Act 2 scene 5 of "Twelfth Night" makes for delightfully funny theatre. Give a detailed account of the scene, focussing particularly on its humour.

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Act 2 scene 5 of "Twelfth Night" makes for delightfully funny theatre. Give a detailed account of the scene, focussing particularly on its humour.

Illyria is William Shakespeare's illusory world of drama and delirium, an impulsive world of mistaken identities and misdirected passions, a world which exists only in the imagination, a world where dreams are realised, fantasies are worked out and lessons are learned.

"Twelfth Night", the last of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, takes place in the kingdom of Illyria where almost everyone "noble" has fallen is love with someone inappropriate to their rank and nearly all of the underlings have forgotten their place. It is considered to be one of the most delightful of Shakespeare's comedies. It allows Shakespeare to give "experiences to characters, settings and characterisation, and also reflects on the idea of Twelfth Night."

"Twelfth Night" is usually considered to be a reference to epiphany, on the twelfth night after Christmas. In Elizabethan times, this holiday was celebrated as a festival in which everything was turned upside down - much like this upside-down, chaotic world of Illyria in the play.

It is against this background that the story is played out and humour is ongoing throughout, Act 2, Scene 5, the scene under discussion, being one of the most humorous scenes in the play.

In the garden of Olivia's house, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria along with Fabian, one of the Olivia's servants are all prepared to play a great practical joke on Malvolio, the strait-laced steward or head servant in the household. Malvolio is very efficient but also very self-righteous. He has a poor opinion of drinking, singing and fun and his haughty attitude has earned him the hatred of Sir Toby and his friends, who together plan his downfall and intend to "fool him black and blue." In order to do so, Maria has forged a letter to trick Malvolio into thinking that Olivia is in love with him.
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Maria has been spying on the steward and knows that he is fast approaching. She drops that letter in the garden path, where Malvolio will be sure to see it. She then exits, while the three men hide among the trees and shrubbery eager to see if the "trout" will be "caught with trickery".

Malvolio approaches, talking to himself, fantasising about his remarkable ambitions, one of which extends to marrying Olivia and becoming, as he puts it "Count Malvolio" he is deep in thought at what it would be like to be Olivia's husband and the master ...

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