Twelfth Night

the way Maria and Sir Toby plan to deceive Malvolio in the book

Malvolio's name suggests that he is a person of ill will and his getting a comeuppance certainly seems well deserved. Shakespeare however does write the punishment of Malvolio in such a way that he becomes so pathetic we can't at some point help feeling sorry for him. That, perhaps, is an illustration of Shakespeare's genius.

The above commentator rightly argues for Shakespeare’s greatness in handling the character of Malvolio. However, Maurice Charney’s interpretation also needs to be considered in this regard. While commenting about Malvolio’s gulling Charney notes: “Whether Malvolio has been most notoriously abused, or whether he is the well-deserving victim of a practical joke that explodes his vanity, social-climbing, and pretentiousness is the point at issue.” Malvolio’s gulling in Act II, Sc. v does not evoke readers’ sympathy. The sympathy is aroused when he is imprisoned by Toby and harassed by Feste. His gulling in Act II, Sc. v “explodes his vanity, social climbing, and pretentiousness”, but when he is imprisoned and further harassed, it reveals nothing. Shakespeare has probably done it only for initiating a kind of sympathetic sensation for the character. Malvolio thus emerges as the only character in the play for whom the readers laugh at first and sympathise at the end.