Twelfth Night Essay Research Paper Tris WarkentinShakespearean — страница 2

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he wants to go to bed to rest, and Malvolio replies, taking the initiative to woo her: “To bed? Ay, sweet-heart, and I’ll come to thee.” (III,iv,,34) For the first time, we see Malvolio take action, rather than just acting as a cut-and-dry stodgy Puritan. Although Malvolio undergoes a rapid transformation, there is one character trait that definitely stays ingrained throughout the play; Malvolio?s ego. Throughout the play, Malvolio sees himself as a powerful character, one who has the possibility to rise to the very top rank of society. We can see this in his presuming to be able to woo Olivia. He dreams of “Calling my officers about me, in my branched velvet/ gown; having come from a day-bed, where I have left/ Olivia sleeping,–” (II,v,45-47) In the course of the

play, Malvolio is also accused of being insane, and is eventually sent to the asylum for it. This madness and ego makes him willing to even forsake his puritan ways and devote himself to the pursuit of Olivia. Thus, he really is crazy, but it is not for being Puritan, nor is it for being flamboyant in his attempts to woo Olivia. Rather, his insanity stems from his overwhelming ego, and his shameless self-love. This ego drives both his illogical Puritan actions, as well as his illogical non-Puritan actions. In sum, Malvolio undergoes a great shift in character. While he shifts from Puritan to radical, it is a total overhaul of his thought processes and his attitude. However, one underlying factor did not change between the first and the second Malvolio; they were both egotists.

This egotism drives Malvolio to constantly overstep his bounds, and drives Olivia to exclaim: “O, you are sick of self-love, Malvolio, and taste/ with a distempered appetite.” (I,v,92-93)