Early impressions are supported by further vices in Malvolio’s general character and these lead to further abhorrence to him. He shows himself to be a strict puritan and this is also suggested by the opinion of Maria “The devil a puritan that he is”. He denies himself indulgences and pleasure whilst at the same time begrudging these things of others. He makes a point of taking the moral high ground over Maria, Feste and more importantly, his social superior Sir Toby, when he scorns them for their “disorders”. This in turn adds to their desire to avenge him and bring him from his level of false authority, back to his true social class of a mere steward at which he is unable to give out orders, but only to receive them.
Although he is a man of supposed purity and self-denial in practise, his aspirations are such that he becomes hypocritical. In turn he makes his character one of further malevolence. He secretly longs for the life of a man higher in social status and fancies, that through the love of Olivia, he could become such a person “having come from my day bed, where I have left Olivia sleeping ”. This longing for new superiority and strong belief that he will gain it, causes him to be open for trickery and therefore provides the starting point of the punishment and humiliation through which he later suffers.
This leads to Malvolio’s extreme vanity. He places himself above all but Olivia, through purposely using language above his station, seemingly memorised from books “an affectioned ass, that cons state without book and utters it in great swathes”. He also makes an effort to pride himself on his physical appearance “should she fancy, it should be one of my complexion” which he seems to assume is one to be admired. Overall, with taking into consideration the negative and truly objectionable aspects of Malvolio, it can be seen that he does in fact need to be taught a lesson about the downfalls of his disdainful ways. The fact that he is so totally self satisfied, means that convincing him of another’s love (i.e. Olivia’s) is easy to achieve “it is his grounds of faith that all that look on him love him. And on that vice in him will my revenge find notable cause to work”.
Malvolio’s weakness is that yearn to be of a higher authority and his belief that he will gain it. Maria uses this weakness to create a plan to make a fool of Malvolio in front of Olivia as well as using it as a way to get their revenge. Maria writes a letter to Malvolio from Olivia. In this letter “Olivia” is pouring her heart out to Malvolio. “I may command where I adore, but silence, like a Lucrece knife, with bloodless stroke my heart doth gore. M. O. A. I. doth sway my life.” After Malvolio finally realizes that M. O. A. I. stands for Malvolio, he began to think about his status. He fantasizes about becoming more important than he already is, calling himself ‘Count Malvolio’. The letter then goes on to talk about what Malvolio must do in order to show Olivia that he has read the letter. He is given three commands: “He will come to her in yellow stockings, and ‘tis a colour she abhors; and cross-gartered, a fashion she detests; and he will smile upon her which will now be so unsuitable to her disposition, being addicted to a melancholy as she is, that it cannot but turn him into a notable contempt.”
I think that this joke was justifiable because of the way Malvolio had treated them. It was just supposed to put him in his place, so that he would stop thinking himself as very important but treating others like animals. Of course, because Malvolio believes that it could be possible that Olivia would be in love with him, he fell for the trick and followed the instructions at the end of the letter. Malvolio then went to Olivia confessing his love and making a fool of himself. Olivia was obviously worried about Malvolio’s health, so he was sent away with Sir Toby, who took things too far.
Malvolio was locked away in the dark, made to think that he was crazy. He begged to see the priest, Sir Topaz. However, in order to keep the joke running longer Sir Toby makes Feste dress up as Sir Topaz, and nearly drives Malvolio to insanity. At this point Malvolio has completely forgotten about his pride and dignity, while it seems to become more obvious that this joke has turned into torture. Even Sir Toby finally realizes that such bad treatment of a person is much more than a mere joke. “I cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot”.
Malvolio suffers a great injustice at the hands of his tormentors and is “notoriously abused” beyond the brink of mere teasing. He does not deserve this final treatment, as his only crime is his adverse character and the fact that he wronged his peers with words alone. Ironically, after having been released from his cell it becomes clear that his ways have not improved in the slightest and that he is now filled with resentment for his abusers, as well as for Olivia. He departs at the end, promising to be “revenged on the whole pack of you (them)”. No rewards are gained and no lessons learnt from his great, unnecessary suffering.
