Twelfth night course work
Twelfth night course work
ACT 2, SCENE 5
Malvolio is Olivia's head servant, and is incharge of all the
other servants. He is quite old a wears dark clothing. He wants to
marry olivia, is very serious and never ever smiles. He dislikes Sir
Toby and Sir Andrew because they do not treat olivia's home with
any respect. He often imagines what it would be like to be above of
them as at the moment he cannot say anything to them as they are
more important than him. He gets angered that he is benief them and
often takes it out on Maria who is a servant. When he spots the letter;
supposedly from Olivia he becomes overjoyed.
In act 2 scene 5 Malvolio should be dressed in dark clothing
such as grey or black. He is skinny, has grey hair and a long grey
biered. The setting should be in a small garden backing into Olivia's
house. There should also be a large box tree in the middle, as this is
where Sir Andrew, Sir Toby and Fabian will be hiding.
Malvolio should enter the scene day dreaming 'Acting into his
own shadow' Says Maria. 'To be Count Malvolio.' Malvolio should
say this loudly and proudly. The audience will be surprised at the
sentence as he is just a servant, now he is imaging himself as Count
Malvolio. They will also be amused by the reaction of Sir Toby and
Sir Andrew saying 'Ah, rouge!' And 'pistol him, pistol him.' This will
further add to the sense that Malvolio is in a dream as there is no way
he would say this normally.
Speaking out loudly, imagining what it would be like to marry
Olivia 'having ...
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say this loudly and proudly. The audience will be surprised at the
sentence as he is just a servant, now he is imaging himself as Count
Malvolio. They will also be amused by the reaction of Sir Toby and
Sir Andrew saying 'Ah, rouge!' And 'pistol him, pistol him.' This will
further add to the sense that Malvolio is in a dream as there is no way
he would say this normally.
Speaking out loudly, imagining what it would be like to marry
Olivia 'having been three months married to her' And 'I have left
Olivia sleeping' Are just two quotations that sum up Malvolio's
mood. Malvolio should act like he is in a dream, imaging what it
would be like to be with Olivia, quietly saying the words. The
audience will feel that Malvolio is acting ridiculously and share Sir
Toby's sense of disgust that someone like Malvolio would sleep with
or marry his beautiful niece Olivia.
Malvolio wants to marry Olivia, but to boss Sir Toby and Sir
Andrew around as much as he would like to be with her 'Toby,
approaches me, curtsies there to be.' Malvolio is imagining what it
would be like to be above Sir Toby and boss him around, those words
should be spoken sharply and quite loudly. Malvolio should pause
and smile after he says 'Approaches' and while he says 'Curtsy'
Malvolio should also curtsy as he has done so many times in-front of
Sir Toby but in his mind it is now the other way around and Sir Toby
is now cursing to him. Malvolio also shouts out loudly 'You must
amend your drunkenness' from being a servant, he is now telling Sir
Toby to stop drinking.
When Malvolio finds the letter he is at first confused, it has no
name on it, but it has Olivia's seal on it. Convinced that the letter is
for him, even without his name on the front he proceeds to open it. At
first he is unable to understand the meaning of it. When Malvolio
reads the letter he comes across cryptic clue 'M.O.A.I.' This confuses
Malvolio, but he is determined to work it out, 'Why M, that begins
my name' When Malvolio realises this he should act excitedly and
speak the words quickly. The audience will fell that Malvolio is
desperate to make the puzzle fit, and when he realises that 'M' is the
first letter of his name it looks like he is stupid and desperate as 'M'
could stand for anything, therefore fulfilling the objectives of Maria
and Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Fabian to make Malvolio look the fool.
Malvolio then try's to figure out the next set of letters, he realises that
if he rearranges them, they are all letters that are in his name. He now
sure that the letter is meant for him.
After reading further through the letter Malvolio becomes more
and more exited. 'If this fall into thy hand, revolve' Malvolio is
puzzled at this sentence, but is in such a dream that he does turn
around, thus making him look the fool once again. Malvolio
discovers that Olivia "supposedly" likes yellow stockings and cross
gartering, but it is a colour and a fashion she detests. Malvolio is in
such a fantasy that when he comes across part of the letter which
reads 'Therefore in my presents still smile' He completely forgets
that he has never smiled before. How could Olivia like his smiling if
she has never seen him smiling before.
After completing the letter he is overjoyed with happiness, his
dream has come reality 'I do not now fool myself, to let my
imaginations jade me.' Malvolio should say this very excitedly as he
now believes that his dream has come true. The audience, knowing
that the letter is a trick, find the fact that Malvolio is so happy that
Olivia likes him, quite amusing. In his final paragraph, full of
happiness he boasts loudly 'My lady loves me.'
During the scene Malvolio's mood changes dramatically. At the
beginning of the scene he is in a daydream, then when he discovers
the letter he becomes confused at the meaning of the letter, when he
thinks he realises the meaning, and that it is a love letter from Olivia
he becomes overjoyed with happiness and this mood continues to the
end of the scene.
