Malvolio Tragic Character Analysis

Register to read the introduction… In act IV in which he is being held captive, he is duped into believing that he is speaking to ‘Sir Topas’ who is in fact Feste in disguise. Malvolio greets him with ‘Sir Topas, Sir Topas, good Sir Topas’. The repetition of ‘Sir Topas’ shows desperation, and through his desperation the audience could view him sympathetically. Additionally, because the audience is aware of the fact that Malvolio is being duped to think that he is talking to ‘Sir Topas’, a religious figure, | Also, since the Elizabethan society were highly religious, they would see the act of impersonating a priest as a mockery of their religion, meaning they could empathise with Malvolio as he is a puritan, and also is having his religion mocked. |Maria’s plot was triggered by the fact that Malvolio act of subduing them in Act II, which had been asked of him by Olivia. He isn’t rude when he does this, and on entering he says ‘My masters, are you mad? Or what are you?’ (II.3.80) Because Malvolio refers to Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Maria as his …show more content…
The manner of speech that Sir Toby and Sir Andrew use toward him is also disrespectful. ‘We’ll have the bear again, and beat him black and blue’, along with ‘Pistol him, pistol him’ (II.5.32) Sir Toby, by saying this, isn’t suggesting that they literally ‘beat’ Malvolio ‘black and blue’, it is only a metaphorical exaggeration, but the violent connotations from the words show Malvolio to be a victim as opposed to a comic character. They also use animal names to refer to him, with examples like ‘Bear’, ‘Trout’, ‘Turkey’, and ‘Fox’. Trouts and Turkeys are ugly defenceless creatures, and this use of imagery means that the audience may view Malvolio as defenceless with these words being used against him by Sir Andrew ad Sir Toby. This could either sway the audiences view of him more sympathetically, and as a more tragic victim, or alternatively, could be viewed as comic, because name calling would be seen as comic by the …show more content…
In his first entrance, he is quick to insult Feste, and Olivia, in saying ‘I marvel your ladyship takes delight in such a barren rascal.’(I.5.75-76) The verb ‘marvel’ would usually be positive, but given that it is followed by ‘barren rascal’ it presents the insult as more potentthe Given his position as a servant. Also, as he falls prey to Maria’s plot, Malvolio reveals that he isn’t the ‘puritan’ he is said to be. He shows, before reading the letter, that if he had the opportunity to, he would be happy to tell Sir Toby to ‘Amend [his] drunkenness’