Twelfth Night: Malvolio iIs Miss-understood

“Twelfth night” was the name given to the last day of the Elizabethan Christmas festivities; they were celebrated everywhere at the time. In the Christian calendar, “Twelfth Night” is known as feast of Epiphany. It is the remembrance of the three kings that came to the stable in Bethlehem with their gifts of gold and other valuables for the birth of Jesus. “Twelfth Night” was sometimes given the title “Malvolio” when it was performed or “what you will”. This is because Shakespeare had turned a character into a memorable individual. The Elizabethan audience at the tame was interested in the depiction of Malvolio as a Puritan. The puritans were a religious group who hated theatres and other forms of entertainment that made people happy. The reason as to why Puritans hated these things is because they thought it corrupted people. The puritans believed they contained sex and violence, the causes of sin. This is why Puritans at the time didn’t drink and were strict on how other people around them should behave (this is mostly seen when Malvolio speaks to Sir Toby and the others.) Thus he has all the characteristics which the Elizabethan audience would hate at the time. There is little sympathy for him in the play, even when cruel things are being done to him, as he much deserved it. At the end of the play, Malvolio makes a final threat of “revenge”; this could be a reference to how the puritans closed down the theatres in 1642. I will explore the character of Malvolio before ending to conclude my thoughts on the question.

The character Malvolio is always negative and has a disagreeable nature which carries on throughout the play leading to his downfall and mockery which, in my opinion was deserved due t...

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...ative features he holds. I don’t think Malvolio is a bad person, in my opinion it would seem that he is miss-understood. Malvolio is a devoted servant of the household, he is a very good butler and extremely loyal to Olivia. The other people in the play such as Sir Toby despise him merely on the fact that he destroys other people’s fun. Sir Toby and the others think of Malvolio as a spoilt sport, and a villain because of his puritan nature and vain personality. Malvolio only wishes to be taken seriously and looked upon as a respectable figure. Unfortunately he does not accomplish his goals and is then subjected to the cruel pranks he faces at the end of the play. I believe that Malvolio is both a solid efficient steward with practical good sense and a Puritan outsider who threatens the world of others however; he is more of a Puritan outsider than a good steward.