William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night In 'Twelfth Night' Olivia's trusted steward Malvolio, like Sir Andrew, is the 'butt of comedy'. His very name suggests 'ill-will', which echoes his role in the play. Malvolio is an egotistical, "overweening rogue", who is a straight laced, puritanical, social climbing rebuker of others for their anti-social and often sinful behaviour, or as he put it, "misdemeanours". Malvolio's character is summarised excellently by Maria in Act II Scene III: The devil a puritan that he is, or anything, constantly, but a time-pleaser, an affectioned ass that cons state without book and utters it by great swarths; the best persuaded of himself, so crammed, as he thinks with …show more content…
She says that he is, "sick of self love." Malvolio's reaction to this statement shows one of three possible things about his character. Either he has enough self control to simply say nothing, demonstrating the traditional, astute, hard faced, and faithful servant Malvolio, or it could be used to show his complete, blissful isolation from the outer world, too busy wallowing in the self love that Olivia was talking about, or finally, and my personal choice, Malvolio could laugh the remark off to Olivia's face, but when she turns away show his inner hurt, at the malicious remark that had come from the mouth of the woman he loves, by facial expressions directed at the audience, thus showing a more sensitive and loving Malvolio which he is afraid to show to others. Malvolio is a very versatile character and can be played in numerous different ways ranging from the gloriously funny, but not offensively, vain Malvolio, to the manically self righteous extremist puritan who deserves every bit of what comes his way. I feel that the manner in which the character of Malvolio is played all depends on the reaction you want to achieve from the audience: either you must see Malvolio as the victim of Sir Toby, or Sir Toby as the victim of Malvolio. I have chosen the reaction of the sympathy for Malvolio
A Misummer Night’s Dream is a comedy play written by William Shakespeare. In this play there are multiple themes however the most evident theme is love. Why is love an evident theme? It is an evident theme because the play commences with two Greek mythology characters─ the Duke of Athens, Theseus and Amazon queen Hippolita planning their marriage. However as Theseus plans his marriage he has to help Egeus persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius. Unfortunately both the Duke and Egeus failed to persuade Hermia into marrying Demetrius so the fairies (another set of characters. The fairies in this play consisted of goddess of chastity and Queen of fairies, Titania and King of fairies Oberon and his assistance Robin Goodfellow) decide
My group and I chose to perform Act 3 scene 3 from Twelfth Night, a relatively short scene involving Antonio and Sebastian. We chose the scene because it would require us to “gender-bend” because we would be playing men. The scene provides insight into Antonio’s dark past. When they walk into town, Sebastian is excited and thrilled to simply be alive, but Antonio does not want to be seen in the town. Antonio used to be a pirate at one point in his life, and it seems that he is on many a hit-list, especially Orsino’s. Earlier, Sebastian had gotten in a shipwreck, and Antonio saved him from the raging depths of the sea. Ultimately, they wash up in Illyria. Finally, it shows a different side of both characters that may not necessarily be shown in the rest of the play.
“Twelfth Night” presents many characters who can be regarded as foolish, whether it be through their illogical declarations of love, idiotic nature or characteristic drunkenness indicative of the festival from which it is based on. However, none more so than the “puritan” Malvolio, who deludes himself completely throughout the play presenting him as the “real fool”.
In William Shakespeare's comedic play, Twelfth Night, a recurring theme is deception. The characters in the play used deception for a variety of purposes. Viola's use of deception involves her disguising herself as a man in order to obtain a job with the Duke of Illyria, Orsino. On the other hand, Maria, Olivia's servant, writes a letter to Malvolio in Olivia's handwriting to make Malvolio act foolishly because of his love for Olivia. While some use deception as a means of survival, others use deception to trick others and make them act foolishly.
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.
I attempt to look at Benvolio, but my eyesight has strangely blurred, the words, refusing to be properly registered in my mind. That is until I see him. Tybalt. It is his fault. He took Mercutio’s life and now I’m going to make him pay with blood!
Sir Toby then tells Malvolio to go hang himself. From this example we can see that Malvolio’s adherence to the rules makes him a target for Sir Toby to poke fun at. It is this adherence to the rules that makes Malvolio a perfect character for members of the audience to either sympathize with or to join Sir Toby in poking fun at him.
What is love? Love is a very powerful emotion! Love is something that can come at any time in your life. It can appear in any way, shape, or form. In the famous play “Midsummer Night's Dream,” by William Shakespeare, love is a major theme that affects many people and causes many challenges. In order for love to conquer these challenges one needs to stay true to their love, they may need the help of some magic, and must be persistent.
right there on the spot. Feste and Sir Andrew were the main supporters of Malvolio being mad
At the beginning of the play Macbeth is seen as a courageous soldier who is loyal to the King but is corrupted from the witches prophecies and by his and Lady Macbeth’s ambition. Their marriage is of convenience for Lady Macbeth, but for Macbeth it is more than that. He loves his wife, and she takes advantage of that. She is continuously making him feel guilty, for being weak, and challenges his manhood, with these words "When you durst do it, then you were a man, and, to be more than what you were, you would be so much more the man." (I,vi,50-52), which means, Be a man, and I will love you as one.
“Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a
William Shakespeare was a very talented man known for his various works of literature. His works include poems, plays, and sonnets. His works are then broken down into tragedies, comedies, and histories. Shakespeare left this world centuries ago, but his writings continue to live throughout the world today. He has greatly impacted the world of literature and his existence will forever be remembered.
Who was Shakespeare? Was he a man from Stratford-Upon-Avon who started with little and became the greatest English author to ever live; or was he a privileged Earl who was a favorite at Queen Elizabeth’s court? That is the great mystery. This particular mystery is difficult to solve because of the lack of documentary evidence. The Elizabethans did not believe in getting everything in writing as people do today. Therefore, the truth may never be known with certainty. However, evidence does exist to support at least two theories about the Shakespearean authorship: one that the man from Stratford wrote the works, the other that Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford was the author. The question then becomes, which
Michelle Amartey Shakespearean Literature 11/22/16 Because of Malvolio’s interest in attaining a higher social class, it led him into his downfall. In Twelfth Night, Malvolio is the major target for a prank. Throughout the play, he was portrayed as a fun-hating character who nobody liked. He thinks highly of himself and thinks he’s too much of a gentleman for the rest of his peers in the castle. This leads to other characters disliking him and making him their target or the other characters and drive his role in the plot and humor of the play.
Throughout history literature has changed into many different forms and styles, it has also stayed the same in many different ways, literary techniques and elements are key to a good piece of writing, a perfect example that shows us just this is in, A Midsummer Nights Dream, where we will further explore the different literary elements that were used most notably the plot. The plot of a story lays out the foundation and the background for the entire play to come, we'll compare and contrast this element and look at the different sub elements which are produced. We will define similarities and difference in these elements form both the play o the film. Taking a look at things such as climax, play incidents, and the conflict will all give us