theme of cruelty in twelfth night

Cruelty of men
Cruelty of men is expressed in many ways through different characters. In “Twelfth Night”, we find that many characters do possess a sort of cruelty in them – and this cruelty changes from something seething within them into something which they inflict tremendously on others, in particular, Malvolio. Despite Twelfth Night being a comedy, dark humour does prevail in this play, and ends in hideous cruelty shown towards Malvolio.
There is a reference of cruelty within the character of Olivia. Olivia is described by Orsino as “fair cruelty” and “sovereign cruelty”. Orsino must have felt mistreated and unjustified in receiving unrequited love from Olivia, and thus labelled her as a cruelty. It is also evident that Olivia seems to hold herself in high regard and thinks Orsino unworthy of her love.
Orsino himself, is infatuated, and it is his deep love for Olivia that makes him capable of committing violent deeds as well. When he realizes finally that Olivia...