Occam's Razor
So, Orsino, one of two things is happening to you. Either:
1) Your close friend and trusted consultant Cesario is actually a beautiful and cunning woman from a distant land, searching for news of her deceased brother whilst struggling to hide her feelings for you, OR
2) Your gay best friend has a crush on you.
You must act carefully at this point; any thoughtless caress, any excess in compliments, could fuel the fires of Viola's/Cesario's/Sebastian's unrequited love. And while the last thing you want to do is lead a homosexual on, it would be rude to simply dismiss your closest friend and ally. You must now tread the narrow path between misconstrued compliments and cold indifference. You must attempt what is seemingly impossible; you must keep your best friend while denying him what he wants more than anything. Because in all truth, there is almost no chance that he will turn into a beautiful maiden in the final act.
______
I am in a weird mood tonight (surprise!) but I can't stop thinking about 12th Night.
To me, it just seems like the ultimate pipe dream for anyone who has ever had a crush. It is the desire that, in the end, you are everything your crush wants, if only you are brave enough to be open with them. It is a cruelly unrealistic desire.
I don't even know why I'm stuck on this idea. I haven't had a proper crush in over a year, so it's not like this is reflective of my life as of now.
_______
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Comments
Huh.
Sure, it worked out for Viola and Orsino, and for Toby and Maria, but everybody else? Olivia, married to someone she thought was the 'man' she loved, but who turned out to be a complete stranger she'd never met before their wedding.... Sebastian, likewise, married to a complete stranger... Antonio, his crush married to someone else, some woman, and he not even invited to the wedding.... Malvolio, his dreams shattered in complete humiliation..... The Fool and Sir Andrew didn't have any particular love interests, so they probably went on being as merry as ever.
I was Antonio. At least I got to swordfight.
And really, we're all probably more likely to be Antonio than Viola.
So...
Antonio was gay? I was never sure. I mean, it seemed that way, but I'm always hesitant to make assumptions; I tend to think everyone is gay until proven otherwise.
And you are right; most crushes in the play ended horribly. But I think that aspect of the play adds to the fantasy of the situation. While everybody else's unrequited love is used against them, Viola and Orsino miraculously make it out. I dunno. It's late and I'm starting to sound pretentious (okay, maybe not "starting").
I was definitely Antonio as well. The only difference now is that some part of me just gave up on having crushes.
Not just an an analogy -
I actually played Antonio in my school's production of Twelfth Night. And the analogy, too, of course. We've probably all figuratively been Antonio. And yeah, Antonio was gay.
The production I was in managed to make the play funny, too. A lot of it was probably our Malvolio thrusting his hips into the audience on the line 'some have greatness thrust upon them!' but that wasn't the only time our mostly-Shaxberd-illiterate audiences laughed.
Haha wow.
Sorry, I'm taking poetry this semester, so I'm used to every statement being an analogy.
Our Malvolio did the same hip-thrust thing too! It was a bit confusing though; they cut out most of the Orsino/Viola/Olivia scenes, and mainly featured the Fool and other comic relief characters. This was fine, but I really didn't understand who some of the characters where.
I read 12th Night last year
I read 12th Night last year in english. I enjoyed it thoroughly, although I was confused once I learned it was a comedy. I know humor was a bit different in Shakespeare's time, but wow.
Yeah,
I was confused, until you saw it performed. The actors where literally stumbling around drunk and groping each other, and it just made a lot more sense.