Initially, the main fool of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night appears to be Feste, a licensed jester. However, upon further examination, we see that Shakespeare is simply using Feste as a critic of the comic disorder of Illyria, which parallels the Twelfth Night festival. The nature of the play reverses both class structure and moral values, producing a comedy in which even the disciplined Puritan Malvolio is mocked for his social standing. His sober and harsh nature makes him an attractive target for others' jokes, so Malvolio is not just a victim of comedy but a real madman. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Shakespeare presents ambition as Malvolio's hamartia; this quality excludes him from the group of other characters in the play due to his strong belief in his high position. Alienation makes Malvolio susceptible to the pranks of others and therefore he is presented as the truly madman. Malvolio enters Act 2 Scene 5 expressing a sanguine soliloquy which ends with the rhetorical question "What should I think?", suggesting to the audience that he is lost in a fantasy, this interpretation is reinforced by the nature of the soliloquy as this is the action of expressing one's thoughts independently of who is listening. The lexical field of personal pronouns such as “me” and “mine” within the soliloquy amplifies its selfish nature and is particularly effective in presenting Malvolio's only interest in being his status and marriage to Olivia. Furthermore, the disparity between the “Count Malvolio” soliloquy and the previous conversation involving Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria is tacit in illustrating Malvolio as foolish. Maria animalizes Malvolio, calling him "the trout that needs to be tickled", showing how the other characters perceive him as a senseless and easily tamable being. It is clearly seen that while the others mock Malvolio, he is clearly unaware of it and is therefore made the laughing stock of the scene. This scene would have been particularly constructive in eliciting laughter from the Elizabethan audience, as if they had had a more defined and impervious class system. Malvolio's desire to marry a member of a higher class would have been considered controversial within his era, an act of pure madness that would have been derided as cross-class marriages were rare and ill-advised. With this in mind, Malvolio's thoughts regarding his position can be said to be nothing less than outrageous and this absurdity leads us to conclude that Malvolio is truly foolish. In addition to ostracizing Malvolio from the rest of the play's characters, Shakespeare also juxtaposes Malvolio with Feste, the other recognizable fool. It is particularly effective because it allows us to think of them as fools in different ways. Feste is the entitled madman: this was the role of someone who was employed in Elizabethan times by the family to entertain its inhabitants. From the beginning of the play we also notice the contrast in their names, “Malvolio” meaning “ill will” and “Feste” congruent with the title of the play “Twelfth Night” meaning “festivity and joyful”. Even in Malvolio's name, we see that it is divergent not only with Feste, but with the context of the feast and merriment of Twelfth Night, so it is understandable that she should be the target of comedy and mockery. Both Malvio and Feste are critical of the other characters in the play, so they could be seen as similar. Philip Sidney states in The Defense of Poetry that “comedy is an imitation of errorscommon of our lives" which could be interpreted as a comedy being a critical tool of both the characters and the general population of the time. Feste achieves this comedy through his wit and the mockery of the other characters, therefore he is an outsider to the opera that he is used to verbalizing the idiotic and pernicious actions of others.characters Feste's lines are full of cockiness and charm in Act 1 scene 5 when he criticizes Olivia for her brother's mourning. He speaks in prose when he asks “Good Madonna, why are you crying?" showing a casual tone despite the nature of the matter being serious. Addressing her as "madonna" we see that her tone is playful, almost too bold for her social position. The audience sees that Feste has the upper hand in conversation and so Shakespeare promotes critical comedy even as Feste mocks Olivia for her lack of intelligence. In contrast, Shakespeare creates this same comedy by using Malvolio's stupidity to mock the larger audience's folly, which differs substantially from the role. of holidays. Malvolio enters Act 2, scene 3 angry with an accusatory tone in his voice when he questions Sir Toby and Sir Andrew with "You have no wit, no manners, no honesty..." which is deeply ironic as it is Malvolio who possesses none of these qualities. By listing his slanders, Malvolio quantifies them, making his tone even more abrasive which is haughty considering that his status makes him subordinate to others. Malvolio is mocked for this behavior as out of place and arrogant. Furthermore, unlike Feste, Malvolio's social status and well-being decline due to this cruel behavior, once again presenting himself as a fool. While Feste maintains his position as a critic throughout the play, Malvolio instead receives "special treatment" by being locked up and tortured in a dark room as a reward for his censorious behavior towards others. There is certainly merit in Philip Sidney's statement, however it is the role of the true madman in the play to mock society through his own madness and this is evidently Malvolio's role. Shakespeare uses Malvolio's religious position as “a kind of Puritan” to present him as an unfortunate natural fool, but a different interpretation could be that Shakespeare is also hiding his own opinion on Puritanism through the characters of Twelfth Night. The religious tensions that existed at the time between Puritans and Catholics were particularly widespread, yet Shakespeare was able to express his opinion on the follies of society and wider religion through the voices of his characters. Malvolio is often invoked by Olivia for his dark Puritan nature, claiming that he is "sad and civilized", which is appropriate considering that she is in mourning. However, the audience's anticipation increases when Maria announces in Act 3 scene 4 that Malvolio is a bit deranged. Upon arrival – and apparently on Olivia's instruction – Malvolio is dressed in "yellow stockings, criss-cross suspenders" which would look aesthetically displeasing and bizarre on stage. It is ironic that this attire contrasts with the black attire of a Puritan. Furthermore his attire could be compared to a motley jester which is playful as we see that Malvolio is now also the visual representation of the madman. His entrance proceeds with a conversation between him and Olivia filled with sexual obfuscation on Malvolio's part. Self-confident, he declares “To bed! Yes sweetie; and I will come to you", which shows complete disregard for his previous strict puritanical beliefs as sex before marriage would have been extremely ill-advised. It is foolish of Malvolio to neglect basic morals"..