Folly in Twelfth Night Essay

Folly Essay Twelfth Night

For my essay I have chosen to write about Malvolio. He is Princess Olivia head steward and confidant. In this play Malvolio proves to be an extremely complex character. As straight edged as he tries to be, Malvolio has definitely been stuck by several follys. Just as Feste stated in the play, Folly is like the sun, it shines everywhere. Folly operates in a way that the person it affects still believes they are acting with reason and logic. This theme is not only seen in Malvolios character but it resonates throughout the play.

Malvolio is in essence a Puritan. He presents himself as a person who detests festivities and the lighter aspects of life. He is a rigid man, very concerned with maintaining class divisions and lines of social status. He is extremely arrogant and does not approve of reckless behavior. He is disgusted by Sir. Toby and Sir. Andrews behavior throughout the play, and seems to have little to no patience for Feste the Jester. Malvolio proclaims himself to be a loyal servant to Olivia. All of these features that we use to describe Malvolio will eventually play into the follies he is struck by. As the play unfolds and through an in depth analysis of the quote below we can see that Malvolios folly is hope.

In this essay I will focus on the speech Malvolio makes after reading the forged letter from Olivia. (Act II scene 5) "Daylight and champion discovers not more! This is open. I will be proud, I will read politic authors, I will baffle Sr. Toby, I will was off gross acquaintance, I will be point divisive, the very man. I do not now fool myself, to let imagination jade me, for every reason excites to this, that my lady loves me. She did commend my yellow stockings of late, she did praise my leg being cross gartered; and in this she manifests herself to my love, and with a kind of injunction drives me to these habits of her liking. I thank my stars, I am happy. I will be strange, stout, in yellow stockings, and cross-gartered, even with the swiftness of putting on. Jove and my stars be praised." From this letter that is not explicitly written to him or by Olivia, Malvolio assumes the letter is for him. Although he does not necessarily assume the letter is for him, he justifies his conclusion by analyzing the letter line by line to reveal his twisted lines of logic. Malvolio is so in love with Olivia that he immediately looses his way in the play. From the point he finds the forged letter he is consumed with the thought of Olivia being in love with him.

The except above gives use more than enough evidence to see that Malvolio has truly been stuck by a folly. In the opening line of the speech Malvolio states daylight and champion discovers not more, folly touches Malvolio when he finds this letter out in the open in a very public space. We know that folly is touching him for this very reason. The letter could have been meant for anyone but he takes those 4 initials to make his justification that the letter was secretly addressed to him. As a result of this letter, this mistake, he vows that he will read political authors and baffle Sir. Toby and be point correct. Right away we see him going against his status, because he wants to go against his superiors by being able to compete verbally with Sir. Toby. Where earlier we saw him being very respectful of Olivia, her purity and her ranking, he is now under the influence of folly because he is willing to let ambition take a hold of his and blur class lines to be with his lady.

He specifically states that everything that has happened recently proves that Olivia is in love with him. He uses her comment about his yellow stocking to support that statement- but Malvolio knows Olivia hates yellow stockings; he chooses to fool himself into thinking otherwise. Malvolio basically turn himself into a clown by wearing the yellow stocking and garters, going against everything that he stands for. He despises that attire and still he is enthusiastic to change everything about him to be with her. IN his twisted mine which is touched by folly he begins to think that by dressing like a clown he can win Olivias love. While before he took himself very seriously, now he is prepared to become a free loving spirit. On one hand Malvolio is trying to bring himself into a higher social status by courting Olivia, but on the other hand he is lowering his standards of behavior.

Everything that Malvolio is thinking is truly backwards, and that is where his folly can truly be seen. AT the beginning of the play he would never dare talk down to his superiors, but after reading this letter he has no problem doing just that, he actually anticipates it. He would never have worn what was requested of him in the letter, but still he is eager to get in front of Olivia in that dress. At the same time by being touched by this folly he is accustoming himself to many of the changes that affect the other characters. It is a changing point for his character because now he is taking part in the madness that can be seen by the other characters. Whats even more amazing is how happy Malvolio is after reading this letter. The letter that demands him to change everything about himself, even his demeanor makes him somehow happy now. It can also be seen as a positive thing because once Malvolio is touched by folly he becomes a more rounded character. The letter drives him to action, it changes his actions and his thoughts and his frame of mind.

The real folly of it is that it was just a letter, it was just words. Somehow these anonymous words allow him to abandon the character he was in the beginning of the play, in hopes of one day becoming a completely different person.

twelvth Night - william shakespeare