Malvolio is Olivia’s head servant, and is incharge of all the other servants. He is quite old a wears dark clothing. He wants to marry olivia, is very serious and never ever smiles. He dislikes Sir Toby and Sir Andrew because they do not treat olivia’s home with any respect. He often imagines what it would be like to be above of them as at the moment he cannot say anything to them as they are more important than him. He gets angered that he is benief them and often takes it out on Maria who is a servant.
When he spots the letter; upposedly from Olivia he becomes overjoyed. In act 2 scene 5 Malvolio should be dressed in dark clothing such as grey or black. He is skinny, has grey hair and a long grey biered. The setting should be in a small garden backing into Olivia’s house. There should also be a large box tree in the middle, as this is where Sir Andrew, Sir Toby and Fabian will be hiding. Malvolio should enter the scene day dreaming ‘Acting into his own shadow’ Says Maria. ‘To be Count Malvolio. ‘ Malvolio should say this loudly and proudly.
The audience will be surprised at the entence as he is just a servant, now he is imaging himself as Count Malvolio. They will also be amused by the reaction of Sir Toby and Sir Andrew saying ‘Ah, rouge! ‘ And ‘pistol him, pistol him. ‘ This will further add to the sense that Malvolio is in a dream as there is no way he would say this normally. Speaking out loudly, imagining what it would be like to marry Olivia ‘having been three months married to her’ And ‘I have left Olivia sleeping’ Are just two quotations that sum up Malvolio’s mood.
Malvolio should act like he is in a dream, imaging what it ould be like to be with Olivia, quietly saying the words. The audience will feel that Malvolio is acting ridiculously and share Sir Toby’s sense of disgust that someone like Malvolio would sleep with or marry his beautiful niece Olivia. Malvolio wants to marry Olivia, but to boss Sir Toby and Sir Andrew around as much as he would like to be with her ‘Toby, approaches me, curtsies there to be. ‘ Malvolio is imagining what it would be like to be above Sir Toby and boss him around, those words should be spoken sharply and quite loudly.
Malvolio should pause nd smile after he says ‘Approaches’ and while he says ‘Curtsy’ Malvolio should also curtsy as he has done so many times in-front of Sir Toby but in his mind it is now the other way around and Sir Toby is now cursing to him. Malvolio also shouts out loudly ‘You must amend your drunkenness’ from being a servant, he is now telling Sir Toby to stop drinking. When Malvolio finds the letter he is at first confused, it has no name on it, but it has Olivia’s seal on it. Convinced that the letter is for him, even without his name on the front he proceeds to open it.
At first he is unable to understand the meaning of it. When Malvolio reads the letter he comes across cryptic clue ‘M. O. A. I. ‘ This confuses Malvolio, but he is determined to work it out, ‘Why M, that begins my name’ When Malvolio realises this he should act excitedly and speak the words quickly. The audience will fell that Malvolio is desperate to make the puzzle fit, and when he realises that ‘M’ is the first letter of his name it looks like he is stupid and desperate as ‘M’ could stand for anything, therefore fulfilling the objectives of Maria nd Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and Fabian to make Malvolio look the fool.
Malvolio then try’s to figure out the next set of letters, he realises that if he rearranges them, they are all letters that are in his name. He now sure that the letter is meant for him. After reading further through the letter Malvolio becomes more and more exited. ‘If this fall into thy hand, revolve’ Malvolio is puzzled at this sentence, but is in such a dream that he does turn around, thus making him look the fool once again. Malvolio discovers that Olivia “supposedly” likes yellow stockings and cross artering, but it is a colour and a fashion she detests.
Malvolio is in such a fantasy that when he comes across part of the letter which reads ‘Therefore in my presents still smile’ He completely forgets that he has never smiled before. How could Olivia like his smiling if she has never seen him smiling before. After completing the letter he is overjoyed with happiness, his dream has come reality ‘I do not now fool myself, to let my imaginations jade me. ‘ Malvolio should say this very excitedly as he now believes that his dream has come true.
The audience, knowing that the letter is a trick, find the fact that Malvolio is so happy that Olivia likes him, quite amusing. In his final paragraph, full of happiness he boasts loudly ‘My lady loves me. ‘ During the scene Malvolio’s mood changes dramatically. At the beginning of the scene he is in a daydream, then when he discovers the letter he becomes confused at the meaning of the letter, when he thinks he realises the meaning, and that it is a love letter from Olivia he becomes overjoyed with happiness and this mood continues to the end of the scene.
