Malvolio

 The character Malvolio is shown to be arrogant, vain, rude and serious throughout the play. Malvolio also has a very little sense of humour and hates anything perceived as silly or frivolous.

In act 2 scene 2 Malvolio is sent by the lady Olivia to return the ring to Cesario/Viola. It is clearly shown that Malvolio has very little respect for Cesario and the wishes of Olivia as she wishes for him to give him the ring back and not to leave it on the ground. To show this Malvolio throws the ring to the floor highlighting his impatience and most of all his lack of respect as it is written he says " If it be worth stooping for, there it lies in your eye" meaning he expects Cesario to pick up the ring from the floor connoting that in the eyes of Malvolio Cesario is metaphorically seen as nothing more than dirt. The word "stooping" compares to how a bird of prey would stoop to cease its victim, symbolising that Malvolio in this scenario is the bird of prey (has the most power) and Cesario is the prey (the victim). To further emphasise the rudeness of this character he said "You might have saved me my pains to have taken it away yourself" this means you should’ve saved me some trouble and taken it away yourself. This is very informal and I'm sure when talking to someone more powerful than himself he would have said it was no worries and that it caused him no trouble but as clearly shown Malvolio has a blunter response to Cesario.

In act 4 scene 2 Malvolio is imprisoned for acting out the instructions of the letter which he thought was from Olivia in an attempt to woo her. This scene mainly focuses on Feste teasing Malvolio for being a mad man. At first, Malvolio is calm and considered when talking to Feste but when Feste winds him up Malvolio gets easily annoyed despite his best efforts to prove his sanity. The extensive use of exclamation marks and repetition of the word fool when trying to grab the attention of Feste shows the audience that Malvolio is demanding as well as desperate to be released and prove his sanity. We also learn in this scene that Malvolio is both persuasive and corrupt as he manages to persuade Feste to get him "a candle, and pen, ink, and paper. " but in the process bribes Feste and said to him " as ever thou wilt deserve well at my hand" translating to him saying he will make it worth his while and that he will get a bigger reward than ever shown by this quotation " It shall advantage thee more than ever the bearing of letter did". We find out that Feste is insulting towards religion and the church as he describes priests as "idiotic" and says they are "asses".

At the end of the play act 5 scene 1, the plot unravels and Viola's disguise gets found out. Meanwhile, Malvolio confronts Olivia about how badly she has treated him by giving her a list of things in the letter she supposedly wrote telling instructing him on what she wanted him to do: dress in yellow stickings and crisscrossed laces, smile and be rude to Sir Toby and all the other servants. Malvolio is confused about the situation regarding the letter and says "tell me, in the modesty of honour, Why you have given me such clear lights of favor". The phrase "tell me" is commanding showing that Malvolio is demanding and expecting answers. Finally, Malvolio ends by saying "I’ll be revenged on the whole pack of you." meaning that he will get revenge on everyone. This shows that Malvolio is slightly antagonistic in the way that he wants to see everyone suffer just as much as he did. Furthermore, his seriousness blocks the humorous ability to laugh it off as all the other characters are doing.