Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is a comedy of love, wit, and humor all rolled up and set onto a fantasy world called Illyria. In the play characters fall desperately in love with seemingly unattainable persons, and thus provide the sustenance for five acts of farcical drama. However, it the role of one character in particular, Duke Orcino, that Shakespeare uses more than any other to characterize the western cultures superficial view of love.

From the very beginning of the play we learn about the infamous lovesick Duke of Illyria. In his opening scene we see the Duke commanding his musicians to play a love song, "If music be the food of love, play on!" (1:1:1). But for the Duke, it is not enough to merely have his musicians idly play. He commands them to inebriate him with an "excess of it" (1:1:2), until he reaches the point where love poisons his very soul. From these few lines we are able to discern something of the nature Duke Orcino's passionate longings. He is not so much in love in the physical sense but, is in love with the emotion of love itself. It is this superficiality in the Duke sentiments that brings about his lovesick demeanor as well as causes his repeated rejection by the lady Olivia.

In a like manner the term love has become misconstrued in western culture so as to resemble that of Duke Orcino's misplaced emotions. In our fast pace, ultra convenient, and ready made society, love has become a commodity no longer valued for its uniqueness or intrinsic worth, but has become something likened unto an Illyrian fantasy. People often talk of being "in love," and while they usually mean this in reference to another person, in reality they are more in love with the ideal of being in love, more so than having any true feelings toward another. Like the lovesick Duke, western society longs to have an excess of love to the point where it sickens even itself. A small yet significant example of this can be seen in the Cinderella myth, which involves such fantastic elements as fairy godmothers, charming princes, love at first sight, and living happily ever after. The same ideas that pervade this bedtime story are the ones that western culture uses to define love. And just as with the lovesick Duke, this superficial sense of love has been at the root of society's difficulty in forming true and meaningful romantic relationships.