A Name That Will Live Forever

 

M

alvolio was a rich and powerful king. Unencumbered by virtue or principle, he used his riches to increase his power, and he used his power to increase his riches.

Once, when the Duke of Extensia died, Malvolio moved the boundary marker separating his land from the Duke’s. This gained him most of the land useful for farming from the Duke’s estate, casting the Duchess into stringent poverty. She turned to the courts for redress, but instead of listening to her plea, the judges listened to Malvolio’s gold.

Her remaining servant had stayed with her because she was too old to get any other employment (if you call working for free “employment”). The servant prepared the meals they shared. Every night saw the same pattern.

“What’s for dinner, Anne?” the Duchess would ask.

“Tonight, Mum, I’ve prepared a fine stew of fresh woodland herbs and vegetables,” Anne would say.

“Weed soup again, I see,” the Duchess would observe.

By late winter, after too many meals like this, and because the Duchess could not afford to heat her house, she came down with pneumonia and soon became just another mortality statistic. Not wanting to give further support to the rumors that the king’s hand had been somehow involved in the event, Malvolio saw to it that only two gravediggers were available to bury the Duchess. However, the lady’s emaciated body scarcely added any weight to the coffin, so that the two gravediggers proved quite sufficient to haul her to the pauper’s cemetery where they shoveled the soil over the humble box that bore her.

Meanwhile, Malvolio was quick to hire confederates, who claimed to be creditors of the Duchess. They submitted a bid on the small portion of the farm that had still belonged to the Duchess and took it over, not merely evicting the now lonely servant, but having her arrested for doing away with the Duchess. The servant was sent to a workhouse where she could enjoy washing her face in ice water every morning and eating a modest amount of cold gruel two times a day.

Meanwhile, Malvolio lived long and sumptuously on the profits from his lands (many of which he acquired in ways similar to those already described), holding extravagant feasts, giving expensive gifts to those who pleased him, buying art to decorate every room, and even adding rooms themselves to his constantly-enlarging castle.

As he rode through the land in his huge and lavishly decorated carriage, everyone smiled at him and returned his greeting with enthusiasm. “Long live the king,” they shouted. “Wonderful benefactor!”

“How they all love me,” he thought, “so much that after I’m gone, they will erect monuments to celebrate my name. Yes, Malvolio is a name that will live forever.”

And now we grab Time’s hand and compel her to race forward to Malvolio’s inevitable demise. For, it matters not how many years are added to our lives, how many acres are added to our estates, or how many dollars are added to our wealth, we all eventually die.

When news of his passing arrived, those who brought the official word about the king said, “Weep, O subjects, for your great benefactor has closed his eyes.” The messengers all looked deeply sorrowful.

However, Malvolio’s subjects surprised the messengers by jerking them off their horses and beating them severely. “Weep!” the subjects exclaimed. “No, rather rejoice, for the stinking vermin has finally freed the realm from his putrescent self.”

What had hitherto been spoken in secret came to be spoken in public. All over the kingdom, curses and bitter expletives could be heard prefixing Malvolio’s name. The handful of statues of Malvolio were summarily pulled off their pedestals and broken into pieces.

His name quickly became a synonym for evil, and he was known, not as a holder of feasts or as a collector of fine art, but as an exploiter, thief, cheater, murderer, and criminal. His name was everywhere pronounced with contempt and soon became a curse. Many citizens spat whenever they heard or pronounced his name. In fact, to say that someone was “like Malvolio,” became an imprisonable offense.

As the years passed, however, those who had been themselves persecuted by the king passed on to a better life. New generations who had never known Malvolio or the hatred connected to his name, made few references to him. Eventually, all that remained known of the king was a single brief entry in a single book:

 

Malvolio: a hated and evil king, robber of widows and cheater of orphans, lived unrepentant and died unregretted.    

 

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X Those who desire to make a name for themselves must consider what that name will be.

 

X History is written, not by those who make it, but by those who remember it.

 

 

vvv

 

 

Questions for Thought and Discussion

1. What is the purpose of riches?

2. What is the purpose of personal power?

3. Why is it important for a society to have a fair justice system?

4. How is information that makes you feel sad important for describing Malvolio?

5. Explain what about the story helps you understand that one of the most ancient recommendations of philosophers is, “Know Yourself.”

6. The common people pretended to like Malvolio during his reign, but openly despised him after his death. Isn’t that hypocrisy? Were the commmoners right or wrong to behave that way>? Discuss.

 

 

Literary Enhancement

A figure of speech uses language in a non-literal, artistic way. For example, personification treats an object or idea as if it had human characteristics: “At the end of the day, the farmer and his axe were both tired.” An axe cannot literally get tired, since it is not alive. But the writer is attributing the human characteristic of tiredness to the axe for artistic effect.

Similarly, “This book tells the most interesting stories.” Here a book is personified as a human that can talk.

Other figures of speech include metaphor, simile, and hyperbole. Writers use them to add richness and interest to their stories

 

Explain how each of the following expressions from the story contains personification.

1. “the judges listened to Malvolio’s gold.”

2. “humble box”

3. “grab Time’s hand and compel her to race forward.”

 

Vocabulary

Locate in the story where each of the following words occurs. Then look up a definition of each word. Finally, write a sentence or two explaining the effectiveness of the word.

Unencumbered

Stringent

Redress

Emaciated

Confederates

Sumptuously

Extravagant

Vermin

Putrescent

Expletive