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Why so I do, the noblest that I have.

O, when mine eyes did see Olivia first,

Methought she purg’d the air of pestilence;

That instant was I turn’d into a hart,

And my desires, like fell and cruel hounds,

E’er since pursue me. How now? what news from her? (1.1.17-22)

The Purest Air: Orsino’s Description of Olivia in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, in Act One, Scene One, Orsino is recounting all of the things he loves about Countess Olivia. He finds her so attractive that he compares his experience of first seeing her with having the world “purged” (1.1.19) of all impurities. He’s clearly smitten. However, Orsino is not actually in love with Olivia, but just infatuated with the idea of love. This is evidenced by the fact that Orsino talks more about love in general and about himself than he does about any innate characteristics that would make up Olivia as a person. Thus, the character of Orsino becomes a representation of a larger societal tendency: of being in love with the idea of love rather than true human companionship.

First off, Orsino’s obsession seems to be with himself. He, in particular, talks about his own “desires, like fell and cruel hounds / E’er since pursue me” (1.1.21-22). By using this metaphor of his desires being “hounds” that are hunting him, Orsino makes himself the victim. He is more concerned with how his desires are consuming him than he is about acting on his passion for Olivia. He is talking more about these feelings pursuing him than what it means to “pursue” Olivia. The metaphor of the hounds is a metaphor relating to personal pain, and an abstract idea of how love “feels” rather than on anything substantive related to Olivia. And this shows that Orsino is more focused on an abstract idea centered on what he thinks love, which negates any actual pursuit of a relationship.