Thinking about Malvolio in Twelfth Night
So, Lis and I were talking this morning about Malvolio and how he ends up leaving on the line "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you." And how that can give a rather somber and disturbing tone to the end of the play.
And we were trying to think of other ways you could read it, and you could play it.
We were thinking, what if Feste, Fabian, Maria, and Malvolio were old friends -- the four of them having hung out together and pranked each other back and forth -- and with Sir Toby Belch hanging out with them, too. And Malvolio, upon being made the steward and therefore the superior of Feste, Fabian, and Maria, began to get "too big for his britches," and that caused a split between them.
Is there any way that we can read Malvolio as realizing what happened, realizing that he HAS become too big for his britches -- that his supposition that he could marry Olivia was hubris and would be an upset of his natural place in the world -- and that his natural place was with his old friends. Can we find a way to read, and a way to play Malvolio so that his final line, "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you," means that he's going to become one of the gang again -- he's going to short-sheet their beds, and do humorous pranks on them. Can we read this as Malvolio saying that he's going to become playful, not bitter, and that he's going to be happy and antic in his proper place as a servant, rather than puritanical and bitter trying to be higher than he is?
First, does the text support that interpretation? Can we read the play and think it plausible that Shakespeare intended Malvolio's story to have a reasonably happy end? Second, whether Shakespeare intended it or not, do you think that it COULD be played that way, and how would you go about doing it? And third, would that interpretation be satisfying to you as an audience member if you saw it played that way?
And we were trying to think of other ways you could read it, and you could play it.
We were thinking, what if Feste, Fabian, Maria, and Malvolio were old friends -- the four of them having hung out together and pranked each other back and forth -- and with Sir Toby Belch hanging out with them, too. And Malvolio, upon being made the steward and therefore the superior of Feste, Fabian, and Maria, began to get "too big for his britches," and that caused a split between them.
Is there any way that we can read Malvolio as realizing what happened, realizing that he HAS become too big for his britches -- that his supposition that he could marry Olivia was hubris and would be an upset of his natural place in the world -- and that his natural place was with his old friends. Can we find a way to read, and a way to play Malvolio so that his final line, "I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you," means that he's going to become one of the gang again -- he's going to short-sheet their beds, and do humorous pranks on them. Can we read this as Malvolio saying that he's going to become playful, not bitter, and that he's going to be happy and antic in his proper place as a servant, rather than puritanical and bitter trying to be higher than he is?
First, does the text support that interpretation? Can we read the play and think it plausible that Shakespeare intended Malvolio's story to have a reasonably happy end? Second, whether Shakespeare intended it or not, do you think that it COULD be played that way, and how would you go about doing it? And third, would that interpretation be satisfying to you as an audience member if you saw it played that way?