Olivia

Olivia is a character in one of William Shakespeare’s most popular romantic comedies, Twelfth Night, believed to have been written around 1600/01. Olivia is a beautiful young noblewoman, who is of great interest to the many suitors who pursue her, but she is grief stricken over the recent death of her brother, and prefers to remain in deep mourning for seven years. However, that vow goes by the wayside when Viola, disguised as a male servant, Cesario, appears on the scene, and Olivia falls hard for her/him. Viola believes that her own brother, Sebastian, has died in a shipwreck, so already these two have a lot in common, what with the dead brothers and all. Olivia puts all her considerable charms to work to entice Cesario to marry her. In this, she is being pretty cool – not only is she appreciating the androgynous nature of gender, she is also laying aside matters of social standing and class. Way to go, Olivia! Naturally, we cannot leave things at this pass in the 17th century, but Olivia takes a pretty good crack at it. In the end, she marries Viola’s look-alike brother, Sebastian, who is not only a nobleman himself, he is also not dead. All’s well that ends well.

Olivia is a character in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple". She is the biological daughter of Celie and her stepfather. Olivia is adopted by a minister and his wife, along with her brother, and is eventually brought to Africa. There, Olivia befriends a local village girl. Their relationship serves to illuminate the strength in bonds between women. There is a lovely moment in the book when Celie writes: "somebody ole would have eyes like that. So I call her ole Livia."