Malvolio Flashcards
What are some traits of Malvolio?
- Puritan
- pompous
- fun spoiler
- humourless
- killjoy
- snobbish
- superiority complex
What boundaries does Malvolio cross?
- class
- sanity
- deception
- gender
- religion
“You might have saved me my pains”
Act 2 Scene 2
- irritated
- believes he is better than those in his social class
“My masters, are you mad?”
Act 2 Scene 3
- abstract noun
- pronouns indicate lower class
- questioning sanity
“Is there no respect of place, persons nor time in you?”
Act 2 Scene 3
- speaking to them like infants
- emphasises high view of himself
“To be Count Malvolio…”
Act 2 Scene 5
- ellipsis
- cocky, wants to be a higher status
“Let me see x3”
Act 2 Scene 5
- repetition and list of 3
- shows his desire to read the letter as he’s desperately in love with Olivia. love makes you foolish and mad
“I will be strange, stout in yellow stockings”
Act 2 Scene 5
- lower class wore plain clothes and were prohibited to wear bright colours
- crossing gender boundaries
“Go hang yourselves all”
Act 3 Scene 4
- imperative
- aggressive
“This house is as dark as ignorance”
Act 4 Scene 2
- simile
“I do not now fool myself to let imagination jade me; for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me.”
Act 2 Scene 5
- Malvolio does indeed fool himself, but his self-love on display means that he cannot be redeemed
- Maria’s letter is so successful in deceiving him because he was already deluding himself into thinking Olivia might marry him
-
“To bed! ‘Ay, sweetheart, and I’ll come to thee!’”
Act 3 Scene 4
- inviting himself into bed with Olivia, misinterprets what she says as a sexual advance
- AO3: a sexual ballad of the time
“Go off, I discard you. Let me enjoy my private”
Act 3 Scene 4
- imperative
- acting above his status
- verb “enjoy” is ironic as he is Puritan
“That the soul of our grandam might happy inhabit a bird.”
Act 4 Scene 2
- believes soul goes to heaven or hell
- Pythagoras believed ‘transmagration’ of soul: soul being reborn
“As I am a gentleman, I will love to be thankful to thee for’t”
Act 4 Scene 2
- he does not act like a gentleman so his words mean nothing
