Bah, Humbug, Malvolio, Leicester

[woolymonkey]

Lergy appears to be tonsillitis. On the plus side, I have antibiotics and a solid reason not to go to Norwich tomorrow. Also two purring kittens on my bed. On the minus side, those assignments won't mark themselves.


While I battle with bacteria, Spidermonkey has been struggling all day against an English essay: To what extent do you sympathise with Malvolio? Answers on a postcard please (or in lj comments). I think it's GCSE coursework but he's only year 9 so this can't be the stuff that actually determines his grade, can it? Am off to look for a website equivalent to Coles' Notes.

Overheard in a coffee shop in Peterborough yesterday afternoon. "We're closing early because Leicester's in town and that always means trouble." But he was curled up on the bench in the kitchen in Cambridge when I left.

Edited to add
Thanks for all the sympathy and hugs. Am feeling a lot better now, though still have the original virus. Spider read the thoughts on Malvolio with interest and has managed to write a whole TWO PAGES on the topic. He decided it depends on how the play is staged as there's plenty there to feel both ways. On the whole, I think he feels less sympathy than most of us seem to A) because he is less of a killjoy than I (we?) are, and B) because it turned out half way through that he only needed to look at the scenes up to M getting the fake letter. They have three more weeks to work on this next term, so maybe they'll do the rest then. Or not. We're not very good at clear communication about homework instructions.

Comments

[ms-cataclysm.livejournal.com]

The whole Malvolio subplot reminds me of playground bullying. Malvolio is the misfit whom the cool kids , Toby and Maria ,pick upon. He is vain and overbearing but his persecution is out of all proportion to his shortcomings. To a certain extent, he's just doing his job as Olivia's steward by trying to stop Sir Toby from being rowdy late at night and drinking Olivia's house dry.

When we see him locked up and in despair, it's almost impossible not to feel sorry for him . This makes both the character and the play less one dimensional.

I've seen interpretations when Malvolio's part is over emphasised and there's an attempt to turn him into a tragic figure which in my view overbalances the play.