In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare experiments with the limits of comedy, what one can laugh at and at what point it goes too far and transitions from comedic to cruel. He uses an antagonist named Malvolio to see whether people can find humor in another person’s physical and emotional abuse. However, Shakespeare’s expansion of comedy serves a duel purpose as he uses it to teach his audience some valuable lessons about life and how one should behave. Shakespeare presents the character Malvolio in the first few acts as a malcontent who treats his associates with a disdain, painting him in a light that makes the audience dislike him. This causes the audience to not be sympathetic to his plight in later acts when the other characters start abusing him for their own amusement. Shakespeare uses
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Shakespeare uses the beginning of Twelfth Night to depict Malvolio as an antagonist who belittles everyone around him so that the audience understands the reason for his torment later in the play. Malvolio’s first interaction in the play involves him demeaning Olivia’s fool, calling him a “barren rascal” (1.5.82). Malvolio does not attempt to find humor and entertainment in the fool’s actions, which is the point of a fool, but instead criticizes him. Later in this scene during a conversation between Viola and Olivia, Shakespeare makes a point to say that it is important to attempt to be happy and right off the bat we see Malvolio neglecting this message. Malvolio similarly disregards Shakespeare’s lesson to be flexible when dealing with others, and treats Viola with disdain when returning her ring. When first offering her the ring he says, “you might have saved me the pains to have taken it away yourself” showing his self-centered nature (2.2.5-7). When Viola rejects the ring and says that she will have “none of it” he throws the ring on the ground and says, “if it be worth stooping for, there it lies” (2.2.12, 2.2.15-16). Malvolio’s inability to hold the ring out
Shakespeare uses the beginning of Twelfth Night to depict Malvolio as an antagonist who belittles everyone around him so that the audience understands the reason for his torment later in the play. Malvolio’s first interaction in the play involves him demeaning Olivia’s fool, calling him a “barren rascal” (1.5.82). Malvolio does not attempt to find humor and entertainment in the fool’s actions, which is the point of a fool, but instead criticizes him. Later in this scene during a conversation between Viola and Olivia, Shakespeare makes a point to say that it is important to attempt to be happy and right off the bat we see Malvolio neglecting this message. Malvolio similarly disregards Shakespeare’s lesson to be flexible when dealing with others, and treats Viola with disdain when returning her ring. When first offering her the ring he says, “you might have saved me the pains to have taken it away yourself” showing his self-centered nature (2.2.5-7). When Viola rejects the ring and says that she will have “none of it” he throws the ring on the ground and says, “if it be worth stooping for, there it lies” (2.2.12, 2.2.15-16). Malvolio’s inability to hold the ring out