Twelfth Night Group

Question:

emmmylou
emmmylou

Why are the letters "M.O.A.I." used in Twelth Night in the letter Maria writes to fool Malvolio into thinking that Olivia loves him?

He interprets them to me himself, because they have letters in common, but do these letters have some other symbolic meaning?

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Posted by emmmylou on Sunday September 6, 2009 at 4:23 PM and tagged with symbolism, twelfth night, twelth night.

Answers:

  1. writeacher
    writeacher Teacher
    High School - 12th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    MOAI is part of an anagram, apparently. Go to the website linked below and then use the Find command (Ctrl + F on PCs) and enter those letters. The Find command then will highlight instances of these letters together. Read the whole section where the first highlighted sections are; then click on Next or the down arrow to find other instances.

    Read them all, and then you'll be able to draw your own conclusion about its meaning!

    Sources:
    http://www.shaksper.net/archives/2000/0806.html

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    Posted by writeacher on Monday September 7, 2009 at 7:12 AM