The Character Malvolio From Shakespeares Twelfth Night

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Malvolio’s position within the play is that of a steward to the Lady of the house, Countess Olivia. He is overconfident and has a very high opinion of himself, this is evident when he is questioning whether a love letter which he presumes was written by Olivia, is for him. He says, "it did come to his great hands". Not only has he referred the word greatness to himself, he has used the word "his" instead of "thy" inferring he is of royalty or grandship. This is funny because it’s ironic, Malvolio is only a steward and yet he is pretentious enough to assume he is more important than the other characters in the household. Shakespeare could be portraying Malvolio in this snobbish manner to portray him as a puritan and therefore a 17th century audience would find his punishment later on in the play more acceptable. At the time of writing "Twelfth Night" the Puritans disliked the easy-going, sophisticated attitudes of the nobility. They also thought that the aristocrats were setting a bad example for the lower classes by promoting theatre and therefore became a threat to Shakespeare who it could be argued is poking fun at the puritan way of life when he ridicules Malvolio, much to the general public's delight. You could also assume Shakespeare has characterised Malvolio this way to make the audience hate him and therefore laugh even more when he is humiliated further on in the play. This would suggest that Malvolio doesn’t have to be capable of transformation to be funny.

Malvolio is often considered to be a puritan by audiences. We first meet him in Act 1, scene 5 and notice he is dressed in dark, mostly black clothing, a feature of puritanical costume of that time. He is also depicted as a puritan by his rigid, serious and unsympathetic view of moral duties, leaving no room for laughter, entertainment or human pleasures. This is all confirmed when Maria refers to him as "some kind of Puritan".  At the time Shakespeare was writing this play, Puritans were accused of being power hungry and Malvolio’s ambitions link him with this character trait.

Due to his nature Malvolio doesn’t show much affection towards Olivia, she tells him,  "O, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste with a distempered appetite." Yet when he discovers a love letter (written by Maria) without any names on it, he assumes it’s from Olivia to him. Another act of assumption on Malvolio’s behalf is when Olivia says in Act 3 scene 4, "Wilt thou go to bed, Malvolio?" implying for him to get some rest, however Malvolio interprets this as an invitation to sleep together as he says, "To bed! ay, sweet-heart, and I’ll come to thee." This lust and sexual disposition is another example of irony as Malvolio acts as though he is a dignified puritan and makes out he is of higher moral standings than the other characters, who are also chasing love throughout the play but in actual fact he is behaving in a similar manner. Malvolio however, also has a dream of becoming "Count Malvolio" as he put it and therefore it could be assumed he is not in love with Olivia but he is in love with the idea of becoming a count by marrying her.  

If he were to marry Olivia he would elevate his status and get rid of the continuous mocking of the other characters. Due to his reaction upon finding the letter and his overwhelming desire to become "Count Malvolio" it is obvious Malvolio is too self absorbed to love anyone but himself. His delusional thoughts of his own superiority signify he doesn’t understand equality which is essential to a romantic, real love. I believe through this portrayal of Malvolio Shakespeare is saying Malvolio is incapable of love.

However, just because he is incapable of love does not mean he is outside the comedic standings of the play. His attempt to woo Olivia by following the instructions in the letter offer lots of comedy value, for instance seeing Malvolio cross gartered and dressed in yellow stockings, two things Olivia particularly hates, and abandoning his position of dignity offers the best of dramatic irony and humiliation which is in turn very funny. It is especially ironic and amusing as it shows the extent to which he is just as petty as the other characters he has been insulting throughout the play. I think Shakespeare wants the audience to really dislike Malvolio in the first half of the play so that they find scenes such as this especially hilarious.

Throughout the play Malvolio’s inability to laugh is evident, he isolates himself from others and his ability to even understand humour is questionable. For example upon opening the letter written by Maria he says, "By my life, this is my lady's hand! These be her very C's, her U's and her T's, and this makes her great P's. It is contempt of question and her hand". This quote portrays a joke Malvolio is unaware of but a joke for the audience. This filthy gag unintentionally makes the audience laugh but emphasises the fact Malvolio himself is incapable of laughter.

When discussing Malvolio’s inability to transform himself there is evidence that he can, such as when he changes into the yellow stockings for Olivia. Never would the noble, joy-killing Malvolio be caught dressed this way; yet for love, whether it be real or not, he does. There is the possibility that this is a real love for Olivia as throughout the play she is the only person he respects. However there is the argument that he isn’t changing, just temporarily upholding his moral standings to behave like a "madman" in the chase of a higher social status. Also if this was a real attempt at transformation by Malvolio, the chance of completely transforming is taken away from him by the ridiculing of him.

It can be argued that Malvolio is outside the scope of comedy and that he is in the wrong play as the audience pities him and often finds him a "killjoy". He is the bleak character that intends to limit the joy of others such as when Maria, Sir Toby Belch, Feste and Sir Andrew are singing and enjoying each other’s company, Malvolio enters and asks them "are you mad" and then calls them "tinkers" with "no respect". This reiterates Malvolio’s stance against the comedic values of the play.

At the end of the play Malvolio is treated awfully by Sir Toby and locked up in a pig pen. He is kept in complete darkness and filth and repeatedly told he is a "madman" with the threat of an exorcism. Throughout this ordeal Malvolio stays dignified and true to himself, for example in Act 5, scene 2 saying, "there was never man thus abused. I am no more mad than you are." This indicates a lack of transformation and that he didn’t understand why he was being treated that way. He doesn’t try to win their approval as he is convinced of his own innocence. There is a clear reversal of roles at this moment between Feste and Malvolio. Before, it was Malvolio insulting Feste but now Feste is getting his own back with Sir Toby. The play ends with Malvolio bellowing, "I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you" which also indicates his lack of transformation and that he has not learnt the lesson Sir Toby intended for him to learn.

A modern audience would question the comedy in locking Malvolio in a pigpen against his will and treating him like an animal, because a modern audience tends to sympathise with outsiders and misfits and would say the joke has been taken too far and lost any comedy it may have had. Malvolio’s lack of transformation stops the scene from being funny as we start to pity him. If Malvolio had learnt his lesson and lived happily ever after the audience could have appreciated the harsh measures Sir Toby and Feste put him through. However, his dogmatic point of view of his innocence leads the audience to question whether Malvolio has done anything worthy of such a punishment and generally the answer would be no. I therefore think that Malvolio lack of transformation does put him outside the scope of comedy and makes him quite a tragic character. This is reiterated by the lack of a happy ending for Malvolio which often occurs for all characters in a comedy. By not having a happy ending Shakespeare could be suggesting Malvolio is in the wrong play and outside the scope of comedy.

To conclude I would say Malvolio isn’t intentionally funny but is a figure of fun and doesn’t need to be capable of love, laughter or transformation to make the audience laugh. He may be incapable of laughter but is capable of being a source of laughter for others with his unintentional jokes, sarcasm and pomposity. When Malvolio ends up in the pigpen it makes the audience laugh as we see a man who has aspirations of becoming a Count, locked up in a filthy hut. The humour this scene generates shows Malvolio is inside the scope of comedy and his lack of transformation shows it’s not necessary to be capable of love or laughter to be a comedic character.