Twelfth Night

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

Malvolio and the Way he is Treated in William Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night Malvolio is an extremely complicated and difficult character to study because of his mixed, complex personality. At times in the play he seems very reliable and loyal but sometimes he seems foolish and weak, and in many scenes in the play the audience are encouraged to laugh at him, his actions or his words. He is not portrayed as a lovable character, which makes the play funnier. Also, the way that Malvolio seems humourless actually makes him humorous.

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.

One of the ways in which Shakespeare could be seen to cast shame upon the audience is through their reaction to the characters’ treatment of Malvolio. On receiving the letter, Malvolio expresses “I thank my stars I am happy (…) Jove and my stars be praised! (…) Jove I thank thee. I will smile, I will do everything that thou wilt have me.” (Act II, Scene V, lines

Because Malvolio is too concerned with his own goals and motives for love and power, he becomes oblivious to reality, causing him to experience much humiliation and anger as the series of events unfold. Once he shows Olivia the letter that he believes was written by her, and she explains that it was actually written by Maria, Malvolio becomes enraged and humiliated and is determined to reciprocate the feelings to the trio. He states this goal by proclaiming, “I’ll have revenge on the whole pack of you,” (5.1.401). Rather than breaking the boundaries of his self love, this reveal causes Malvolio to become obsessed with the idea of revenge. As the play concludes, he is the only character that is left in an unhappy state, thus revealing the consequences of egotism. Although the joke played on him is revealed, Malvolio’s self-obsession remains, for he becomes determined to achieve revenge on Maria, Toby, and Andrew, showing that he is left in a state of distress at the conclusion of the

The Stratford version of gulling Malvolio scene which is a stage play from Twelfth night written by William Shakespeare is better than the Multicultural version that is presented in a movie version of the play. The Stratford Theater presented the character as very funny and interesting to watch because of the tongue-tied jokes. In the Multicultural, movie version the characters of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian are shown as very aggressive and malevolent people also Maria who is Olivia's maid is shown as a malicious woman who wants to make a fool out of Malvolio who is Olivia's steward and like's Olivia. The Multicultural version didn't have any background music which is not amusing for some audience, but Stratford Theater had many tones

Shakespeare presents Malvolio (meaning “ill-will”) in a way that makes the characters dislike him and feel entitled to subject him to horrific and embarrassing tricks. Perhaps it is a form of release for the characters’ and audience members; Angela Carter states, ‘Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.’ In a way this is true since it is Shakespeare’s design to create comedy in Malvolio’s misfortune. This type of treatment in the real world would not be funny as it is taken too far; at first they only make fun of him but then they start to humiliate and torture him - even in context of Twelfth Night being a comedy. The audience is aware of the tragedy that Malvolio goes through but whether they choose to go on a moral recess or not is up to them. Some

In Twelfth Night there are many characters that are greatly disliked by others, many would say Malvolio is the most disliked due to his profound attributes. Twelfth Night is a well-known romantic comedy written by William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night is also an admirably well-written romantic comedy. Malvolio, Lady Olivia’s steward, is not a character many would like to be compared to as his ego, gullibility and sternness cause him to be mistreated and greatly disliked. Malvolio’s egotism is portrayed throughout the play because it is a trait that affects him constantly. His gullibility is mostly seen during the major prank that is played on him in scene two act five. We see Malvolio’s sternness throughout the whole entire play as well, because it is another trait that is always with him. Malvolio’s egotistical, gullible and stern personality cause him to be justly abused and easily disliked by others.

Throughout the entire play, Malvolio, Olivia’s steward, displays an intense form of self-love, manifested in his acts of condescension and selfishness. Beginning with his first appearance in Act I, Scene 5, Malvolio establishes a disgraceful reputation. After Olivia

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

the letter also asks him to wear yellow stockings and be rude to the servants, and smile all constantly. Because he thinks it is Olivia he promises to follow her request. When Malvolio encounter Olivia following the request of the prankster she thinks he's gone mad, Malvolio says “'Remember who commended thy yellow stockings,'—.” Olivia then orders toby and maria to take care of him. When Maria and Toby are to take care of him they start calling him a madman possessed by the devil. Maria, Toby, and the others have locked Malvolio in a small dark chamber and Feste acts like a priest visiting the madman Malvolio.

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

Quite overshadowed throughout the madness of the play, Malvolio’s job is a steward to the Countess, Olivia. He is seen to be a servant who is a good service in Olivia’s house, according to Olivia herself. Despite only being a steward, Malvolio’s egotistic personality causes him to be very controlling of his environment. When Sir Toby and company are causing uproar at night, Malvolio

While some may think that Malvolio is essentially a moral and just person, this can be disproved by shedding more light on his less-honourable practices, like his abuse of power. Essentially, like it is pointed out even by her mistress (INSERT QUOTE), Malvolio is just an extensively pompous person. Personality-wise, his narcistic and patronizing ways are made to recall those of a nobleman. These traits fit in easily with his character, as he obviously aspires to be part Illyria’s nobility one day (INSERT QUOTE). The essence of Malvolio’s personality is ascertained by Maria when she describes him as a Puritan (INSERT QUOTE). In the Elizabethan era, Puritans were stereotypically associated with being kill-joys and an excessive hatred of theatre.