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William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Character Analysis of Malvolio and his Representation of Puritanism Written by: Crystal England May 15, 2007 Twelfth Night is the only one of Shakespeares comedies that does not have an entirely happy ending. The reason that Shakespeare breaks his own general rule is because Malvolio is portrayed as a Puritan. Instead of reconciling the problems and confusions that took place throughout the play, Malvolio swears vengeance upon the rest of the characters of the play before he storms off stage. Like Malvolio, the Puritans were also unable to reconcile with the differences of other people and wanted everyone to adhere to their rigid religious beliefs. In Shakespeares time, Englands Puritans were members of the English national church who emphasized the authority of the Bible (Friedlander). Their religious beliefs disallowed them from enjoying many of the simple pleasures that most would have considered harmless. Beyond not allowing themselves to enjoy these pleasures, they also wanted to abolish them so that no one else would be allowed to enjoy them either. In Ed Friedlanders website for Brown University he states, Burning colorful church furnishings and smashing stained-glass windows were political expressions. In private life, a Puritan would probably wear drab clothing, stay cold-sober, make holidays solemn instead of festive, and refuse to do anything fun. Another pleasure that the Puritans wanted to abolish was the theatre; which they managed to accomplish for a time 40 years after Shakespeares death. During the time before they managed to close the theatre, the Puritans imposed censorship in arts and performing arts. Some would describe this censorship as a symbolical gagging of the artist. This censorship is alluded to when Malvolio threatens to gag Feste. Shakespeare was aware of their beliefs and he obviously felt strong opposition toward the Puritans. For this reason Malvolio is represented as a killjoy that wants to ruin everyone elses fun. The first example is at the beginning of the third scene, when Malvolio finds Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste drunk in the yard of their ladys house, he threatens to throw them out if they do not stop the party and silence themselves. Puritans also believed themselves to be spiritually superior to everyone else and this is also explicitly represented in Malvolios character when he shouts Go, hang yourselves all! You are idle shallow things: I am not of your element. You shall know more herafter. (III.iv.303). Because of this he is disliked by the other characters and becomes the victim of a cruel prank played on him by Maria, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Feste. The prank is invented by Maria to get back at Malvolio for his rudeness and for his behaviour because she says that sometimes he is a kind of Puritan (II.iii.295). She says that he is not a real Bible-reader trying to live a good-life, but an opportunist who acts out being virtuous and has a colossal ego (Liemberg). She says that cons state without book, and utters by great swarths (II.iii.295). In an attempt to get back at him she pens a love letter in a way that makes Malvolio think that it was written to him by Olivia. When Malvolio begins to read the letter in Scene V, it is obvious that he is the kind of selfish person who interprets the facts to suit his own purpose. Nothing in the letter ever explicitly states that it is for Malvolio. However, Maria plays on Malvolios ego and knows that he will believe the letter to be written for him. For example, the letter states Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Because of his overgrown ego, Malvolio believes that the greatness referred to in the letter is describing him. He begins drawing on previous occurrences between him and Olivia in order to convince himself of the reasons she might love him. Later, he reads M, O, A, I and warps the meaning of the acronym until he is convinced that it stands for Malvolio. In terms of symbolism, I believe that this letter may be referring to the Puritans interpretation of the Bible. It is very possible that Shakespeare was raised a Catholic (Leimberg). Although I have not found a source to support my theory, I believe that Shakespeare thought that the Puritans interpreted the Bible to suit their own purposes; just as Malvolio does with the love letter. For example, Malvolio begins to treat the other servants rudely because the letter encourages him to do so. If Malvolio had taken the time to reason, he would have realized that Olivia probably wouldnt have ordered him to mistreat others. Also, the idea of Olivia wanting Malvolio to go around dressed cross-gartered is absurd. If Malvolio had not been so blinded by the desire to fulfil his own fantasy, he would have been able to use logic to figure out that the letter was false. This relates to the Puritans because nothing could convince them that this life on earth was worth enjoying. Not even the joyous expression on an innocent, inflicted childs face could persuade them to think that there might
Source: The Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.

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not be anything wrong with being happy during our mortal lives. With all of the beauty that surrounds humanity, the Puritans chose only to see the ugly and continue punishing themselves for their mortal damnation. This leads to one more, and possibly the greatest, of Malvolios flaws: self-love. Many people, throughout time and still today, love themselves above everything else. It causes people to believe themselves capable of accomplishing impossible tasks. Malvolio sees himself as a handsome noble man, even though he has not one drop of noble blood running through his veins (Monroe). He believes that it is sensible for women to fall madly in love with him because his sick self-love allows him to understand all of the reasons to love him. In effect, he does not really love Olivia. He romances her for his ego and because he wants her wealth and power. He fails to remind himself of the fact that even if Olivia loved him she could never marry him because of his social status. In Elizabethan times, no noble woman would ever be allowed to marry her servant (Leimberg). He likes to see things the way he wants them to be and deceives himself just to perpetuate his delusion. This is the reason he is not swayed by the apparent misunderstanding that arises when he confronts Olivia in Scene III in his cross-gartered yellow stockings. It seems like he purposely ignores her confusion in order to continue with his believed reality because he wants so much for it to be true that nothing could convince him that it is not. The symbolism continues when Malvolio is hauled off to a dark prison. Maria and Sir Toby lock him in the darkness to punish him and continue on with their prank. I believe that they are metaphorically trying to make him see the light. Everyone else was able to see that he was alienating himself through his selfish, egotistical behaviour, except for him. The prison is the most vivid physical image of a trapped and isolated self. The selflove of which Olivia accuses him is a severe limitation, isolating him in the world of his own mind; his physical imprisonment. It is merely the symbol of his psychological and spiritual imprisonment. The prison also serves as a symbolic hell because egotism and self-love are a kind of damnation (Dean). The imprisoned Malvolio supports this theory because when asked how dark his prison was, he stated it was dark as hell (IV.iii.306). I believe that this dark prison relates Malvolio to the Puritans because of the previously stated belief they held that life on earth was a hell created for the sole purpose of suffering for sins commited in a previous existence. By the end of the play, there are some who begin to feel pity for Malvolio because they believe that he may have been punished too harshly (Sparknotes). I do not agree with this statement because Malvolio does not represent a single person, but rather an institution of Puritanism and general character flaws of humanity. Shakespeare was using Malvolio in order to portray the Puritan society and not any single person. I do not think that Malvolio was meant to connect with the audience on any personal level. I think his character was created in order to speak out against the Puritans and the cultural constraints they were trying to force on society. The reason the ending can not be entirely happy is because Shakespeare knew that the war against the Puritans was not over and that it may have been possible for them to gain enough power to, one day, shut down the theatres. He was right, but luckily for us, it did not last.

Works Cited Dean, Paul. The Harrowing of Malvolio. 1998. N.B. 10 May 2007. <http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/nec/bauer13.htm>. Friedlander, Ed. Enjoying Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare. 4 July 2003. Brown University. 10 May 2007. <http://www.pathguy.com/12n.htm>. Leimberg, Inge. M.O.A.I Trying to Share the Joke in Twelfth Night. 1991. N.B. 10 May 2007. <http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/uni/nec/bauer13.htm>. Monroe, Matthew. Analysis of Fools. 30 April 2007. Field of Themes. 10 May 2007. <http://field-of-themes.com/shakespeare/etwelfth.htm>. Shakespeare, William. TheIillustrated Stratford Shakespeare. Great Britain: Chancellor Press, 1994. Sparknotes. Twelfth Night: Analysis of Major Characters. 2006. Barnes and Noble. 10 May 2007. <http://www.sparknotes.com/Shakespeare/twelfthnight.>
Source: The Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.

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