare has set. Last but not least, they elucidate his role as a preeminent model, when dissecting the effect his works had on authors like Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolf.

What these contemporary critics often do not emphasize strongly enough is the extent to which Shakespeare draws from tradition to compose his plays. This term paper will show the ascendancy of history in "Twelfth Night", where Shakespeare analyzes the various considerations of love present at that time, weighs up good and bad aspects, and, subsequently, develops an own theory on true love. In a first step, the paper reveals Elizabethan love concepts in the relationships between the main characters and points out how Shakespeare evaluates these various concepts. Finally, it makes a supposition on his understanding of true love.