Twelfth Night Essay

In Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”, Malvolio is a minor character, a household steward, who is portrayed as extremely hostile to merry-making and the festive spirit of the play, his behaviour regarding other characters is seen as being intolerant and evokes antipathy from the audience. However, the most significant aspect of this character’s presentation in the play is Malvolio’s immersion into a sweet illusion of becoming “Count Malvolio”. His pursuit of power and authority, which is a dream, provides a basis for his grim fate as the sub-plot emerges, his gulling, and his own self-delusion, that proceed his downfall.
In “Twelfth Night”, Malvolio plays an important role in the household as the countess Olivia’s steward. In Elizabethan times, the steward was the head of the household who was responsible for organising household business. He also could hire and fire other servants such as fools and chambermaids who were a lower class in a household. In Elizabethan times, stewards were often disliked by

In Shakespeare times, theatres existed entirely for pleasure to amuse people. As can be expected, much like modern audience, people attended different plays according to their taste. Diversity of scenes in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” reveals his remarkable talent to engage everyone as he wrote for a mixed audience. As can be expected, the gulling of Malvolio could have been seen as fair for Elizabethan audience who were particularly concerned about festive spirit of the play. However, modern audience perhaps would be shocked for such abuse as it would evoke pity for steward Malvolio: “Fool, there was never a man so notoriously abused.” Malvolio perhaps embodies the end of the Twelfth Night celebration, the evening of Epiphany. When the celebration is over, everyone goes about their daily lives and returns to their duties and