I believe that Shakespeare’s message about love is that love is a curse. First, with Orsino and Olivia; Orsino is madly in love with Olivia, but Olivia does not love him back. It must be horrible to want something so badly but you will never be able to have it. Orsino continually sends Olivia love letters only to be rejected every single time and then to hear from Olivia that she is married to his loyal servant, Cesario, whom he had trusted. Second with Cesario (Viola) and Olivia; Olivia falls madly in love with Cesario, But Cesario does not love her back because Cesario is really Viola who loves Orsino. Olivia’s love for Cesario practically makes her go mad. Before Olivia met Cesario, she was a well-respected lady, however, after she practically begs on her hands and knees for Cesario to love her back. She becomes needy and clingy and no man, let alone another person does not like that. Thirdly there is Viola and Orsino. Viola truly loves Orsino, but Orsino does not love her back because he thinks she is a guy. Viola spends numerous amounts of her time trying to convince Orsino that him and Olivia will never be an item. And the fact Viola has to send the love letters of the man she loves to the woman he loves is torturous for Viola. Viola has to sit around all day listening to the man she loves talk about another woman he is madly in love with. If I were her I would be depressed. Then there is Malvolio and Olivia. Malvolio loves Olivia and finally thinks she loves him back after what he thinks is a letter from her. When Olivia does not give any affection back, Malvolio’s love for her torments him and lands him in the nut house.
I think love can be a curse but also a boon. Love makes you second guess yourself and makes you argue with yourself a lot. For example, you want to say hi to a guy but you don’t know if you should because you think the guy might not say hi back or might just think you are weird for saying hi to him because he doesn’t even know who you are and then when you actually work up the courage to say hello to him and than you get an unexpected response like a confused look; then you spend that whole night while in bed playing back the whole scene in your head of what he might think of you or beating yourself up over that fact that you should never had said hi in the first place; then you end up getting no sleep and are very tired and grumpy the next day. However, once you find love, I think it would be the best thing in the world. Having someone to share everything with and be comfortable with and make you happy. I think finding love is the torturous part, but once you find it, it is totally worth all the torture you had to go through. Like in the play, in the end everything was resolved and the two couples got married, except for Malvolio, but he got what he deserved. (541 words)
