Analysis Of Malvolio

In Malvolio’s first appearance (Act I Scene V) the audience develop a negative first impression and see a rude and conceited man. Malvolio calls Feste ‘a barren rascal’ with ‘no more brain than a stone’ suggesting Feste is a worthless idiot; belittling and demeaning him. Shakespeare shows that Feste holds a grudge on what Malvolio has said to him and this is revealed later in the play when Feste gives Malvolio his come-uppance. Malvolio felt superior over Feste and so he treated him unsympathetically.

Shakespeare makes Malvolio part of a harsh practical joke after he ruined everybody’s fun and is labelled ‘a kind of puritan’ by Maria. As the puritans were opposed to the theatres, it is no wonder that Shakespeare created devastating parodies of the puritan mentality on stage; this is done by mocking the puritanical ways and highlighting their opposition to the Globe theatre. The fact Malvolio is aligned with the puritan and is humiliated makes his disgrace an important part of the play's rebellious spirit. Puritans were accused of being power hungry and Malvolio's secret social ambitions fit the bill. When Malvolio is daydreaming about marrying Countess Olivia, we learn that his desire has less to do with love and more to do with his aspirations for social power. In Twelfth Night Maria, Sir Toby, Feste, Sir Andrew and Fabian all cleverly engineer Malvolio’s downfall by playing on the hidden side of him which includes his ambition to marry Lady Olivia and become in charge of the household. When Malvolio finds the letter which he believes to be from Olivia he is ecstatic and he finds a loop hole in which he can achieve these secret desires if he undergoes a stark transformation. Originally Shakespeare represents Malvolio as a method...

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...eated him and gained his revenge. Malvolio’s last words “I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you” are an explicit and discordant threat to the many marriages; breaking the boundaries of the comic genre to create a moment of unresolved discord.

To conclude I believe that madness is an aspect of disorder which governs the play and by the end order and sanity are restored as the siblings reunite and multiple marriages occur showing that Twelfth Night is still a comedy regardless of the cruelty placed on Malvolio. In the play “Twelfth Night”, the Shakespeare expresses his views on the unbending, kill joy attitudes with the thorough embarrassing experience of the ‘gulling’ of Malvolio. Shakespeare uses the entire subplot to suggest that the ‘mad' tendencies of Puritanism and seriousness have no real place in this world filled with entertainment and jovial festivities.