Event Blog 5

Nicholas Zwobot

EN*101

Dr. Ellis

20 November 2017

Event Analysis 5

            I am always amazed as to how writings/plays are able to come together and show so much similarity. This can be seen in the comparison between Spring Awakening and Twelfth Night. When seeing Spring Awakening I was at first confused, then shocked as to what the meaning of this story was, but I chose to focus on the sub-theme, which is love. In most stories love is either a main or sub-theme, but in these two I feel as if it is the best connection.

            Twelfth Night is a perfect example of a “love triangle.” This is due to the fact that each person in the story is in love with someone else and is either having trouble perusing, at a loss for how they should approach the situation or they are in a predicament where they are not in-love with the right individual. The three-people involved make the aspect of the issue much more interesting. This “love triangle” consists of three people: Duke Orsino, Viola who has disgusted herself as a servant Cesario, and then finally Olivia. This story begins with a harsh turn as Olivia brother is lost at sea, which is a tremendously saddening event in her life. As the story progresses, we find out that The Duke is in love with Olivia, things take a turn when it is revealed that not only is Olivia not in love with Orsino, but she is in love with the disguised Viola, who is in love with Orsino. After a brief pause from the love triangle to revel that Sebastian is still alive, it then returns to Olivia giving a ring to Viola, who then realizes that Olivia is in love with her. There is a major revel, when Orsino notices the love on Viola’s face. He then asks her who is she in love with, with her replying that she is much like Orsino. Orsino suggests falling in love with a younger women, but little does he know that Olivia is in love with Viola.

            Although in Twelfth Night the main theme is love, you can see in Spring Awakening that the love is a sub-theme to the main theme of moving from childhood to adulthood. An area where these themes overlap, is when Moritz is extremely distraught after being kicked out of his house. He comes across Ilse, who is a childhood friend of his, and they being to reminisce. You first see the love from Ilse who you can see is reading Moritz and understands he is upset, she tries to bring him back with her in order to talk more, but he refuses. After she is gone, he then realizes it is too late, and proceeds to kill himself. This suicide is common, because of extreme love mixed with being distraught, it begins to tear a person up inside. This is how I see Viola’s character feeling. She is the only one of the three that knows how each person feels. She is doing all she can to change Orsino’s heart, but she is unable to and hopes that only time will help her.

            Another form of love can be seen later, where Melchior and Wendla, who is pregnant, keep contact through letters. This is a classic Romeo and Julliet type of scenario. In Twelfth Night, we see a type of love, even though it is only felt on one side. This is between Olivia and Orsino. Orsino, tries to get Olivia to fall in love with him through a recited love poem, but she does not accept it. Olivia is almost acting like the boy who took the letter from Melchior. They disgraced the letter, just as she is disgracing his words. It is sad to see love wasted, and in both scenarios love is given, but there is some factor that is there to put the love on hold or to completely destroy it.

            Love is a beautiful thing, but it can also be a major heartbreak. Although I have yet to read the ending of Twelfth Night, the ending to Spring Awakening ends in a beautiful manner. It shows that there are no boundaries to love, this could come true if Viola and Olivia were to fall in love, which would break a boundary just as the spirits of Wendla and Moritz have done for Melchior.