Jul 24, 2008

Twelfth Night | Orsino (Character Analysis)

Also: Duke Orsino, also known as the Count

Orsino is the duke of Illyria. It is to Duke Orsino that Shakespeare assigns the highest poetical lines of Twelfth Night, the ruler of Illyria being given to philosophical statements in lyrical terms. There is, in this, a certain self-consciousness. Nevertheless, the Duke is basically a good fellow who bonds with the lost Cesario and pardons Antonio. Like Olivia, the Duke is fickle, for he quickly embraces the revealed Viola and forgets about Olivia as soon as the mechanical confusion of the play is resolved.

Although Orsino appears...