Malvolio, the steward of Olivia’s house, and Andrew, Sir Toby’s companion, are character who suffer greatly in the play. A happy ending doesn’t happen for them because they’re self-centered person, mean, and obnoxious. The suffering of Malvolio and Andrew is justified as comical because the reader can’t feel sympathetic towards them, so it’s enjoyable to imagine their characters suffering. The suffering of some characters in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is justified as comical when the reader can’t relate to them based on how they’re presented in the story. Malvolio’s bitterness towards other characters is a big contributor for the reader to see his suffering as comic. For example, while Feste the Fool is talking with Olivia, Malvolio …show more content…
He thinks everything is about him, and that he’s such a great human being. For example, Toby, Andrew, and Maria decide to prank Malvolio and test his ego. Maria has carefully written a letter that is meant to trick Malvolio into thinking Olivia is in love with him. As soon as Malvolio starts to read the letter, he immediately says, “If this should be thee, Malvolio” (2,5,105). He has only read the introduction of the letter at this time, and he’s already come to the conclusion that this letter is about him. However, the letter is addressed to “the unknown beloved”, meaning this could be addressed to anyone (2,5, 93). The fact that Malvolio just assumes that this letter is for him shows that he’s arrogant person. Additionally, further in the letter, a line says, “M.O.A.I doth sway my life” (2,5,110). Malvolio sees this and tries to decode what the acronym means. He interprets the “M” as “Malvolio” because his name starts with an “M” (2,5,129). Malvolio is so blinded by his pretentiousness that he imagines the “M” is meaning himself. As a result of Malvolio’s arrogance, the trick works and he is fooled into thinking Olivia loves him. Later on, he approaches Olivia, thinking that she loves him, and makes a complete fool of himself. She only ends up thinking that Malvolio is crazy, and says, “Let some of my people have a special care of him” (3,4,67). He’s been tricked into thinking his boss loves him and now he looks like a fool. …show more content…
He is always drunk and acts and thinks irrationally. For example, when he’s drunk, he’s very loud and annoying. For example, when Andrew and Sir Toby are drinking at Olivia’s house, they sing and make a lot of noise. Maria has to come and in and say, “What a caterwauling do you keep here! If my have not called up her steward Malvolio and bid him turn you out of doors, never trust me” (2,3,73-75). Andrew is being loud and obnoxious enough that Maria has to tell them to be quiet or else Malvolio will kick them out. Andrew is presented as a alcoholic who annoys other characters. However, his drunken fury meets it match when he challenges who he thinks is Cesario to a duel. Unknowingly, he’s challenged Sebastian, Viola’s twin brother, who is a much more experienced fighter. Andrew makes an attempt to make the characters sympathize for him by saying, “Od’s, lifelings, here he is! You broke my head for nothing, and that I did, I was set on to do ’t by Sir Toby” (5,1,194-196). He tries to make the reader sympathize with him, however, the reader feels the exact opposite. Since Andrew is presented as a character who is obnoxious and annoying, the reader can’t be sympathetic for him. He’s an alcoholic who one can’t relate to. Because the reader can’t relate or feel sympathetic, they find his suffering
He is often up and happy, which immediately turns to serious brooding. The best example of this comes at his death. He has been stabbed through by Tybalt’s cruel blade and the killer has flown. All his fellows gather around laughing when Mercutio yells that he is injured. After sending for a surgeon he stumbles about saying, “No, ‘tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door; but ‘tis enough, twill serve: ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man. I am peppered I warrant for this world. A plague o’ both your houses! Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a cat to scratch a man to death” (III.i.94-99). In this quote Mercutio seems to go from cracking jokes and making puns to all seriousness, screaming plague upon the quarrel between the two houses. This was very serious considering the plague was running rampant at that time, killing thousands of people. To wish plague on someone is to wish the most feared thing of their age on them and their family. This is not the only example of such emotional instability as he often ranges from very high to very low, creating quite the dramatic and loud character. Mercutio’s characteristics are wide and varied, making him into an extremely complex, extremely prominent character. Shakespeare places this persona of varying emotions who may not be thinking exactly what he seems to be into the story of Romeo and Juliet, a stage full of such
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
One of the reasons that none of the characters seem to get along with Malvolio is because of his strict adherence to the rules. While to most this doesn’t seem like a bad trait to have, this is seen as an extraordinarily undesirable trait, for characters like Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria, who all have a blatant disregard for the rules. Nancy Lindheim agrees with this by saying, “Malvolio alone acts with a moral severity that angers most other members of the household and is inimical to comedy itself.” (Lindheim 700) In this quote she is stressing the fact that Malvolio tends to act morally while the other characters disregard their morality for a chance to have some fun. This is seen in act two scene thr...
In William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Malvolio is considered an outcast by everyone else in the play except Olivia. He doesn’t act the same way that any of the other characters act, and he seems to be a real stickler for the rules, which upsets certain characters more than others. But it is this strict coherence to the rules that allows Malvolio to have such a high position in Olivia’s household. While Malvolio may be considered an outcast to most of the characters in the play, Olivia shows concern for Malvolio and his well-being.
Furthermore, Marco's role as the tool Miller uses for Eddie's downfall, could not occur if Marco was not "suspicious". In conclusion, Miller's introductory description is only helpful to a limited degree both because of the nature of the text (it is a play) and because Marco will endure such great betrayals that they will change his character and actions. However, Miller gives the audience ideas about what sort of man Miller is describing, enabling the audience to anticipate the contrasts he may be serving to accentuate, such as the difference in attitudes between Rodolpho and Marco.
In conclusion, although in the beginning Benvolio only appeared as a minor character, over the course of the play Shakespeare devolved Benvolio into a well rounded, three-dimensional character by making him not only a sensible peacemaker, and a honest trustworthy friend but also creating him to have a troubled mind like any other normal human. It is ironic that Benvolio, a minor character, is the only one that was left to pick up the pieces.
something that he would not notice or be able to get out of if he did
In the play, Olivia has a steward, Malvolio, unpopular with servants, mean, authoritarian, control freak. Malvolio is tricked into believing he is loved by Olivia. Malvolio behaves as if she is in love with him and he is eventually locked up for madness. After reading and reviewing the play, Malvolio’s epiphany moments stood out the most for me. Malvolio, the puritanical, was the head servant in Lady Olivia’s household. Although Malvolio is very efficient, he also very self-righteous, and frowns upon most of the things such as drinking, singing, and fun. He fantasies about marrying his mistress and living higher than his social class.
After Malvolio establishes that "Olivia" writes the letter he then begins to interpret the letter to suit his situation. "`M'--Malvolio! `M'! Why, that begins my name" It is humorous because he believes the letters "M.O.A.I" is an acronym for his name. However the audience knows that it is a device cleverly thought up by Maria that has obviously succeeded in its purpose to trick Malvolio.
Twelfth Night is written by William Shakespeare. It was named after a Christian feast of the Epiphany, which is celebrated on the 6th January (12 days after Christmas.) Twelfth Night is a comedy and a very entertaining play, surrounding the character Malvolio, who is very impolite and disrespectful to the rest of the characters. As a result to this they decide to trick him, but however it gets out of hand when they decide to lock him up and claim that he is mad. Malvolio then stands as an unpopular steward and a vulgar character. He is more expressive about what he says than being witty but he is more self-important and big-headed. Malvolio brings both humour and sympathy to the play, and as a result he is the main character that brings the humour to the play. Malvolio is the steward of Olivia’s (countess) household, and thinks that he is powerful enough to get married to Olivia who is way powerful than him. Being a steward is a very sensible job, which he takes seriously. However being in that position he is powerful than the other servants, and bosses them around but that’s acceptable but however being impolite to Sir Toby (who is the uncle of Olivia and therefore in charge when Olivia is absent), is not acceptable. The reason why Malvolio is rude to Sir Toby is because of various reasons. The first one being is that, that’s who he is, and he can’t help being rude and stubborn. The second reason is that he thinks it is fine to act in this manner because he has been given a little bit if power, by Olivia; he goes and abuses this by using it in the wrong way. He is very organised and likes to take charge of everything and everyone. The social hierarchy was used in the Elizabethan times; to show the power, status, and wealth of a ...
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.
To conclude, the audience feels pity towards Othello because throughout the play they are helplessly witnessing the downfall of this powerful and admirable general, triggered by his fatal flaw and miscommunication between characters. What makes this play tragic is that one realises that having a fatal flaw like Othello’s and being naïve can have serious consequences. The perfect balance between terror and pity, sympathy and judgment is what makes Othello a character that is somewhat relatable, likeable and very real.
According to the Neo-Classical view of tragedies, tragic action is the essence of the play; comic relief is often dismissed as mere filler (Tydeman and Thomas 48). To overturn this view, Rafe and Robin successfully render evil harmless with their lowly jests while Doctor Faustus cannot free himself from evil’s bondage with his great learning. When Mephastophilis transforms the two clowns into an ape and a dog in sc.viii, Robin and Rafe only laugh. This nonchalance dampens the severity of the curses. In sc.iv, when Wagner threatens to turn him into a flea, Robin immediately thinks of a flea’s ability to crawl all over the bodies of women. As Cole remarks, “In the long-range divine scheme of things, evil is essentially both impotent and vulnerable; hence the possibility of looking at it as a laughable degradation”(15). By laughing at evil, Robin and Rafe provide moments of relief in a play overflowing with reminders of damnation. Aside from unpolished laughter, puns also provide comic relief. In sc.iv, when Wagner attempts to enslave Robin, the clown plays on the words “guilders” and “gridirons”; thus, Robin m...
...h the underlying theme of festivity in the play. Edward Cahill’s article and evidence from the play provides solid evidence to support this argument. However, what Salingar hasn’t addressed in his article is that the sub-plot also serves to illustrate the dangers of unchecked festivity. The sub-plot is absolutely necessary to the play and adds a layer of depth and insight into the themes of Twelfth Night but most of all, the subplot is what allows this play to be classed as a comedy.
Mistaken identity and disguise are important aspects of comedy in Twelfth Night that stand at the forefront of the play’s comedy. Not only are mistaken identities and disguise evident within the main plot of the play but also in various other situations. Sexual confusion amongst characters, subversion of gender roles and farcical elements through stagecraft all effectively contribute to the dramatic comedy genre. However, it can be suggested that certain elements of Twelfth Night are not interpreted to be purely comedic; Shakespeare has incorporated serious and controversial subjects such as the idea of genuine love, the patriarchy of the time and the cruel gulling of Malvolio. Therefore, disguise and mistaken identity are not solely for the purpose of comedy and it could be inferred that it even borders on the genre of tragedy.