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Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies
eISSN: 2550-1542 |
97
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume2, Number 1, February 2018 Pp. 97-105
DOI:
The Representation of Puritans in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
Rachid MEHDI
Department of English, Faculty of Art
Abderahmane-Mira University of Bejaia, Algeria
Abstract
This article is a study on the representation of Puritans in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night;
or, What You Will , one of his most popular comic play in the modern theatre. In mocking
Malvolio’s morality and ridiculous behaviour, Shakespeare wanted to de nounce Puritans’ sober
society in early modern England. Indeed, Puritans were depicted in the play as being selfish, idiot,
hypocrite, and killjoy. In the same way, many other writers of different generations, obviously
influenced by Shakespeare, have espoused his views and consequently contributed to promote this
anti- Puritan literature, which is still felt today. This article discusses whether Shakespeare’s
portrayal of Puritans was accurate or not. To do so, the writer first attempts to define the term
“Puritan,” as the latter is quite equivocal, then take some Puritans’ characteristics, namely
hypocrisy and killjoy, as provided in the play, and analyze them in the light of the studies of some
historians and scholars, experts on the post Reformation Puritanism, to demonstrate that
Shakespeare’s view on Puritanism is completely caricatural.
Keywords : caricature, early modern theatre, Malvolio, Puritans, satire
Cite as : MEHDI, R. (2018). The Representation of Puritans in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth
Night. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 2 (1).
DOI :

AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies Volume, 2 Number 1, February 2018
The Representation of Puritans in William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night MEHDI
Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies
eISSN: 2550-1542 |
98
Introduction
Puritans had been the target of many English writers during the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
i
The latter tended to depict these religious people as being zealous, precisians, pompous,
and hypocrites. William Shakespeare joined these anti-Puritan writers with immense skill to
ultimately denounce the rigid standards of Puritans for morality. In his famous comic play Twelfth
Night , which first played in 1602, the playwright mocked these zealous believers, who used an
ostentatious morality to justify their superiority over others. Malvolio, as critics suggest in their
searching account of portraying this character, is indeed a tool to mirror the sober Puritan society
in early modern England, whose colossal vanity, egotism and hypocrisy entice other characters in
the play to humiliate him. After clarifying the real meaning of the word “Puritan” and provid ing a
brief overview of the Puritans (what was a Puritan?), the writer will examine how Malvolio is used