Self-Obsession and Privilege

In Twelfth Night, the themes of self-obsession and class/privilege, are shown through the lens of “love.” The common thread linking Olivia, Malvolio, and Orsino is that they are in love with someone who can’t or won’t reciprocate those feelings. More broadly, they are searching for approval and their desire so much that they foolishly use their love/privilege as a tool to attain it with little regard for the consequences. Orsino’s obsession with Olivia does not stem from a desire to be with her, but rather an obsession with the idea of being in love. Olivia is presented as a woman of a high social class, and she enjoys the privileges this allows her. Malvolio, on the other hand, is not of the same class as Olivia and Orsino, and thus, suffers a much grimmer fate as he eventually descends into madness because of his blind love for Olivia which is under false pretences due to his own uncompromising desires. It is impossible to examine Twelfth Night without recognizing the role social status and privilege play in determining the fate of each character. Characters like Orsino, who is privileged and materialistic but isn’t fueled by madness, like Malvolio, and Viola, whose privilege has little effect on her actions, present an interesting contradiction to the concept that self-obsession fueled by privilege contribute heavily to their story arc and ending. While Twelfth Night is presented as a play about love, I learned that the characters’ love for each other is not fully real, but merely a tool to be used for them to achieve their selfish desires prompted by self-obsession and privilege.

Self-obsession is a dangerous trait to possess, but evidently someone who has this trait can still attain his or her goals because self-obsession can also refer to someone's passion for their own success. Much of the time the success will require sacrifices that someone who is self-obsessed is willing to take, rather than someone who cares more passionately for others and is constrained by their care and concern for the well being for others. But, if someone has only their own interest in mind, it can also lead to a dark and lonely path, while the others’ kindness helps them become successful. Malvolio, whose name literally means “ill will,'' begins the play by immediately criticizing both Feste the Fool and Olivia, who he serves. Olivia, offended, responds “O, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite. To be generous, guiltless, and of free disposition is to take those things for bird-bolts that you seem cannon bullets.” (31). Olivia makes a pointed observation: she believes Malvolio can only think of himself and even those thoughts are disturbed. When Sir Toby, Fabian, and Maria scheme a letter to Malvolio from Olivia, to convince him that she is in love, Malvolio convinces himself that Olivia is in love with him more than the letter itself. He continues to embarassess himself because he wants Olivia and the status she grants him more than anything else. This does not stop him from becoming offended when people start calling him “the Devil” and “Satan”: “Go hang yourselves all! You are idle, shallow things. I am not of your element.” (119). Ultimately, his own self-obsession and pride gets the best of him and lead him to madness and unhappiness. Malvolio is never able to transcend his lower social status and become part of the aristocracy, and it is clear that his humiliation and descent into madness have less to do with losing Olivia’s “love” than losing the possibility of gaining more social status and respect. In contrast to Malvolio, Olivia, who has more of a superiority complex, is led not to madness but confusion and blindness. Olivia is portrayed as a love-sick bachelorette pining after someone who she will never be able to be with, even when Viola/Cesario rejects her advances, she continues to profess her love, “I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride, / Nor wit nor reason can my passion hide.” (101). In the end, Oliva does successfully achieve her goals, ending up with Sebastian, despite her tendency to dramatize and act somewhat childish because of her privilege. Olivia’s “happy ending” reveals a deeper truth about social status and class divides during Shakespeare’s era; despite her selfish, reckless actions, because she is of higher class, everything works out for her in the end.

While there are many characters who do possess these traits of self-obsession, there are characters who challenge the idea that self-obsession and privilege inevitably lead to madness. Viola is one character who doesn’t suffer these same effects of privilege as Olivia despite also coming from a wealthy family. From the beginning, she shows honor and good intent, proving herself a reliable character. She first gives up her gender in order to serve someone she has yet to meet because of her desire to work for Olivia who also lost a brother. Sacrificing something so central to one’s identity is unbelievably difficult, but she does it without hesitation, telling the captain to, “Conceal me what I am, and be my aid / For such disguise as haply shall become / The form of my intent. I’ll serve this duke.” (13). It’s not the thought of success or social status motivating her; it’s the loss of someone she loved so closely which motivates her, a sentiment many of the other characters don’t relate to. Throughout the rest of the play, she proves her purity, particularly when she finds out about Olivia’s love for her. Rather than be blinded by flattering or mock the situation, she responds with regret and sympathy, “Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much. / How easy is it for the proper false / In women’s waxen hearts to set their forms!” (53). Other characters would not react with the same panic as Viola, showing she cares more about others’ feelings than her own. While Orsino is both self-obsessed and privileged, he never goes mad, breaking the pattern of other characters. He spends most of the play giving orders or pining for Olivia, yet someone as kind as Viola is still in love with him, leading the reader to believe that perhaps there is hope for him yet. When he ends up with Viola, it shows that he may have strayed down the wrong path, but he ultimately is driven by good intentions.

There are many questions that come when thinking about the relationship between privilege, self-obsession, and madness, especially within Twelfth Night. Is the love the characters have for each other real, or is it merely an extension of their own selfish desires? While pondering this question, I came to the conclusion that most of the characters only view love as a means to secure status or satisfy selfish desires. The characters throw themselves at one another, with little knowledge of whom they claim to love. An obvious example of this “blind love” is seen in Olivia’s relationship to Cesario. She meets him and has no knowledge of this man or where he came from, but she is suddenly, madly in love. Another example is Orsino and Olivia, who we barely see in the same room, yet most of the play centers around their “love”. Both Olivia and Orsino are seen struggling with separating their love with their class and often come across as materialistic. Even after a discussion with Viola about a women love, Orsino, to get Olivia’s attention, says to Viola: “To her in haste. Give her this jewel. Say / My love can give no place, bide no denay.” (75). Orsino believes a woman's love is lesser than a man’s, and he attempts to woo Olivia with jewels, an expensive material item. His actions show that he believes love can be bought. Olivia’s struggle is more naive than Orsino’s and is portrayed with more visual language and not much subtlety. While in discussion with Viola, she regularly talks about familial power because, for her, a suitor must be from a higher family. These restrictions and regulations she has followed her whole life have rubbed off on her: “O world, how apt the poor are to be proud! / If one should be a prey, how much the better / To fall before the lion than the wolf.” (99).

Twelfth Night exposes the mental effects and differences between caring for yourself and obsessing over yourself. This is seen in Shakespeare’s emphasis on external status and internal status within a character. Feste the fool is an apt example of the contrast between internal and external status. Feste is allowed the freedom to make fun of anyone and anything with no repercussions, leading to high internal status, yet he is still a fool serving as entertainment for others, making him of lower external status. His high internal status causes him to be more offensive and say whatever he wants whenever he wants, and ends up not caring about others, or himself. The other characters, while of a higher social status, are also tied down by the opinions of those around them. Their identities are shaped by whether or not the object of their affections reciprocates these feelings, causing their internal status to be fractured. Their self-obsession and reliance on others for validation (through reciprocation of love) allows for them to slip into madness as soon as their image of themselves is threatened.