Theme of Excess

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  • EXCESS
    • Olivia
      • Arguably excessive length of her mourning
        • The impression we have been given does not line up with the impression in Act 1 Scene 5
          • She is not a 'cloistress' and is able to run her household, engage in wordplay, deliver her opinion & seemingly enjoy her interview with Viola
            • Some productions use the contrasting views of Olivia to suggest her mourning is a smokescreen to deter Orsino's advances.
        • She abandons her mourning very quickly after meeting Cesario
          • Olivia
            • Arguably excessive length of her mourning
              • The impression we have been given does not line up with the impression in Act 1 Scene 5
                • She is not a 'cloistress' and is able to run her household, engage in wordplay, deliver her opinion & seemingly enjoy her interview with Viola
                  • Some productions use the contrasting views of Olivia to suggest her mourning is a smokescreen to deter Orsino's advances.
              • She abandons her mourning very quickly after meeting Cesario
                • Could suggest she wasn't that committed to it, or the overpowering feelings she has for Cesario have overtaken her sadness
                • Metaphor 'Even so quickly may one catch the plague'
                  • Some critics feel she got what she deserved b/c she disregared her mourning so quickly and they enjoy seeing her being made a fool of
                  • Could suggest she wasn't that committed to it, or the overpowering feelings she has for Cesario have overtaken her sadness
              • 'And water once a day her chamber round with eye-offending brine'
              • In Victorian times there were very strict rules on mourning
          • Metaphor 'Even so quickly may one catch the plague'
            • Some critics feel she got what she deserved b/c she disregared her mourning so quickly and they enjoy seeing her being made a fool of
        • 'And water once a day her chamber round with eye-offending brine'
        • In Victorian times there were very strict rules on mourning
    • Sir Toby
      • 'You must confine yourself within the modest limits of order'
        • He is characterised by excess
        • His motivations are selfish, he lives to enjoy drinking and merry-making
        • He is devoted to self-gratification without much thought for others
      • RSC production in 1997, the stage was dominated by an enormous, oversized fridge for Sir Toby and late night raids. A visual symbol of his gluttony and self-indulgence
      • Even his name suggests over-indulgence
      • 'Confine? I'll confine myself no finer than I am'
        • Confinement, modesty and order are antipathetic to his excessive and disorderly conduct
        • His excess is also apparent in his talkative nature and an extravagance with language in which he is not completely in control of his words
        • He even rejects the authority of time and perhaps, the limitation of time itself
        • His excesses are punished in the end, with a stark reminder of the limits of the body, when Sebastian wounds him, and he is ironically unable to berate drunkenness
    • Orsino
      • His desire for excess music and his excessive feelings of love
        • 'If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it'
          • His love seems to be more of a self-indulgent emotion
          • The hyperbole of his language suggests he is in love with the sensation of being in love
            • His desire for excess of the music, which gives him sensations of music suggests love is like a drug
              • This may be why is view is slightly twisted as he is clouded to the truth
        • 'Surefeiting'
          • Indicates that he wants to be overpowered and consumed by feelings of love
        • He uses a lot of clichés to express his love
          • 'I was turned into a hart, And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds e'er since pursue me'
            • A spiritual form of love is stressed by the vivid image of his consuming physical desires
            • Reference to the legend of Actaeon, a huntsman who was turned into a deer and devoured by his hounds for glimpsing the virtuous Diana bathing

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