Communities

We all have a sense of community. Sometimes our community includes other people while other times it is simply a state of mind. Communities can be simply groups of people, people that live together in the same area, have a common purpose, or communions of love. Communities can also be considered by one person, however, they may not be considered by anyone else. Communities of all of these natures can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night as well as some of Carole Maso’s works. Ms. Maso was the final writer of Loyola’s Modern Masters Reading Series.

It is human nature to desire to be in communion with others, and many times it is fueled to become even stronger by certain events. Events can be positive, like that of marriage, or negative, such as a national disaster.

In one of the work’s read by Ms. Maso, she spoke about the feelings cities were sensing after 9/11, in particular the feelings of New York. She explained that many times cities are silent communities that become louder in times of trouble and need. Cities are very vulnerable and precious, and in a marvelous way, man-made. Communities are made by man; they are made by the human tendency to lean towards others.

Two very clear and distinct living communities in Twelfth Night would be the households of Orsino and Olivia. They appear to be the two noble households of the country of Illyria and the characters of the play, for the most part, belong to one of them. Throughout the play other communities are desired, and some are formed, such as the communion between Antonio and Sebastian after Antonio saved Sebastian’s life. There is also the friendship between Orsino and Viola as well as Olivia and Viola, while Orisino truly desires a communion out of love, which he thinks should be with Olivia. In the same way, Ms. Maso speaks about the community of saints in one of her excerpts. She gives little bits of information about each saint and how they are all one big community striving to protect those on earth and provide happiness for all they can. There are many saints, each having their own specialties and interests, but they are all bonded together with the common interest in loving and obeying God and serving the people on earth.

At the end of Twelfth Night, there are many communities that are joined together out of love. Orsino and Viola strengthen their communion with one another through marriage. Olivia ends up, by default, marrying Viola’s twin brother Sebastian. Through the twins, Olivia and Orsino are joined together in communion with one another. Another marriage makes a communion with Maria, a maidservant of Olivia, with Olivia’s uncle, Sir Toby. In another one of Ms. Maso’s excerpts she speaks about the love of a mother for her child during a time of war. The love of her child is strengthened by the overwhelming feeling of wanting to protect them from what is going on elsewhere in the world. She also speaks of a love of a mother and daughter in another excerpt, this time the mother is providing an organ for her dying daughter.

There are also communities that can be made in the mind. I mentioned before the excerpt in which a mother is providing an organ for her dying daughter. The daughter is being hospitalized for her illness and in her medicated state she is hallucinating. During her hallucinations she makes up a story of “Young H” and the community of which he lives. In “Twelfth Night” there are also communities in the mind. Orsino believes he loves Olivia, when in reality he loves the idea of being in love. Another circumstance would be when Malvolio, a servant of Olivia believes Olivia is in love with him. What aids this assumption is a letter he receives which he thinks came from Olivia when in reality it came from Olivia’s maidservant Maria pretending to be Olivia.

Being in communion with one another is seen all over in many different ways. We are one big community her at Loyola, our class is a community, we are in communion with those we live with as well as our families and friends. Because community is so clearly seen in everyday life it is not surprising that they can be found in Ms. Maso’s works as well as Twelfth Night.