Malvolio Twelfth Night

The most foolish of people manage to be fooled, not only by others, but themselves as well; and Malvolio gets ahead of himself and unwisely chases after impossible ambitions, establishing himself as one of the most foolish characters in the play. Upon receiving Maria’s letter, Malvolio reads closely to what he believes is his mistress’ words of love, and when reading the name of his lady’s loved one, he sees a cryptic series of letters, and instantly questions “If I could make that/ resemble something in me”, before realizing its similarities to his own name (II.v.123-124). Malvolio reads a series of letters, seemingly standing for the name of Olivia’s target of romantic interest, and he tries to find his own name hidden in the letters immediately. Without thinking it through, Malvolio leaps at an opportunity, instantly seduced by the idea of success in society and living his days out as a count at Olivia’s side, happily wedded. Blinded by ambition and almost desperate for his mistress’ heart, Malvolio makes a fool of himself once again, and unlike other characters, he becomes inconsiderate of his place in society, becoming arrogant at the excuse. By the same token, he is convinced that the letter is true, and that Olivia “drives [Malvolio] to these habits of her liking…” and Malvolio swears that he “will be strange, stout,/in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with/the swiftness of putting on” for her (II.v.173-176). By following every

General confusion arises due to the deceptive actions of several characters in the play. A notable act of deception in the play is seen when Maria and Sir Toby play a trick on the head servant, Malvolio. They are successful in misleading him to act strangely, which convinces everyone that he has gone mad. In the hopes of wooing his master Olivia, Malvolio starts behaving strangely. He begins to wear yellow stockings and smiles excessively; behaviours that are all uncharacteristic of his usual prude and stern self.

Adding to the humor of the comedy, Feste dresses up as Sir Topaz, the curate and visits the imprisoned Malvolio with Maria and Sir Toby. There he uses his humor to abuse Malvolio who is still unaware that he is actually talking to the clown rather than to the real Sir Topaz. Feste (disguised as Sir Topaz) calls Malvolio a "lunatic" (IV.ii.23), "Satan"(IV.ii.32) and confuses him by wittingly making him a fool. Throughout the play, Malvolio has always been the person who intentionally spoils the pleasure of other people.  He is Feste's worst nightmare in the play, but in

What role does Malvolio serve in the play? Does his fate seem unjust? Is it out of place in a romantic comedy? If so, why might Shakespeare have included it?

In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Malvolio is considered an outcast by almost everyone in the play. He doesn’t act the same way that any of the other characters act, in that he doesn’t participate in any of their activities, he enforces rules that the others could care less about, and he is just overall a socially awkward guy. Malvolio not only claims to adhere to the rules of the household himself, but uses his relations with Olivia to try and help make the others follow the rules as well. This upsets certain characters more than others. For instance Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria find his behavior particularly detestable. But Malvolio’s strict coherence to the rules allows him to have a rather high position in Olivia’s household.

In Twelfth Night, the fools are the ones that control the comedy and humor in the play. They assist in the make believe game and fool around with characters who "evade reality or rather realize a dream". In Twelfth Night, Feste, Maria and Sir Toby are the fools that make the comedy work in many senses. They create the confusion through humor and it all works out in the end to make William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night a comical play of his time and today. In Twelfth Night, the clown and the fools are the ones who combine humor and wit to make the comedy work, just like in many comical plays in today’s society. Modern audiences would laugh from the foolery caused by these characters while the comic truth is unwinding to build up this comedy.

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

Although Olivia and Sir Andrew deceive themselves, the character who most thoroughly deceives himself is Malvolio. He has managed to convince himself that he is superior to all of the other workers in the house. He looks down on everyone else because he thinks that he is much better than they are. Being a puritan, Malvolio believes his ways are correct and that everyone should behave just as he does. He doesn't appreciate how Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Feste and Maria joke and fool around. According to him, everyone needs to act more serious and proper. Just like Sir Andrew, Malvolio also thinks that Olivia wants to marry him. Since he's in love with her and has already persuaded himself that they're meant to be together, it was fairly easy

Feste and Truffaldino both take part in trickery in their respective plays. Their motives behind doing the tricks show the different ways that each character plays the fool. Feste participates in the scheme against Malvolio by attempting to drive him insane by dressing up as Sir Topas and speaking nonsense. In response to Malvolio complaining that it is dark in the room, Feste says “Why, it hath bay windows transparent as barricadoes, and the clerestories toward the south north are as lustrous as ebony. And yet complainest thou of obstruction?” (Shakespeare 4.2.34-36) Feste tells Malvolio that the room has two small windows that are as clear to see out of as if looking out of stone and that the windows facing south north are as clear as ebony. It makes no sense. Feste contributes to this prank out of revenge. Malvolio had wronged him in the past:

he thinks he is impeccable “good fool, as ever wilt deserve well at my hand, help me to a candle, and pen, ink and paper: as i am a gentleman, i will live to be thankful to thee for’t.” (act iv sc ii line 2097-2100) In the begining of the play, malvolio was so rude and belittling to feste and now he was begging for help. he is a hypocrite, he exxpects everyone to forgive him even though he has been so mean to them. “sir toby i must be round with you.

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

In the case of his imprisonment Malvolio is poked fun at again because of his inability to see or hear the situation. While Feste is mocks Malvolio in disguise Malvolio states that it is dark and prompts the reply “Fie, thou dishonest Satan! (I call thee by the most / modest terms, for I am one of those gentle ones that will / use the devil himself with courtesy.) Say’st thou that the / house is dark?” (4.2.30-34) Fest continues to mock him in this manner while weaponizing his inability to see again creating humour. Though Malvolio is not a favourable character and an easy target for humour to spring from yet no one deserves this kind of

Class and social standing is a recurring theme in ‘Twelfth Night’, which provides comic counterpoint and also reflects the nature of the Elizabethan Twelfth Night holiday. Shakespeare uses the Twelfth Night holiday, which was typically celebrated by inverting the ordinary social order, to further enforce the idea of upsetting the social order. Multiple storylines address class and social standing, however the main storyline that Shakespeare uses to satire this theme is the gulling of Malvolio. Malvolio is a servant of Countess Olivia, who is obsessed with status. He is always condescending to the other servant for their lowliness. In Act 3, Scene 4, Sir Toby pretends that Malvolio is mad, Malvolio refuses to be teased and quotes, “Go hang yourselves

To conclude, Malvolio feels truly and sorely betrayed by all those in Olivia’s court, and simply masks his sadness and sense of betrayal with anger and hatred. After he is finally released from his imprisonment in the dungeon, he shouts, “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!” (Shakespeare v.i.401), covering his sadness. Through this experience, I think that Malvolio loses trust and the ability to trust those around him, and I believe that a life where one cannot trust another is a sad

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.