At the end of Act I, Olivia sent Malvolio to catch up with Cesario and return a ring that Cesario did not leave behind. In this short scene, Malvolio is seen returning the ring in a very scornful, haughty, and arrogant manner. The scene serves in part to bring out Malvolio's rudeness and his ill nature. He is extremely insolent to a youth who has caused him no personal injury. His unwarranted enmity is seen in the manner in which he delivers the ring. Malvolio's action here again prepares the reader for delight in the tricks that will later be played on this insolent man who shows nothing but scorn for any person who is not above him in social status.
While this scene does not advance the plot, it does show us how intricately Viola is caught up in the entanglement. She suddenly realizes that Olivia has fallen in love with an exterior facade — and not with the inner person. This realization allows her to comment on the "frailty" of women who are constantly deceived by disguises of one sort or another. When Viola cries out, "Disguise, I see thou art a wickedness, / Wherein the pregnant enemy does much," she speaks with allusions about the "wickedness" that arises from a woman's being constantly deceived by disguises, ever since Eve was first deceived in the Garden of Eden. Yet, Viola must retain her disguise because, as a girl alone in a foreign country, she would be powerless to defend herself, as we see later when the cowardly Sir Aguecheek threatens her.
