Malvolio

Play

Twelfth Night

Summary

Malvolio is Olivia's chief steward — efficient, humorless, self-righteous, and consumed by social ambition. His name means "ill will," and his puritanical contempt for the festivity around him makes him the natural target of Sir Toby's gulling plot. Tricked by a forged letter supposedly from Olivia, he appears before her in yellow stockings and cross-garters, grinning like a lunatic, and is locked up as a madman. His famous declaration that "some are born great" captures both his grandiose self-image and the play's exploration of aspiration and humiliation. His final dark exit — promising revenge — leaves a shadow on the comedy's bright ending.

Notable Quotations

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." *(II.v, reading the forged letter)*

"I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you." *(V.i)*

"Do ye make an alehouse of my lady's house?" *(II.iii)*

Cross-references

• Twelfth Night — the play
• Comedies — genre
• character_olivia — his mistress whom he fantasizes about marrying
• character_sir_toby — his tormentor and the architect of the gulling plot
• character_maria_twelfth — who writes the forged letter that undoes him
• character_feste — who torments him in the dark room disguised as Sir Topas