Malvolio's Letter

Malvolio’s easy acceptance of this and quick transformation from stiff servant to yellow stocking wearing “puritan” heightens his foolishness, as it was unheard of in Victorian times for Mistresses of the house to marry stewards and vice versa. This would immediately create comic effect for Victorian audiences as they would view his ambition as futile. “To for my kinsman Toby.” The extent of Malvolio’s fantasy is illustrated here by his unwanted familiarity with Sir Toby. The lack of punctuation in this quick declaration, creates a rushed tone of glee reminiscent of an adolescent and uncharacteristic of Malvolio who had previously been depicted as conservative and stiff. The use of repetition in addressing Sir Toby as family is again shown when he calls him “Cousin Toby” this cycle of familiarity shows the desperate tone that Malvolio adopts in trying to marry Olivia as he has completely deluded himself into thinking that he has already transcended social hierachy, and the repetition serves to illustrate how fast Malvolio falls into his fantasies. This transformation succeeds in creating confusion as to Malvolio’s true nature as he had previously been described as “puritan” however, seems to be displaying none of the typical

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

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

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

Other characters in the play strongly dislike Malvolio. When Olivia isn’t around he thinks and acts like he’s the king and that Olivia is his lady. Malvolio had stated, “ My lady bade me tell you, that… she’s nothing allied to your disorder” about Sir Toby (W.S 23). Even when he comes into the scene with other characters, he decides to say, “Besides, she uses me with a more exalted respect than any one else that follows her”(W.S 30).With that he’s saying that Olivia treats him like a king and puts him over top of everyone. The only reason why Olivia had to deal with him is because he is her steward. A reason why I think she only puts up with Malvolio is that he will do anything the she commands. For when Cesario was outside she had said to Malvolio “ Go you, Malvolio: if it be a suit from the count, iam sick, or not at home; what you

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

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.

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.

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