Humor in Act 2 Scene 5 of Twelfth Night :: European Literature

In Act 2 icon 5 the mood is truly lighthearted and is full of theatrical comedy, we find Sir Toby, Sir Andrew and their familiarity Fabian enigmatical away as they await Malvolio to stumble upon the garner supposedly written by Olivia. Even though they are hidden the earshot can still see their reactions and hear their comments, which adds to the melodramatic looking of the scene. The audience is anxious to see what unravels next as they know distaff horse purposely wrote the letter in order to fool Malvolio. Malvolios entrance to the scene immediately creates comedy as even before he finds the letter we find him fantasizing about being Count Malvolio, this notion creates humor as it seems that Malvolio has forgot he is merely Olivias steward not her social equal patronage his is conceited self-righteousness. The farce is enhanced by comments made by the onlookers who ill-usage Malvolio, Pistol him, pistol him Sir Andrew makes this comment, as he himself desires Olivias han d in marriage. Malvolio lets his visual modality go wild creating further humor when he imagines that his kinsman Toby forget approach and curtsy in front of him.Malvolio finds the letter and notices that it is Olivias handwriting. Shakespeare creates comedy with his embolden on words, Malvolio comments on how it is almost certainly Olivias writing these be her rattling Cs, her Us, and her Ts and thus makes she her great Ps The use of the sexual innuendo referring to the female genitalia and urination is very clear when spoken aloud which is very amusing. Further comedy is created by Sir Andrews reaction, Cs, her Us, and her Ts why that? Sir Andrew does not understand the joke, the audience finds this funny but at the same time we also have sorry for him because he is very dim witted.After Malvolio establishes that Olivia writes the letter he then begins to interpret the letter to suit his situation. M--Malvolio M Why, that begins my name It is humorous because he believes the letters M.O.A.I is an acronym for his name. However the audience knows that it is a device cleverly fancy up by Maria that has obviously succeeded in its purpose to toilet Malvolio.The reading of the letter creates comedy the requests are outrageous. Malvolio is told to wear yellow cross-gartered stockings to be opposite with kinsman, surly with servants and to constantly smile. The thought of this is hilarious considering that Malvolio is a exact puritan and is very malice towards others.