payment page
Scene Study prepares you to perform key scenes for your theater class or audition. We've got all the information you need for a great performance.
Excerpt from Act 2, Scene 5 Monologue: Mavolio
|
Understanding the Given Circumstances
Before you begin preparing this monologue, read the entire text of Twelfth Night so you can understand the broader context. Consider what you know about the speaker, Malvolio.
Read a character analysis of Malvolio for more information.
For this monologue, consider the following given circumstances:
- This scene takes place in a courtyard outside the wealthy Olivia’s home.
- Malvolio is a character who doesn’t quite fit into any of the major social groups of Illyria. He is Olivia’s household servant and therefore much lower in status than the nobility he serves. He also considers himself morally superior to the rowdy, drunken characters who live in Olivia’s home, who in turn loathe his puritanical superiority. He is an outsider with dreams of social mobility and power.
- In the moment immediately preceding this scene, Malvolio picks up a letter in what he believes to be Olivia’s handwriting, which opens with some lines of romantic verse and a riddle: “M.O.A.I. doth sway my life.” This speech begins with Malvolio returning to the mysterious letter and trying to discern what it means.
- Whether out of love or to improve his station in life, Malvolio seeks Olivia’s hand in marriage. The letter appears to be proof of his wildest dreams.
- Unfortunately for Malvolio, the letter is a forgery, planted by Olivia’s personal servant, Maria. She has conspired with Olivia’s uncle Sir Toby Belch and some of the other drunken revelers to play an elaborate and cruel practical joke on him. While Malvolio reads the letter aloud, the practical jokers hide in some shrubbery. Malvolio does not know he is being observed.
Blocking and Movement
In theater, blocking is the process of planning the actors’ physical movements and positions. Be sure to show respect and establish trust when working with scene partners. As you prepare to block this scene, ask yourself the following questions:
- Malvolio reads this letter aloud in a public place. How much does he want to share the contents of the letter with the world? In other words, does Malvolio want others to hear and see him with the letter, or does he consider the declarations contained within to be a private matter?
- How does Malvolio’s posture change to reflect the information contained in the letter? For example, the letter is full of instructions for Malvolio’s behavior. Which of these does he try to enact immediately?
- When Malvolio goes from reading the letter to speaking aloud, how do his movements and gestures convey the different people he is embodying?
- How does Malvolio interact with the physical object of the letter? What does it smell like? Feel like? How delicate is he when handling the letter?
- At a certain point, Malvolio notices a postscript at the bottom of the letter instructing him to smile. This smile is one of the attributes that later causes Olivia to believe Malvolio has gone insane. What does Malvolio’s smile look like?
Meaning in Heightened Language
Heightened language differs from everyday speech because the words and style are chosen to achieve a certain effect. Plays with heightened language require the actor to think about how the characters speak and why, not just what they’re saying.
Shakespeare’s comedies revel in actors embodying other characters and pretending to be who they are not. The play this speech comes from has a playful subtitle: Twelfth Night, or What You Will, suggesting that the title itself can be changed. Malvolio wants a new title himself, and the letter he reads in this speech seems to affirm that hope. Malvolio’s speech embodies several voices. Ask yourself the following question when approaching this speech.
- How does Malvolio sound as himself, when he is speaking to himself? How does this language differ from the language of the letter?
- Maria has written, in the kind of language used by the upper class, the words that Malvolio is reading. How does Malvolio read the letter, which he believes to be from Olivia? What voice does he have when he speaks these words of love? Does he mimic her voice at all as he echoes some of her phrases?
- Does Malvolio believe what he reads immediately? Does he doubt it at first, or has he suspected it all along? While he is reading aloud, is he convincing himself he is worthy of Olivia’s love?
Full Act 2, Scene 5 Monologue: Mavolio
|
