Malvolio“The devil a puritan...”

Poor, Poor Malvolio...• According to critic Charles Lamb, “Malvolio

(is) a tragi-comic figure” in the play. He is a victim of the trickery of Maria and her brood of drunkards. By the end of the play, all of the characters in the play find happiness in one form or another...except Malvolio (and Sir Andrew).

• According to Bloom even “Maria will achieve the brutally drunk Sir Toby” going on to say that “Malvolio will find only alienation and bitterness.”

Puritanism (A Brief History)

● Puritanism emerged in England at the end of the 16th Century (Protestant Extremists)

● Puritanism sought to “purify” the Church of England of remnants of “popery”, but were ultimately blocked from changing the existing rules of the Catholic Church

● Puritanism embodied a moral and religious earnestness that informed their whole way of life and tried to transform the entire nation to this way of life (this led to a Civil War in England)

● According to Britannica (Online Edition), “Puritans believed that it was necessary to be in a covenant relationship with God in order to redeem one from one’s sinful condition, that God had chosen to reveal salvation through preaching, and that the Holy Spirit was the energizing instrument of salvation.”

Malvolio as Puritan• Maria labels Malvolio as “a kind of Puritan”, “a time-pleaser” and “an

affectioned ass”. This is a result of his “decrying of idleness, alehouses and unmitigated enjoyment…”

• In short, Malvolio is VERY UPTIGHT and he is a STRICT RULE FOLLOWER…

• Critic Paul Yachnin, refers to Malvolio as a Puritan "killjoy who conceals his appetite for status, wealth, and power beneath a shell of rectitude (morally correct behaviour, righteousness)."

• However… Yachnin goes on to state that “Malvolio hides his truer "appetites" beneath a constructed outer persona, a "shell"of sobriety, moderation, and propriety. The steward merely acts the role of a Puritan. Ironically, his character seems to secretly revel in the theatrical/dramatic, to harbor an explicitly anti-Puritan investment in dissembling, imitation, and performance.”

In Conclusion...• Malvolio was Shakespeare’s way to skewer or satirize the Puritans. By

making Malvolio a surface Puritan, someone who does not practice what they preach, Shakespeare is mocking any form of religious extremism. Shakespeare believed that is impossible for one to stifle or repress their natural urges or ambitions, and by making Malvolio a Puritan (in speech only) who constantly has aspirations that conflict with his religious views, he is making a bold statement about the difficulty of towing the spiritual line.

• Malvolio (Olivia’s Steward) is a social climber who aspires to something more than what he was born into. As a result of this, he thumbs his nose at the people above him (in wealth and status) and sees them as below him (in everything but wealth and status - i.e. Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek).

• As a result of this self-righteous attitude, the audience does not feel bad for Malvolio when he gets what he deserves as a result of the cruel joke played on him by Olivia, Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, Fabian and Feste.