ABSTRACT
If one takes ship from the coast of Bohemia having made their last bow to Perdita and Florizel and sail for a day in a westerly direction, they will presently arrive at Illyria. The present inquiry takes us into the society of the low, the drunken and disreputable company, the comic Illyrians. Whether steward Malvolio, who was himself neither drunken nor disreputable but essentially a grave liver, should have place in the company, is a very debatable question. Most of the comic scenes in the play revolve around him, and it is his antics, his sudden rise and his awful collapse, that form the basis of most of the broader comedy of the piece; his self-love and swelling vanity, which make him an easy butt for Maria and her grinning troupe, his gravity and pompous airs, are all served up, without mercy, for our entertainment.
