Explore how Shakespeare shapes the audience's perceptions of Malvolio in Twelfth Night

GCSE English/English Literature Coursework:

Twelfth Night

Throughout Twelfth Night, there are many instances in which the audience feels it is licensed to laugh at certain characters because of their mishaps and embarrassing situations. One of these characters is the Lady Olivia’s steward, Malvolio, a pompous and puritanical figure who is the most unlucky of all the characters, as nobody seems to like him. His character reveals lots of human weaknesses when exposed to humiliating situations, and so the audience cannot help but find his misfortune humourous. In this essay I am going to look in depth at the key scenes that shape the audience’s perceptions of Malvolio.

The three main aspects of Malvolio that provide talking points are: his religious beliefs (he is a Puritan), his social status (he looks down on others whom he thinks lower than him) and his personality (he is vain and egoistic). Each of these characteristics mean that Malvolio an obvious target for humour, as many of the characters take advantage of him throughout the play.

Our initial impressions are supported by Malvolio’s general character. He shows himself to be a strict puritan and this is also suggested by the opinion of Maria “Sometimes he is a kind of puritan”. 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, Sir Toby, when he scorns Sir Toby and Sir Andrew for their revelries and “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. At the same time, Shakespeare manipulates the audience to believe that Malvolio is rising to a level well above his own, and therefore helps to shape their (currently perhaps negative) perceptions of him.

One characteristic in particular of Malvolio which opposes his Puritanical philosophy is his extreme vanity. In general, he is proud about all aspects of himself to the point of great arrogance, and it can be seen that he needs to be taught a lesson about the downfalls of his disdainful ways. The fact that he is so totally self-obsessed means that convincing himself of another’s love is easy to achieve.

Although he is a man of supposed purity and self-denial in practice, his aspirations are such that he becomes hypocritical. In turn he makes his character one of ...

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Although he is a man of supposed purity and self-denial in practice, his aspirations are such that he becomes hypocritical. In turn he makes his character one of further malevolence. Because of characteristics like this that he possesses, we may be given sufficient reasoning to find his unfortunate situations amusing.

In order to try to please Olivia and through doing so attempting to gaining her admiration and love, he carries out (unknown to him) hatred-causing deeds at the expense of others. ‘Malvolio is in many ways a “time pleaser” and he shows this when in the ways of a flatterer, he threatens to report to Olivia the wrongdoings of his social superior Sir Toby Belch.’ (Lycos) Thus he does well in conjuring up further resentment from Sir Toby and the servants, while making his punishment both more justified and more craved by those that have been done wrong by him.

However, the first point in the play where Malvolio really appears is in Act 2 Scene 3 – this is where we can draw together our first impressions of him. The scene is set in Olivia’s house, and begins with Sir Toby and Sir Andrew talking, drunk. Feste then appears and mimics the stupidity of Sir Andrew, but Sir Andrew enjoys the joke and calls for a song. Feste sings at Sir Toby’s request and by this time, the noise levels have risen substantially. Maria then enters and pleads with them to calm down, but they take no notice of her. Eventually, Malvolio enters the room and has quite a lot to say for himself. He begins by saying, “My masters, are you mad? Or what are you? Have you no wit, manners, nor honesty but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night?”. Malvolio addresses the men with a series of rhetorical questions, which are insulting because they are like disguised statements and they show his disapproval and contempt of their behaviour. He then continues, “Do ye make an alehouse of my lady’s house, that ye squeak out your coziers’ catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you?”. He is continuing his rhetorical questions, yet now he is also addressing them as his inferiors by calling them ‘ye’ (‘socially inferior’), ‘coziers’ and ‘tinkers’ (‘working class’ men) when in fact Sir Toby is his superior. Malvolio is speaking to Sir Toby as if Malvolio is the master of the house, which in Act 2 Scene 5, we learn, is Malvolio’s secret ambition.

This is Malvolio’s first big mistake in the play. Even though it seemed like the right thing to do, it starts off a poor relationship with Sir Toby and the others and later on in the play, Malvolio would pay for his actions. In fact, Maria begins to unveil a plan for revenge almost as soon as Malvolio leaves the room.

The plan entails a forged letter, supposedly from Olivia to Malvolio, telling of her love for him. The letter ‘refers subliminally to Malvolio’s character weaknesses and hence ensures that he will be fooled by its meanings.’ (Google) Maria actually writes the letter, but Malvolio will surely be too gullible to realise that, or that’s what Maria is hoping for. This is an example of other characters exposing Malvolio’s weaknesses and/or unlikable characteristics.

The plan is put into action in Act 2 Scene 5 when Maria drops the completed letter on the ground near to Malvolio and Fabian, Sir Toby and Sir Andrew hide in a bush to watch the situation unravel. Malvolio picks up the letter and begins to read it aloud to himself, becoming further entranced with every sentence. He is fooled into believing that it is addressed to him and so falls for the trick. The letter instructs him to appear in front of the Lady Olivia cross-gartered and in yellow stockings! Being the vain fool that he is, Malvolio does exactly this in Act 3 Scene 4. Olivia, understandably, is completely taken aback by Malvolio’s strange behaviour and declares him mad (‘Why, this is very midsummer madness.’), allowing Sir Toby and others to look after him. Malvolio interprets this the wrong way, convincing himself that she loves him. He is then rude to Sir Toby, also a command of the letter. As a result, Sir Toby plans to tie him up and put him in prison. Shakespeare continues to shape the audience’s views of Malvolio here, but there may be a slight degree of sympathy felt for him by some now.

Having accomplished its purpose, the conspiracy should, in all fairness, have been revealed to Malvolio at this stage and brought to an end, but out of mere cruelty, Sir Toby and company continue the mockery. They even take its malevolence to a further degree, convincing Olivia (who is preoccupied by her own affair with Viola-Cesario) and others that Malvolio’s bizarre behaviour is caused by his insanity rather than their own actions. At the same time they attempt to convince him of this through imprisoning him and twisting his words into those of a lunatic, “you speak ill of the devil, how he takes it at heart!” By this stage, the majority of the audience will probably be feeling some sympathy for Malvolio.

Sir Toby gets his wish in Act 4 Scene 2 when we learn that Malvolio is indeed imprisoned in ‘hideous darkness’. Feste disguises himself as Sir Topas the curate and speaks as if he is very wise. Malvolio repeats several times that he is not mad, and pleads desperately with ‘Sir Topas’ for freedom. Eventually ‘Sir Topas’ departs and Feste ‘arrives on the scene’, singing. Malvolio begs him for pen and paper so he can write a letter to Olivia. Feste continues to torment a despairing Malvolio by pretending to have a conversation with Sir Topas. Once ‘Sir Topas’ has gone, Malvolio begins to tell Feste repeatedly that he is not mad ‘I am as well in my wits as any man in Illyria’. Feste eventually agrees to supply Malvolio with paper, light and ink. Malvolio promises to reward him, glad that he might finally be able to end the torture.

In Act 5 Scene 1, the final scene of the play, the trick is revealed to Malvolio by Fabian, much to Olivia’s disapproval, and Malvolio leaves for the last time – with the line,

“I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you!” swearing revenge.

We have to make up our minds whether we, as the audience, are licensed to laugh at Malvolio in his various mishaps throughout the play because even despite it seeming funny to us we wouldn’t like it if we were in his shoes and so, it may be considered quite cruel to find his embarrassment hilarious.

‘Through succumbing to the trick and carrying out the orders of the letter, Malvolio is receiving adequate punishment. By believing and acting on the letter’s commands, he shows himself to be gullible and ironically, lacking in the superiority of mind that he is convinced he possesses.’ (Google) Thus, he allows Sir Toby and the servants to achieve their aim.

I feel that 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 his latter treatment, as his only real crime is his undesirable character. Ironically, after having been released from his prison, it becomes clear that he has not amended his ways in the slightest and that he is now filled with resentment for his abusers, as well as for Olivia. In all, no rewards are gained and no lessons learnt from Malvolio’s unnecessary suffering.

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