Viola: " I am the man." (II.ii.25)
This quote is said while Viola was talking about the ring with Malvolio. She is shocked about how madly in love Olivia is to her. At the same time, she is insulting her saying that Olivia has gone crazy, as if "her eyes have lost her tongue." The quote is ironic because she is not a man, and she has allowed Olivia to fall for the disguise.
Malvolio: "...and yet to crush it a little, it would bow to me..." (II.v.143-145)
The note has tricked Malvolio thinking Olivia loves him. In the note contains the abbreviation M.O.A.I. He is saying that if he arranges it a little, it will spell out the order of his name. That is the "crushing" in this sense. "It will bow to me" means that it will be pertaining to him (Olivia's love).
Viola: "Then think you right. I am not what I am."
Olivia: "I would you were as I would have you be." (III.i.148-9)
Olivia wants viola to be how she envisions her. Viola is denying that she is not what Olivia thinks she is. Instead, she is the total opposite! Therefore, Olivia asks her to change and be how she wants "him" to be, so that they can both love each other.
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I feel that Malvolio is trying to "crush" the letter in the sense that he wants to decode it and understand its meaning. He will not let anything stand in his way. Once he pieces the letter together, he will know what to do and what he thinks he is suppose to do.
ReplyDeleteWhen Olivia says, "I would you were as I would have you be" she is basically saying that she doesn't care if Cesario is "not what he really is" because she would rather him be how she wants him to be. Olivia acts similar to Malvolio in the sense that she is twisting Viola's words around in order to make it appear that there is still a chance for Cesario to love her. However, as we know Cesario is really Viola and that could never happen. Olivia being blinded by love does not see that Cesario is flat out telling her no.
ReplyDeleteHere, Malvolio does what all people love to do- over think something and make it refer to them if it's positive- or to another person if it's something negative. When Malvolio saw that the letter was from "Olivia" his imagination automatically made him assume that she intended to write that to him, even if the letter never specifically said "To Malvolio." The letters could have meant "Move Over A little Idiot" for all Malvolio knew, but of course he is going to think that its a secret code word for his name. Malvolio wanted Olivia so much to love him, that he was truly imagining things and letting his expectations get the best of him.
ReplyDeleteMalvolio has finally discovered the forged letter that he believes Olivia wrote to him but in reality Maria wrote it in hopes of fooling him. Just as Maria planned, Malvolio does fall for her trap and reads the letter with great delight, being that he finally finds out that Olivia does actually love him. He discovers letters that look similar to those in his name. They aren't in the correct order and that is what leads him to say the quote. He bascially means that if he could just swtich them around a little bit then they would definitely match the letters in his name and so that is what he greatly wishes for. He wants Olivia to love him so much that he believes those letters have to do something with him for sure. I can't help but to think of him as a pathetic fool who is playing around with a bunch of letters when obviously nothing he does will change the fact that the letters don't match up.
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