How Does Shakespeare Use Bullying In Twelfth Night

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In most schools bullying is a serious issue. Bullying also takes place outside of school, it can occur in the workplace, at home, or even online. This atrocious hectoring is also common in literature, bullying is a real-world problem that authors tackle. William Shakespeare has scarcely addressed bullying in his play, The Twelfth Night. In The Twelfth Night Maria is a bully because she played an appalling trick on Malvolio. In The Twelfth Night Maria (Olivia’s clever servant) plays and awful trick on Malvolio (Olivia's steward). According to the play, Maria devilishly states, “...I will drop in his way some obscure epistles of love…I can write very like my lady...” (2.3.143-147). This quote shows that Maria planned to write love letters to Malvolio and pretend that they are from Olivia. This is cruel because Olivia is not attracted to Malvolio; Malvolio will be lead on. Secondly according to the play, Maria vengefully states, “... Sport royal, I warrant you…” (2.3.157). In summary, Maria is saying “Do not worry it is going to be fun I promise”. Maria is telling her friends that what she is doing is going to be funny, and that it is nothing to worry about. Maria is turning her friends into bullies. Thirdly, Maria spitefully mentions …show more content…

This is harsh because Malvolio is older and does not know better. Lastly, since Maria is planning on writing the letters from Olivia’s point of view, she decides to play with it a little bit. In the

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