The Treatment Of Malvolio In The First Two Acts Of Twelfth Night

The treatment of Malvolio in the first two acts of ‘Twelfth Night’ is cruel rather than comical. To what extent do you agree? In Shakespeare’s ‘Twelfth Night’, Malvolio is a character that could be approached in numerous ways. Depending on how the character is developed and acts throughout the play, the audience have varying reactions to his personal storyline; there is often opposing opinions as to whether the treatment of Malvolio is cruel, or comical. In the first scenes in which we meet Malvolio, depending on how his part is directed, it could be seen that he is merely doing his job, for example when he tells Sir Toby to ‘take leave of’ Olivia if he doesn’t stop acting inappropriately. However, being disrespectful to characters is