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How Is Malvolio Presented In Twelfth Night

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In the play Twelfth Night, Shakespeare implies comedy however he also implies seriousness as portrayed in the character of Malvolio in the sub-plot. The following indicates about how Malvolio is presented through others and how other characters think of him and also in terms of audiences and their reaction to his behaviour in his scenes. One way that Malvolio is presented is as a comedic character for the other characters in the sub-plot who are Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Fabian. This is achieved when they send a letter that was in regards from Olivia in act 2 scene 5 and that it shows to be as a symbol of foolery for Malvolio as he comes to think of it as it truly being from Olivia in which he says “three months married to her, sitting in my state” this shows about …show more content…

However he uses this at the end of act two scene five back at them when he says in act 5 scene 1 I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” which lowers their status meaning that he is calling them a pack of animals which is bringing Sir Toby high status down especially as he is related to Olivia. There would be two different audiences on how they wound react to Malvolio being in a cage like an animal being abused as the contemporary audience will feel start to feel sympathetic from their hatred for him, however the Elizabethan audience will react differently and feel no sympathy and laugh at him because he deserved because he is a puritan and they liked when Shakespeare made fun of puritans. Another characteristic of Malvolio is that he is a very boring and depressing character in which he says that many of the things that he says can come across quite depressing this can be shown in the quote when after he has spoken to Olivia and he says in act 3 scene 4 “Go hang yourselves

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