Malvolio | twelfth-night

Malvolio in Twelfth Night

Malvolio is a very strict and Puritan character in Twelfth Night, possibly this way to reprsenet the famous Puritan King who reigned then. Today we will be discussing whether Malvolio had a right to seek revenge at the end of the play for the cruel trick played on him. What re your thoughts?

Malvolio’s character is very debatable. In some parts of the play, he may be reviewed as a pitiful man, yet in others he is depicted as cruel.

When Malvolio is first introduced in Twelfth Night Act 2 Scene 3, he is in a fit of rage after being disturbed from his slumber. Once awoken by Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste, Malvolio marches downstairs and shouts at all of them .In Act 2, Scene 2, Malvolio exclaims: ‘Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty, not to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? ‘. From this line, I can gather that he is a strict man who shows no leniency to badly-behaved men. Conversely, this later ascertains him to be a hypocrite. In Act 2 Scene 5, he ‘gabbles’ to himself about living with and marrying Olivia. This could be seen as an irony, due to his previous tirade towards the men who did the same thing that he just did. Not only does this prove that Malvolio is stern and a hypocrite, but also that he does not stick to his word and consequently cannot be trusted.

Despite the fact that Malvolio cannot be trusted in terms of his own words, he can be trusted in his work. He is depicted as a loyal servant to Olivia in Act 1 Scene 5. He comes at once to Olivia’s call in this scene and replies: ‘Here, madam, at your service’. This speech implies that he is faithful to Olivia. Possibly so faithful that he has begun to fall in love with her. Looking at this scandalous love in a positive way, it shows how willing he is to please his master.

When Olivia gives him instructions, he does not complain but immediately says: ‘Madam, I will’. In addition, when he reads the fake epistle, he says: ’Jove, I thank thee. I will smile, I will do everything that thou wilt have of me’. These point towards Malvolio having a sense of responsibility.

It is to my belief that Malvolio ending up in prison was his fault almost entirely. Act 2 Scene 5 portrays Malvolio as a very gullible person. When he finds the letter, he believes its content, even commenting on ‘her very C’s, her U’s and her T’s’. He also assumes that M.O.A.I is his name when it could very well be someone else’s name. He let his ‘gabbl[ing]’ get in the way of reality.

However, Maria, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby were not exactly kind to trick him that way. It is to my understanding that being thrown in prison was a light idea of a joke in that century. In these times, it would be frowned upon and the same fate may come to the jokers.

The cause for most of the hate upon Malvolio is due to him being a Puritan. In those times, Puritans were hated by many. They were seen as strict due to the King before that time banning any form of celebration or entertainment. Malvolio did not believe in humorous jokes or celebrations and therefore was extremely strict, causing many to dislike his character. His life was all about working and doing what he believed to be the right thing. But what Malvolio does not understand in this book is that there is no one right way of doing things.

Opinions and decisions need to be taken into account.

In the time of Shakespeare, Puritans were hated because of the changes their Puritan king made. The King banned happy occasions and any form of entertainment. Swearing was banned and theatres, pubs and public holidays banned also. This way duly frowned upon, causing much hate for the King by most Catholics. Malvolio may represent the King. Even though the King took banned all of these things, he still did them. He held parties and celebrated occasionally, depicting himself as a hypocrite. As said before, we understand that Malvolio is a hypocrite and therefore may have been written by Shakespeare to represent the Puritan King.

Altogether, Malvolio is a strict, hypocritical and yet responsible man (when it comes to his work) who may have deserved the fate he served in those days, yet should not have if the trick was played in the 21st century. I agree that he should only partly have the right to seek revenge. Yes as he was mistreated, but no as he was getting a taste of his own medicine. He is a partly good man who indeed has been very much abused.