Comedy is by far the most influential factor in deciding whether or not a story is funny to its audience, due to its ability to create atmosphere more relaxed and pleasant environment in the plot. From the playful awkwardness of Anne Shirley, to the witty quips of detectives Tommy and Tuppence, it's clear that comedic characters have always been appreciated and recognized in literature. Sir Toby Belch is but one of many entertaining characters, and he is by far one of the funniest. While Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is all about romantic entanglement, Sir Toby's presence alone is enough to lighten the mood and accentuate the comic theme of the story through troublemaking and his unique personality. Therefore, Sir Toby Belch is undeniably the funniest character in the entire work. Of course, it could be argued that Sir Toby has a very irresponsible and apathetic nature, which may seem like an unappealing aspect of his character. As he returns home at otherworldly hours without caring for his niece and makes no attempt to make money to compensate for his generosity, it is clear that Sir Toby feels entitled to live on his estate simply because of their blood relationship. This portrays his callous personality because he has no sympathy for Olivia who just lost her brother and father. Furthermore, it is clear that the only reason Sir Toby had befriended Sir Andrew was for his wealth and wanted him to marry Olivia for the same reason. “Because he has three thousand ducats a year” (I iii 20) says Belch with clear intentions and tainted virtue, illustrating once again his immoral conduct. Be that as it may, only Sir Toby has the ability to alter the audience's attention... to the center of the card... to say that Sir Toby's funny personality has a huge impact on why he is the funniest character in the play . For these reasons, Sir Toby Belch's comedic delivery allowed him to become the funniest character on Twelfth Night. He has the ability to bring attention back to the fun parts of the work by creating confusion in the characters and decreasing the intensity of the problem with incomprehensible logic. However, the main reason why Sir Toby manages to be the funniest character is due to his ridiculous personality. All these aspects of SirToby Belch lead audiences to find him funny and entertaining, as Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's funniest plays. A comedic character is only appropriate for context compared to other characters who were immersed in melancholy throughout the story.
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