There is no woman’s sides
Can bide the beating of so strong a passion
As love doth give my heart; no woman’s heart
So big, to hold so much. They lack retention.
Alas, their love may be called appetite,
No motion of the liver, but the palate,
That suffer surfeit, cloyment, and revolt.
But mine is all as hungry as the sea,
And can digest as much. Make no compare
Between that love a woman can bear me
And that I owe Olivia.
– William Shakespeare
Twelfth Night, Act 2, Scene 4. Orsino claims that a woman’s love cannot be anywhere near as strong as a man’s love. Women are not capable of “passion,” he says. He even implies that women are physically incapable of a man’s strong love, their hearts aren’t big enough. He goes on to dismiss woman’s love as superficial, an “appetite” felt only in the “palate.” While his love is constant. If only Orsino could hear how ridiculous he sounds, we can only put it down to the madness sparked by his obsession for Olivia.