In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, love and gender is lost in the festival that is Illyria. Throughout the play true love and true gender is questioned. In most cases in Illyria, love and gender are somehow jaded, the truth can not be taken for certain. What is perceived may not be what truly lies behind the mask. In most cases, love is taken to the excess and loses its true meaning. But, in Illyria, there is love that rings true. Among all the chaos and festival true love does survive and it overflows in Viola. Even though she is too a part of the festival in Illyria, her love, is true love. Her love is not false like the love of so many characters in Shakespeare's play. Under her mask of Cesario, her love for Orsino unfolds.
             Throughout the play all of the characters in the play take love to the extreme or can not understand the true meaning of love. As the play opens, Orsino is declaring his love for Olivia. In his speech and his actions, as seen in the film, he seems to have his idea of love somewhat misconstrued. "If music be the food of love, play on. Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting, That appetite may sicken and so die" (1. 1. 1-3). Orsino can not truly love anyone or anything if this is what he believes love is. He takes love to the excess, Orsino wants it all. All of the feelings and emotions that go with true love, and he needs it all to the point of gorging himself. Another example would be Sir Toby Belch. Sir Toby is so caught up in his love of drinking that he misses the love that is being expressed to him by Maria. Sir Toby is so lost in his alcoholic haze that he refuses to see the relationship that could have been. His love for the bottle has blinded his eyes for Maria. Next would be Olivia. She is so caught up in her own self pity for the loss of her brother that she refuses to even see the face of another man for seven years. She is so lost in her self pity
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