Twelfth Night, By William Shakespeare

Throughout Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare portrayed a story of unreciprocated love, misunderstanding, and a happy ending that ties all the loose ends together. However, he also offered a detailed depiction of many relationships, particularly those involving Orsino, Olivia, Viola, Cesario, and Sebastian. By examining the dynamics between these characters as well as a few others through the lens offered throughout this play, it becomes quite clear that certain relationships are consistently stronger than others. Although the main plot of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night focuses on the relationships between men and women, these relationships are consistently superficial and unreliable whereas the relationships between men are notably stronger and
Known for his rowdy behavior and drinking, Toby often simply used Andrew as somewhat of a sidekick character, a role that Andrew seemed to willing take. For example, after they are chastised by Malvolio and Maria began describing her plot to trick the steward, Toby remarked that he “[smelled] a device,” to which Andrew responded that he “[had] it in [his] nose too,” (2.3.162-163). In this instance, along with many others, Andrew simply affirmed the statement made by his friend without giving it any real thought or questioning him at all. Andrew maintained a fierce loyalty to Toby despite the fact that the latter did not seem to put much effort into the friendship. Despite this, the friendship still managed to endure through the entire play, even after physical harm comes to both Toby and Andrew, with Andrew stating that “[he’ll] help [Toby], because [they’d] be dressed together,” (5.1.204-205). This relationship in particular showed that even when the interaction between men were toxic or harmful to one party, they remained strong and endured the course the