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Twelfth night as a Shakespearean comedy
Twelfth night as a Shakespearean comedy
Twelfth night as a Shakespearean comedy
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Timothy Ho
Kravchak
Period 3: Honors Humanities
March 14, 2014
Malvolio: Villain or Victim?
There have been many authors and playwrights in the world, but none of them have had as much influence as William Shakespeare. When people look at Shakespeare’s body of work, ranging from romantic sonnets to comedies and tragedies; and his overarching influence over writing nowadays, it is clear that his legacy has withstood the test of time. One of his most popular works is Twelfth Night, which tells a tale of love and mistaken identity. Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeares comedies about people who all seem to love the wrong person. A young noblewoman named Viola ends up on the shores of Illyria. Believing her brother to be dead, she is forced to dress up as a man and enter the court of Orsino, the duke of Illyria, as a eunuch named Cesario. As she spends more time waiting on Orsino, she finds herself falling in love with him but is unable to express her feelings because Orsino is in love with Olivia. At the end, hilarity ensures. As all of this occurs, Olivia’s cousin, Toby, his friend Sir Andrew, and the maid Maria, play a prank on the uptight Malvolio, who is Olivia’s steward and appears to only be around to put an end to the revelries of Toby and Andrew. Maria forges a letter and leaves it for Malvolio to find. Malvolio is a character with many dimensions, and as the play progresses, his true colors are revealed. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare uses the unfortunate consequences of Malvolio’s actions to show the folly consequences of ambition.
In the early scenes of the play, before Malvolio believes that Olivia is in love with him, he appears to be a prudish person and uses his actions to subvert the enjoyment of others . While Toby a...
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... himself because of the fact that he virtually caused all of his own suffering because of his selfish ambition and arrogance.
Nowadays in the western culture, ambition is valued over more than anything. When one shows up to a job interview, for example, one of the first questions asked is “What are your plans for the future?” However, it is important to realize through the example of Malvolio, that ambition is not necessarily a good thing, rather, it can be a double-edged sword which can damage its wielder as well. Furthermore, having an excess of ambition can lead to unhealthy bonds with one’s confidants due to the fact that ambition is based solely on getting to the top without caring about others. Ambition is a vital part of one’s character, but it must be remembered that it is also important to build important relationships with others to promote growth.
... He speaks to Viola, before Feste, Olivia’s Jester, sings to signal the ending. “Cesario, come – For so you shall be while you are a man; But when in other habits you are seen Orsino’s mistress and his fancy’s queen.” The characters in Twelfth Night each play an important and specific role, especially when it comes to interfering or setting fate for romantic interests.
Malvolio’s humiliation mentioned above can be viewed as a subplot in the play. As we discover the few epiphany moments that Malvolio experienced, his character becomes more interesting. Malvolio is first introduced to us as a puritan, more of the simple type. He was known to ruin others fun. In the play, Sir Toby and Maria both play major parts in the disposition of Malvolio. It is because of his need to be strict, he received hostile and opp...
His inflated ego has lead him to misinterpret Lady Olivia’s feelings for him-or rather, her lack of feelings. Although he already has the notion that he should end up with the Lady, he is fooled by Sir Toby, Maria, and Sir Andrew, believing Olivia feels the same for him. The tricksters deliberately write a letter indirectly addressed to Malvolio, divulging “Olivia’s” hidden love for the steward. Without giving much thought to the credibility of this discovered letter, Malvolio follows its enclosed instructions, unwittingly earning the real Lady Olivia’s disfavor (2.5.91-195). “This and his continuous disapproval of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew's drinking, earn him their hatred and he quickly becomes their pawn in a complex romantic ruse” (Review at Absolute
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. While Malvolio may be considered a social outcast to most of the characters in the play, Olivia considers Malvolio to be a very trusted steward of her household. For these reasons Malvolio is not only a social outcast, but an outcast that Shakespeare uses to keep people interested in his play.
In Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare, gender identity and alternative sexualities are highlighted through the depiction of different characters and personalities. In the play, Viola disguises herself as a man thereby raising a merry-go-around of relationships that are actually based on a lie rather than actual fact. Viola attracts the attention of Olivia since she thinks that Viola is a man but even more fascinating is the fact that Orsino is attracted to Viola although he thinks that she is a man. In another twist Viola is attracted to Orsino and has fell in love with him although their love cannot exist since Orsino thinks that Viola is a man.
As prescient and insightful as this evaluation may seem after considering the outcome of Twelfth Night’s romantic pairings, it reads as a very shallow perspective rather than any sort of wisdom – to the Duke, love is never permanent, lasting, or constant (just like the nature of the tides, it always changes). Duke Orsino has no concern whatsoever for Olivia’s feelings of grief after the loss of her brother – she is merely an object of his desires at the moment, and as his eventual courtship with Viola proves, he is extremely fickle in his affections. (Even before Viola’s disguise became apparent, Orsino showed some signs of attraction to the male Cesario – this raises a few questions about exactly how far his romantic indecisiveness
In Shakespeare’s play Hamlet the blame for all the tragedies can be put on Claudius. His evil nature created downfall for many of the characters in the play. The murder of the King, the decisions Claudius makes, and how he manipulates Laertes all lead to tragic events occurring. Claudius’s actions directly impacted and contributed to the tragedies. In a tragic event there is always one person that is going to be more liable and it just happens to be Claudius. We can learn to take responsibility for our actions. Whether they end in good of tragic events. One’s actions can lead to tragic consequences.
In Twelfth Night the relationships are anything but romantic. Shakespeare writes from the male point of view which implies an un-easy split between love and physical charm. In Twelfth night the romance is falsely produced by selfish desire. Duke Orsino and Viola stand out from the other relationships. By questioning the relationships between the other couples, Shakespeare highlights the true love between Viola and Orsino and the fake relationship of Malvolio and Olivia which is truly based on Malvolio’s desire of a higher status , despite his status and his personality , Malvolio tries to impress Olivia by dressing up in ridiculous clothes , which does far from his aim , and repulses Olivia.
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is a story of love in different forms and uncontrollable desire. It is an example of where blind love can strike any moment, no matter who you are or what century you are from. The play revolves around a girl, Viola, who has been shipwrecked in a violent storm off the coast of Illyria, losing her twin brother, Sebastian, in the process. She disguises herself as a man and assumes the name Cesario for protection. Thus disguised, Viola becomes a page in the service of Orsino, the Duke.
the play its funny to watch him fall for Maria’s trick and make a fool
Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night revolves around a love triangle that continually makes twists and turns like a rollercoaster, throwing emotions here and there. The characters love each another, but the common love is absent throughout the play. Then, another character enters the scene and not only confuses everyone, bringing with him chaos that presents many different themes throughout the play. Along, with the emotional turmoil, each character has their own issues and difficulties that they must take care of, but that also affect other characters at same time. Richard Henze refers to the play as a “vindication of romance, a depreciation of romance…a ‘subtle portrayal of the psychology of love,’ a play about ‘unrequital in love’…a moral comedy about the surfeiting of the appetite…” (Henze 4) On the other hand, L. G. Salingar questions all of the remarks about Twelfth Night, asking if the remarks about the play are actually true. Shakespeare touches on the theme of love, but emphases the pain and suffering it causes a person, showing a dark and dismal side to a usually happy thought.
William Shakespeare's, Twelfth Night has many themes, but appearance vs. reality is the theme that illustrates a different picture from two perspectives, there are many characters behind their masks and disguises. Some are hiding love behind these disguises and some are trying to show their love through a different disguise. They both still being servants are using disguise differently. Malvolio, servant of Olivia, falls in love with the trap (the letter) thinking his lady likes him, and to show his love he uses a different appearance to express it. Viola, servant of Orsino, falls in love with him, but secretly, not wanting to express her love for him, because of her disguise as her barrier for that case. Viola/Ceasario is wearing a disguise and secretly loves Orsino. Malvolio, on the other hand, is also a servant but still changes his appearance to express love for the great lady Olivia. This essay will prove that disguises and appearances are symbolic of the characters named Viola and Malvolio and are differently used for both.
Twelfth Night or What You Will is one of Shakespeare’s most famous comedies. It has been performed hundreds of times and adapted into a number of modern films. The main plot of the play follows Viola, a girl who is rescued from a shipwreck and enters into the service of the Duke Orsino disguised as a man. Rising quickly in his estimation, Viola begins delivering messages of love on his behalf to Olivia, a noble woman who has no interest in Orsino’s advances. Over the course of the play Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, Viola falls in love with Orsino, and Viola’s twin brother Sebastian, who supposedly died in the shipwreck, returns. Following Sebastian’s return the twins are mistaken for each other, leading to both misunderstanding and marriage in the final scenes of the play. Alongside the main plot of Twelfth Night is an almost equally prominent subplot involving Malvolio, a servant of Olivia, who falls in love with her and who falls prey to a prank planned by the other members of the household who despise his abhorrence of fun. In the article “The Design of Twelfth Night” by L.G. Salingar, Salingar examines the plot and structure of the play and addresses the significance of the subplot. The purpose of this essay is to examine both evidence from the play and articles from other authors, with a focus on Salingar, who have written on the subject in order to determine the purpose of the subplot. In his article, Salingar comes to the conclusion that the purpose of the subplot is to provide a comic mirror of the main plot while amplifying the main themes of delusion, misrule and festivity. Salingar presents a solid argument, however he has neglected another lesser but significant element of the sub-plot which illustrate...
" Malvolio's first appearance is in Act I Scene 5. His humourless character can be seen straight away in this scene because he is not amused by Feste's attempts to cheer up a saddened Olivia. He talks about Feste in a rude way, as if he is higher than the fool: "I marvel your lady takes delight in such a barren rascal. I saw him put down the other day with an ordinary fool, that has no more brain than a stone. Look you now, he's out of his guard already!"(Lines 81-84) Olivia is not happy with this attempt to be unkind and offensive to Feste and is quick to respond in Feste's defense: "O you are sick of self-love, Malvolio and taste with a distempered appetite."
Throughout Twelfth Night, disguise and mistaken identity works as a catalyst for confusion and disorder which consistently contributes towards the dramatic comic genre of the play. Many characters in Twelfth Night assume disguises, beginning with Viola, who disguises herself as a man in order to serve Orsino, the Duke. By dressing his protagonist in male garments, Shakespeare creates ongoing sexual confusion with characters, which include Olivia, Viola and Orsino, who create a ‘love triangle’ between them. Implicitly, there is homoerotic subtext here: Olivia is in love with a woman, despite believing her to be a man, and Orsino often comments on Cesario’s beauty, which implies that he is attracted to Viola even before her male disguise is removed. However, even subsequent to the revealing of Viola’s true identity, Orsino’s declares his love to Viola implying that he enjoys lengthening the pretence of Vio...