In his introduction to the Folio Society edition of Twelfth Night, Peter Hall describes the play as a transitional work. Moving on from the light-heartedness of A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Twelfth Night Shakespeare mixes grief and cruelty in with the comedy. We are advancing towards the dark, complex world of Measure for Measure. Both Viola and Olivia are consumed with grief for the loss of their brothers. We are reminded again and again that life is fragile and brief that 'youth's a stuff will not endure'. The gulling of Malvolio, which starts as a simple jape, develops into something much harsher by the time we see him imprisoned and tormented. Even at the play's buoyant close Malvolio's final words, 'I'll be reveng'd on the whole pack of you', still hang in the air. If that were not enough, Shakespeare ends his comedy with a mournful and sardonic little ditty which reminds us that 'the rain it raineth every day'.