The article above details the Anglo-Spanish war and the circumstances that preceded it.
Given the mutual antagonism between Toby, Andrew, Maria, and Malvolio, I thought I would investigate the political relationship between Spain and England as it was at the time of this plays conception.
As Twelfth Night was written around 1601, England and Spain would have been directly in the midst of their conflict, which spanned from 1587 to 1660, but tensions existed between them long before they were openly at war -- Spain was Roman Catholic, had first claim on the New World, and was frequently attacked by pirates who moved under protection of England. However, neither country wanted to engage in up-front hostilities with the other, and they had many small political skirmishes with each other before out-and-out war became unavoidable. This pattern of conflict bears a remarkable resemblance to the conflict between Malvolio and the other members of Olivia's household, who were also very tense in their relationships with one another until out-and-out war (eg, the love letter prank and all that followed) became unavoidable. The enmity between them makes more sense in this context, as it expands the situation from petty animosity to political allegory.
It also makes any suggestions that Malvolio would be Puritan rather significantly more ridiculous.
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