Malvolio: The Perfect Outcast In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

Malvolio is introduced to us in Act1Sc5, presented as pompous and assertive, first impressions of him depict a man desperate for superiority. This is shown when he calls Feste “a barren rascal” even though Feste is of the same social standing as Malvolio. The fact that our first introduction to Malvolio involves him mocking another character using degrading language immediately

For instance, when he finds the love letter that is supposedly written by Olivia, confessing her love for him, and telling him to smile, wear yellow stockings and go cross-gartered, he says, “I will smile, I will do every thing that thou wilt have me.” (2, 5, 165-6). He thinks the letter is from countess Olivia, who he is in love with, and believes that the greatness of being her husband is about to be given to him. Before finding the letter, he wanders around in Olivia’s garden and dreams about himself “To be Count Malvolio!” (2, 5, 32). He imagines how the other characters of the play would serve him, which again shows that Malvolio thinks he stands above everyone. In addition, when Malvolio is hailed by Olivia, he arrives smiling, wearing yellow stockings and cross-gartered, which makes Olivia think he has gone insane: “Why, this is very midsummer madness.” (3, 4, 51). Consequently, in this part of the play Malvolio’s inside does not match his outside. Throughout the play he is a grave character, that detests other persons having fun, so his actions of smiling and wearing strange dress make him look like a madman, which is why he gets locked up in Olivia’s basement. Towards the end, he returns to his initial manner, and declares that he will “be reveng’d on the whole pack of you!”, referring to the characters that tricked him into believing that the letter was

Another example of deception is when Maria, Olivia's servant writes a letter to Malvolio, Olivia's head servant and Maria's coworker. Maria deceives Malvolio by writing in Olivia's handwriting. In the letter she says that Olivia loves men in yellow stockings. "Remember who commended thy yellow stockings, and wished to see thee ever cross-gartered" (2.5. 143-145). Maria knows that Malvolio will follow this ridiculous deed because of this love for his lady Olivia. Sir Toby Belch says, "He shall think by the letters that thou wilt drop that they come from my niece, and that she's in love with him" (2.3. 154-156). Maria places the letter in her garden where Malvolio will definitely find it. Thinking Olivia will fall in love with him because of his clothing, Malvolio dress up in yellow stockings and goes to see Olivia. When Olivia sees Malvolio and the way he is acting, she isolates him for fear that he is insane.

Although Viola faced a lot of confusion and conflicts she was equipped to handle this because she was mostly causing it by cross dressing and lying about who she truly was. But, Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andres, servants to Olivia, all decided to play practical jokes on Molvolio. By giving Molvolio a note and disguising it to look like Olivia’s hand writing, they caused Molvolio to make a fool of himself. The note left him directions to behave and dress a certain, this caused ignominious Molvolio to become confused. By being deceitful and conspiring, Sir Toby, Maria, and Sir Andrews colors shined through. Not to mention, Molvolio’s true self became evident after misidentifying the letter. Molvolio became arrogant and was filled with self-importance, but when things became clear and Molvolio discovered the note was not written from Olivia he became embarrassed. He could not move forward, forgive and forget, so he left. This is how misidentification can cause conflicts and cause character’s true selves to shine

In the play “Twelfth Night”, Malvolio is a steward for Lady Olivia. He’s very in love with her and only she has to deal with it. On the other hand, Olivia is plainly not in love with him; she is in love with Cesario. He tries everything to try and win her love but he also has a negative attitude towards others. Malvolio’s behavior is unacceptable and other people shouldn’t have to deal with it.

Malvolio is a social climber, he feels that if Olivia would love him his status would be higher. But because of

Malvolio?s conceitedness was broken and then he sees that he did not truly love Olivia, but was only flattered that he had been loved by someone so beautiful and young.

Malvolio’s lack of self-criticism or self-awareness makes him vulnerable to Maria's plan to ridicule him.

himself just to suit his outlook on the situation. For example, the play he twists Olivia's words around to make it seem like she likes his yellow cross-gartered tights when in reality she dislikes them. Sir Toby just considers himself and no one else, not even his companions. He ignores Maria's notification about drinking into the night, and he continues to push Sir Andrew and Olivia to court. Even though he believes that Sir Andrew doesn't have a chance. Olivia considers the all-inclusive community around her, yet she furthermore assumes that no man is meriting her brilliance. She assumes that she is "all that," and that no one can organize her. For Shakespeare to incorporate this sort of just a single was most likely to demonstrate that Malvolio who thinks excessively of himself isn't right about Olivia cherishing him.

However, while Olivia's marriage to Sebastian has a great deal to do with chance, Orsino made the choice to ask Viola to be his wife, showing us that the play's resolutions also depend on choices and not just on fate. In addition, Malvolio was persecuted by the other characters due to the characters' own choices as well as Malvolio's own choices. Hence, the play has even more to do with choices than it does with

In the later part of the play a different side of him is exposed. Malvolio is Olivia’s steward and his job is to manage Olivia’s house; he is her chief servant. It’s a very responsible job that he takes very seriously. He enjoys telling people what to do.

Maria and the conspirators decide to mislead Malvolio into thinking that Olivia is in love with him. Maria decides to lead him on by writing a letter, but means to be from Olivia. This love letter is meant to instruct Malvolio to do actions that Olivia despises. Maria is able to mislead Malvolio because she has the same print and seal as Olivia. Shakespeare is able to trick the characters and create many portrayals of them.

Meanwhile Olivia's drunkard uncle, Sir Toby; his pawn in the story Sir Andrew Aguecheek, are trying in his hopeless way to court Olivia with Sir Andrew. When Sir Toby takes offense at Malvolio's, the houses Stewart, constant efforts to spoil their fun, Maria engineers a practical joke to make Malvolio think that Olivia is in love with him. She forges a letter, supposedly from Olivia, addressed to her beloved, telling him that if he wants to earn her favor, he should dress in yellow stockings and crossed garters, act haughtily, smile constantly, and refuse to explain himself to anyone. Malvolio finds the letter, assumes that it is addressed to him, and, filled with dreams of marrying Olivia and in hopes of becoming noble he, happily follows its commands. He behaves so strangely that

Another example is the way in which Olivia adopts the pretence of mourning and the puritanical Malvolio is tricked into the role of Olivia's suitor and becomes a smiling courtier.

Through the play each character’s behavior is changed. The biggest change in behavior was that of Malvolio who began to believe in his own delusion. This delusion made him believe that the fair Lady Olivia loved him. His delusional state got him locked up in a shackles and isolated. This state of mind is an effect of love for him. Then the Lady Olivia’s behavior when she is not in love is a melancholy state. She had just lost her brother and her