Even though Shakespeare’s comedies are usually associated with happiness, cruelty can help the audience feel that justice has been rendered, by making the antagonists suffer; when an antagonist changes for the better, the punishment is less than for an antagonist that doesn’t. This cruelty helps the audience feel comfortable in the world in which they live; the good guy wins, the bad guy is punished, and characters learn from their mistakes. In that sense, without cruelty, there would be some uncertainty left in for audiences that would not bring about the same ending. Without cruelty, the possibility that sometimes the antagonist gets away with things or that a character does not learn from a mistake would still exist. The treatment of Malvolio in Twelfth Night and the Demetrius’ treatment of Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream both portray how cruelty can serve a comedic purpose. Shakespeare uses cruelty to punish the antagonist, Malvolio, for his vanity. The audience gets clear signs that Malvolio is vain. Malvolio repeatedly indicated to other members of the household staff and even the household that he views himself as better than them. Malvolio tells the others that they are “idle, shallow things” and that he is “not of [their] element” (3.5. 125-127). Malvolio thinks he is not of their element because he views himself as their social betters. To teach him a lesson, Maria and other characters decide to leave a love letter from Olivia that instructs Malvolio to
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare detailed the story between warring characters. From couple conflicts to love quadrilaterals and the interference of outsiders, the story played out as a comedy, with Helena on the receiving end of a running joke. Introduced in Act One as the jealous friend of Hermia, as she was in love with Demetrius, who decided to marry Hermia despite Hermia’s love for Lysander. Hermia appears rather guilty as she confirms her distaste to Demetrius to her friend. However, her father disapproves of her relationship with Lysander. Despite her co-dependent aspirations, Helena exemplifies progressive ideals that counter the societal norms of Midsummer’s era.
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
Hermia and Helena's relationship has changed greatly after the intervention of Puck with the love potion. Once best friends, they have become each others enemies, and all for the love of Lysander and Demetrius.
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
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.
William Shakespeare starts with a seemingly unresolvable conflict in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The main characters are lovers who are either unrequited in their love or hassled by the love of another. These lovers are inevitably paired. How does Shakespeare make this happen? He creates many subplots that, before long, are all snarled up into a chaotic knot. So, what actions does Shakespeare take to resolve these new quandaries? He ends up trusting a single key entity with his comedy. It’s only then that he introduces a special character into his world: a mischievous fairy whom is known by the name of Puck. Puck is the catalyst for all these subplots and, indeed, for the entirety of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Try to take Puck
The effort and the input are sometimes not deserved or appropriate with reward in the future. In this play, the use of violent and brutal language helps the playwright and the characters to reveal people’s effort to achieve things that are not so much important or needed. That form of language is used to heighten the tension and create the impression that whatever is at stake is crucial, whereas in reality they are talking about love and marriage based on cheating and cunning. Shakespeare manages to reveal the hypocritical nature of the society where people will fight and defend their positions only to end up losing everything or having not gained anything in the first place. The use of brutal language is also tactical in the sense that Shakespeare is able to attract attention of the audience while convey his message of a brutal, insensitive
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 lack of self-criticism or self-awareness makes him vulnerable to Maria's plan to ridicule him.
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.
In the beginning of the book, Demetrius really wanted to marry Hermia and Hermia's’ father wanted her to marry him too. But Helena had her sights on Demetrius. But Demetrius thought that Helena was ugly and did not like her. After Helena told him Hermia and Lysander were going into the woods where they would get married, he wanted to follow to try and stop them from getting married. So, he is the type of guy that is really insistent on getting what he wants.
Shakespeare had successfully managed to expose the true intentions of humans and their revengeful, hostile emotions , arrogant behavior,
He is one of the four Midsummer's Night Dream. Although he is called a lover he is not the type of boyfriend you would want to take home to meet your mom and dad. For example he only wants to marry Hermia to use her so he can have the support of Theseus and Egeus. So even though he does not love her he wants to use her to better himself.
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.
In Shakespeare’s play, Malvolio and Maria both wish to do this; one by courting Olivia, and the other by trying to get closer to Sir Toby. The main difference between the two characters is Malvolio’s self-adulation and lust for power in comparison of Maria’s cleverness and her willingness to put her immediate wants aside to ultimately satisfy her craving for a better social standing at a later time. Malvolio’s immediate addiction to power and wish to get revenge on others overcomes any will he could have to play a part to access a higher social status.