Character Analysis: Sir Toby From Twelfth Night Essay

Twelfth Night, a comedy by William Shakespeare, is well known for its remarkable use of dramatic irony. This play takes place in a town named Illyria and it gets its name from the Epiphany feast in the Christmas season. The play features a variety of characters, a winding plot, as well as an extremely tangled love triangle. One of Twelfth Nights most infuriating characters is Sir Toby Belch. He is a middle-aged knight who is portrayed as a coarse, drunken man. Sir Toby, at times, is a very carefree character, but most of the time he is simply irresponsible and malicious.

Sir Toby is very carefree and serves as a contrast to the lovelorn melancholy around him. Other characters in the play are living a disheartening and gloomy life, but Toby counter-balances the depressing scenes in the play by embodying the holiday spirit. He is always ready for a party, and he likes to have a good laugh. Toby does not like to take life too seriously, and he makes light of anything too grim. This attitude is shown when he first comes into the play, drunk, saying What a plague means my niece to take the death of her brother thus? Im sure cares an enemy to life. (1.3.1-2) Toby cannot understand why his kinsman, Olivia, is taking her brothers death so seriously, and says that he believes grief is unhealthy. At times, Toby is a cheerful character who always is ready to have fun and make light of a situation. Although the high spirit of Sir Toby is occasionally a relief, he can sometimes seem overly careless.

Sir Tobys irresponsible nature frequently extends beyond being simply care-free. He spends his time drinking and partying, when he really cannot afford this type of luxurious lifestyle. Toby does not even make an attempt to make any money; he keeps his foolish friend, Andrew, around to pay for his drinking. He relies on Olivia for a home, but then he doesnt make an effort to be polite, even though she has done him many favours. Sir Toby is very rude; he stays up late making plenty of drunken noise and disrupts the entire household. Malvolio, Olivias steward, makes a clear statement of what he thinks of Sir Toby and Sir Andrews drinking:

My masters, are you mad? Or what are you? Have ye no wit, manners, nor honesty, but to gabble like tinkers at this time of night? Do ye make an alehouse of my lady's house, that ye squeak out your coziers' catches without any mitigation or remorse of voice? Is there no respect of place, persons, nor time in you? . . . Sir Toby, I must be round with you. My lady bade me tell you, that, though she harbours you as her kinsman, she's nothing allied to your disorders. If you can separate yourself and your misdemeanours, you are welcome to the house; if not, an it would please you to take leave of her, she is very willing to bid you farewell. (2.3.77-89)

Malvolio is merely informing Sir Toby the entire household believes that he is rude and acts like a common drunk, and Olivia is also displeased with his rowdy ways. Sir Toby is often drunk, careless, and he makes no effort to reform his ill-mannered behaviour.

Maliciousness is often present in the jokes Sir Toby plays on certain members of Olivias household. First of all, he uses Andrews idiocy to his own advantage by putting ideas into Andrews head. Toby convinces Andrew that Olivia loves him, he takes money from Andrew, and Toby uses him for entertainment by arranging a fight. Sir Toby also practices his cruelty on Malvolio. He wants revenge on Malvolio for being extremely conceited, so Toby makes a plot to forever disgrace Malvolio and teach him a lesson. When this plan gets carried out, everyone believes that Malvolio is insane and Toby stops at nothing to rub it in. Toby shows that he does not care about how cruel he is to others, as long as it can make him happy: I would we were well rid of this knavery. If he may be conveniently delivered, I would he were, for I am now so far in offence with my niece that I cannot pursue with any safety this sport to the upshot. (4.2.64-67) Toby means that he wants the joke on Malvolio to be over, not because he feels any remorse for his actions, but because he does not want Olivia to find out and kick him out of her house. Sir Toby is a malicious character who finds pleasure at the expense of other characters.

Sir Toby Belchs ability to be fun and care free one moment, then irresponsible and cruel the next makes him one of the most exasperating characters in Twelfth Night. Toby is a static character who remains free-spirited and unruly throughout the entire play. None of his morals change throughout the play and he doesnt make an effort to improve his unhealthy habits. Sir Toby demonstrates one of Shakespeares themes in Twelfth Night: seize the day. He always lives in the moment, enjoying his life, but he doesnt practice this theme responsibly because he makes no plans for the future. Sir Toby is a necessary counter-balance to the melancholy atmosphere of Twelfth Night, but otherwise he is an insensitive, ill-mannered brute.