Twelfth Night: Puritanism and Malvolio

Shakespeare Anyone?

In today's episode, we are exploring the character of Malvolio by diving into the history of the Puritan Movement in Early Modern England. Because Malvolio is described throughout the play as a Puritan, we will examine what a contemporary understanding of Puritanism would have added to the play (and especially that letter scene) for Shakespeare's audiences.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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Works referenced:

Simmons, J. L. “A Source for Shakespeare’s Malvolio: The Elizabethan Controversy with the Puritans.” Huntington Library Quarterly, vol. 36, no. 3, University of California Press, 1973, pp. 181–201, https://doi.org/10.2307/3816599. Accessed 3 Sept. 2021

Thompson, James Westfall. “Shakespeare and Puritanism.” The North American Review, vol. 212, no. 777, 1920, pp. 228–237. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25120573. Accessed 30 Aug. 2021.

Winship, Michael P. Hot Protestants: A History of Puritanism in England and America. Yale University Press, 2018. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvbnm3ss. Accessed 4 Sept. 2021.