Event Analysis 6

Patrick Donohue

Dr. Ellis

Understanding Literature

20 November 2013

Event Analysis

            In Twelfth Night or, What You Will by William Shakespeare and the Modern Masters presentation of David Yezzi both depict love or lack there of.  In Twelfth Nigh or What You Will an interesting love relationships develop and form within the play.  In David Yezzi’s poem “The Ghost Seer” a poem describes a young man’s ambition to become a painter but his relationship with his father holds him back.   Secrecy in the play hinders the characters from finding their true love.   In both of these works love plays an important role in guiding individuals on their paths in life. 

            In Twelfth Night or What You Will, a love triangle develops involving Duke Orsino, Viola, Malvolio, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Olivia.  Duke Orsino in Act I attempts to informally court Olivia, but Olivia rejects the messages explaining that she must mourn, for a total of seven years, for the loss of her brother.  Olivia’s love for her brother is in actuality hindering her ability to find her own love.  This is made clear to the reader with the discussion with the clown.   In Act 1 Scene V, the clown questions Olivia mourning and then goes on to state “The more fool, Madonna, to mourn for your brothers soul being in heaven. Take away the fool, gentlemen.”  The argument that the Clown arrives at is why should she mourn if she believes that he is in a better place and in Heaven. 

            The false identity of Viola, dressing as Cesario, does not allow her to express her true love for Duke Orsino until the very end of the play when she reveals herself as a woman.  Orsino states, “Boy, thou hast said to me a thousand times/ Thou never shouldst love woman like me.”  And a truly romantic fashion Viola explains that she still loves the Duke.  Without Viola revealing herself to her brother Sebastian she would not have done so.  She would not have been able to profess her love for the Duke. 

            In David Yezzi’s Modern Masters presentation, He read aloud a poem “The Ghost Seer,” in the poem a young man finds himself attempting to become a painter.  He is forced along to an art exhibit with his father.  The speaker of the poem reveals that he never actually loved his father.  Although the speaker states that he never loved his father, the speaker’s message portrays a different message.  For example at the end of the poem the speaker states “So now that he’s gone, it’s not that I don’t miss him./ I can understand he’s dead, like mentally, But I don’t feel that sad he’s not around,”  this identifies that there was still however small a piece of the speaker that loved his father.  The speaker is still longing for the company of his father.

            Together both of these works shed light that love is an uncontrollable force.  Love can drive us to do many things. In Twelfth Night, the love of Viola for Duke Orsino may have never been proclaimed.  David Yezzi’s poem “The Ghost Seer” shows that love is present even when thought there to be none.

            Throughout the semester we have been asked to relate our outside events to the readings we have read for class.   The most interesting aspect that I found about this was how easy it had become.  Through this past semester it has become second nature for me to relate readings for class and outside events.  This especially was prevalent in my philosophy class where I was able to relate readings in philosophy class to readings in Understanding Literature.