William Shakespeare’s comedies are typically always entertainment. They have a lot of jokes and wordplay, singing and teasing, and a lot of love triangles and unrequited love. Shakespeare depicts most of the characters in Twelfth Night with these topics. However, Shakespeare depicts Malvolio’s character as if he is not meant to be in a comedy, but rather that he belongs in a tragedy. While most of the other characters in the plot of the play are given by Shakespeare a happier or at least similar ending to what they had at the beginning of the play, Malvolio’s character ends up unhappier in the end than he already was at the beginning of the play. In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare changes Malvolio’s character from being the villain to constantly …show more content…
He is one of the only characters in the play that struggles with the problem of social climbing. Malvolio is the head servant under the rule of Lady Olivia. He is a complacent, conceited servant who does not think well of any form of fun. He finds that ruining people’s fun is much easier than letting them go. This causes him to be disliked by Sir Toby, Olivia’s drunken uncle, Maria, Sir Toby’s wife and clever confidante, and Sir Andrew, also a drunken and foolish man who is among the many men trying to win over Olivia’s heart. Maria succeeds where Malvolio fails. Maria is able to combat her birth class by climbing to nobility. While Maria is able to marry Sir Toby and climb the social ranking ladder, Malvolio is not. This is because Maria tolerates and even encourages the chaos that Sir Toby possesses. Malvolio refuses to embrace the disorder, and only wants to make the class exception for himself. These three people try to bring down Malvolio by devising an evil, humiliating, and even demeaning prank. They get back at him for his chastisement by making him believe Olivia would like to marry him. This is cruel because the audience knows that this is Malvolio’s dream. The victimizers play with Malvolio’s side that is ambitious, and that would do anything to become “Count Malvolio” (II.v.32). This can …show more content…
At the end of the play, while everyone else is enjoying their love for each other and celebrating, on the other hand, Malvolio is not able to attain any of his goals or aspirations. This shows how Shakespeare makes happiness and success in achieving desires exclusionary. While some people achieve their inclinations, others do not. He is not able to even get back at his villains by the end of the play for their wrongdoings. His last words are, “”(), then he walks out of the celebration. His dramatic exit goes against the typically lively and joyful idea of a comedy. He is brought from his confinement to a party that he does not belong. No one even gives him any apology, not Maria, Toby, or even Olivia. His role in the play is to show the audience that even the best endings have someone who must be put through the suffering while everyone else around him enjoys the spoils of life. They do not care for being sympathetic to him, and still find it funny that he has been the punchline of misinterpretation. This makes the audience aware of the utter ruthlessness that the other characters have for treating Malvolio as if he is a psychotic animal just for the sake of their enjoyment. Their amusement came at the price of his