Malvolio: The Butt of Everyone's Joke

The character Malvolio is an annoying square in Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. He is the steward of Lady Olivia’s house and the other members of the household do not like him. Sir Toby, who is Olivia’s uncle, is a drunk and loves to laugh and party. Maria works in the house as well and likes Sir Toby. The two of them together decide to torment Malvolio and his party pooping ways. This household dynamic is like elementary school children who pick on the one who is a rule follower and tattle tale.

                At one point, a few people in the house are up very late drinking and carrying on and Malvolio comes in to break up the party. He threatens to tell Lady Olivia on Maria if she gives them any more to drink. “Mistress Mary, if you prized my lady’s favor/ at anything more than contempt, you would not give/ means for this uncivil rule. She shall know of it, by/ this hand” (2.3.120-23). This is the classic example of a tattletale threatening other children. He is such as square that it makes him extremely nervous to be around or witness people drinking and disobeying house rules.

                Because Malvoio threatens to ruin their fun, Maria, Sir Toby and Sir Andrews decide to pick on him and play a practical joke. They know that Malvolio loves Lady Olivia, so they decide to fake a note from her to him to make him believe that she loves him as well. When Malvolio receives the letter he is extremely excited and makes a fool of himself in order to receive Lady Olivia’s love. This makes one feel sorry for Malvolio. He is the little rule follower who no one likes and who is making a fool out of himself for nothing but his enemies’ enjoyment. He is the butt of everyone’s’ joke but he is not aware.

Meddling Parents

Throughout Hamlet, parents like to meddle in their children’s business and try to know everything going on in their lives.  They feel the need to control their children and spy on them if they are not able to figure out themselves. Polonius meddles in both of his children, Ophelia and Laertes’ lives and Gertrude and Claudius meddle in Hamlet’s life.

Gertrude and Claudius enlist the help of two of Hamlet’s friends to spy on him and figure out what is wrong with him. He has been acting strange and they know that he will not speak to them so they bribe his friends to gather information for them. “To draw him on to pleasures and to gather, So much as from occasion you may glean, Whether aught, to us unknown, afflicts him thus/ That, opened, lies within our remedy”(2.2.15-18).  Claudius asks his friends to figure out what is bothering Hamlet.

As for Polonius, he is the king of meddling. When Laertes leaves to go to Paris to study, Polonius sends a spy to ask about him and figure out what kind of mischief he is in. He enlists Reynaldo to travel to Paris and get information on his son. “Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth./ And thus do we of wisdom and of reach,/ With windlasses and with assays of bias/ By indirection find directions out”(2.1.62-65). He wants him to lead people into giving up what his son has been up to, whether it is going to brothels, drinking too much or gambling. He doesn’t have enough trust in his son to ask him so he must meddle and send in a spy. Polonius is also very meddlesome in Ophelia’s life. He treats her like she is a child and makes her tell him everything about her love relationship with Hamlet. She gives her father the love letters that Hamlet writes her and tells her father everything about Hamlet’s actions.

The parents in Hamlet are very meddlesome in their children’s’ lives and sometimes go about finding out what is going on in a sneaky way. Many children would feel an invasion of privacy and angry if they found out that their parents were using spies to track their actions and decipher their moods.

Helena’s Missing Backbone

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the character Helena is extremely annoying. She is hopelessly in love with Demetrius, a man who not only doesn’t love her back, but in fact despises her. Demetrius is in love with Hermia, one of Helena’s friends.

Demetrius makes it very clear to Helena that he does not love her, but she still follows him around like a little puppy. In one scene in the play he is telling her to stop following him and she responds by telling him she is his spaniel and that he can beat her but she will still love him. “And even for that do I love you the more. / I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius, / The more you beat me, I will fawn on you” (2.1. 203-305). Her love is completely hopeless. Her character has no backbone at all! It is said earlier in the play that he once told her that he loved her, but once he met her friend he changed his mind. This guy is a total jerk! He led one girl on and then dropped her quickly as soon as he found a prettier one. Helena should see this. She needs to grow a backbone and call him out for what he has done to her, but instead she allows it and degrades herself.

It is hard not to feel a little sympathy for how pathetic she is, but at the same time she whines all the time and it just gets annoying. Helena’s self confidence and respect has been shattered and she makes no attempt to build it again. “No, no, I am as ugly as a bear; / For beasts that meet me run away for fear./ Therefore no marvel though Demetrius/ Do, as a monster, fly my presence thus” (2.2.100-103). She is so pathetic that she gives excuses for Demetrius’s actions, saying that she is so ugly that she does not blame him for running away. This much whining gets very annoying and it is hard to feel sorry for her.

Helena, simply put, does not have a backbone. She cannot stand up to a jerk that has used her and ran away and ignored her. She needs to get some self respect and stand up for herself and stop acting like a little puppy. It is very pathetic and obviously not working out for her.