An Analysis of Orsino

Duke Orsino is not the main character of Twelfth Night, but he plays a significant part in the lives of the other characters. Despite the fact that he never once speaks to Olivia until the end of the play, he insists that he is in love with her. The audience learns through Olivia's words that he is a good, generous, handsome man, worthy of love, though she does not love him. Orsino spends the entirety of the play pining for her love, sending Viola to her home multiple times in hopes that Viola will be able to persuade her to love him. However, except until the very end of the play he never goes to Olivia's home himself; he stays in his own house, immersed in his own sorrow. He trusts Viola and likes her, taking her under his wing as a boy who has not yet quite grown into a man. Despite the fact that he never realized that Viola is a woman, when he does discover this fact at the end, he immediately agrees to marry her. He apparently forgets all about his love for Olivia at this point, revealing that it was not true love but simply an infatuation. Orsino does not go through many changes throughout the play, but he is a necessary character that is used to mock the common trope of true love.